Lots Of Action For Anglers At Bucks Lake Trout And Kokanee Derby   By: Dan Bacher September 7, 2006 More Articles by Dan

Anglers fishing the second annual Kokanee Power Bucks Lake Derby experienced top-notch fishing for kokanee and trout out of Sandy Point Recreation Area on August 19, though the size of the kokanee continued to be small.

“The big question is: did you have fun?” asked John Yurkovich, owner of Uncle Larry’s Lures, who fished with Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy’s Guide Service and me on the day of the derby.

My answer was a resounding yes! Between the three of us, we caught and released over 80 fish, including a potluck mixture of rainbows, browns, brookies and kokanee salmon. Most of the kokanee were 9 to 10-1/2 inches, while the trout ranged from 10 to 14 inches long. Though we didn’t catch anything big, what we lacked in size we made up in extraordinary numbers of fish!

We also had at least twice as many take-downs that didn’t stick, as well as losing a few soft-mouthed kokanee. We trolled Uncle Larry’s special green and copper cop spinners behind watermelon Sep’s Sidekicks at 18 to 25 feet in Mill Creek and the edge of the Buck’s Creek Channel.

Other anglers found lots of action, though not quite what we experienced (When I arrived at the launch ramp at 9:30, Bryan and John had already caught 40 fish!)

Sixty-seven anglers fished the derby on a wonderfully pleasant summer day amidst the pines on Bucks Lake. Al Carson, the famous “Captain Shark,” took first place in the derby, with four kokanee weighing 24.05 ounces. He won $500 – it was the first time that he has ever placed first in a kokanee derby.

“My partner, Fred Scott, and I caught 30 fish while trolling at 30 to 40 feet deep,” said Carson. He used a wide variety of tackle including Shasta Tackle Scorpion spinners and Uncle Larry’s spinners and Crystal Basin and Sep’s dodgers.

Jim Francis placed second with four fish going 23.55 ounces, winning $300. He trolled with Sling Blades and Wedding Rings, tipped with white corn. Mike Tripp finished third in the adult kokanee division with 23.40 ounces, winning $150.

Wes Carpenter won fourth place with 23.35 ounces, taking home $100, while Dave Weaver finished fifth with 23.25 ounces, winning $75.00.

Tim Minnis of Truckee landed the largest trout, a 17-3/4 inch brown weighing 2.5 pounds, while trolling a Rapala.

David Ullman of Paradise took big mackinaw honors with a 5 lb. 7 ounce laker. He was jigging a Buzz Bomb when the mack hit. He also released a 16 inch mack while jigging.

Gavin Henderson won first place in the junior kokanee division with a weight of 14.65 oz. and a length of 26.8 cm.

The Tripp family really cleaned up in the junior division. Brian Tripp ended up in second place with 13.83 oz. and 25.4 cm., while his sister Hailey had 8.90 oz. and 22.6 cm.

The purpose of this derby is to do a couple of things. First, it raises money for the Feather River College Fish Hatchery. The hatchery raises brown trout to be put into Bucks Lake to provide increased fishing opportunities, as well as hopefully, putting a dent in the overabundant and stunted kokanee population, according to Zach Parks, coordinator of the program.

Second, the derby encourages as many anglers as possible to put fishing pressure on the kokanee by coming up and keeping their five fish limits.

“We put 5,000 12 inch browns from the college into Bucks Lake this year,” Parks stated. “Last year, we stocked 5,000 browns averaging 16 inches into the lake. We are hoping to reduce the kokanee population through our program, but we don’t know if it’s working or not yet.”

He is currently working on a proposal to Kokanee Power, Project Kokanee (CIFFI) and the Department of Fish and Game to reduce the numbers of kokanee when they spawn in the fall. This should result in less stunting and more good-sized kokanee in the catches.

Kokanee Power is donating $ 6,000 per year to the program, as well as providing three $500 scholarships and one $1000 “Phil Johnson Memorial Scholarship” for students studying marine biology, aquaculture or science at the college. The organization also pays $2700 for annual equipment maintenance and other maintenance costs at Chester High School, where the browns for Feather River College are raised. They also made a one time grant of $3,500 to Feather River College for pumps and an aerator.

Project Kokanee (CIFFI) is purchasing food annually amounting to $7700 for the browns after they are planted at the Bucks Lake Marina. The organization, through Project Brown Trout, has also donated over $5,000 in hatchery improvements to the program this year, according to Parks. They also bought $2,000 worth of waders for the students.

Meanwhile, this continues to be a very good year for rainbows, brown and brook trout at Bucks Lake, as demonstrated by the outstanding trip that Roccucci, Yurkovich and I made to the lake during the event.

“The overall quality of the mackinaw caught this year has been good, but it was a very short season, with the action tapering off after June,” he stated. “The size of the kokanee, while small, is a little better than last year. And we should only see an increase in the number of browns because of the Feather River College program.”

We didn’t keep any browns on our trip; Roccucci landed a 16 incher earlier in the morning, but the fish we landed were those planted in July by Feather River College and we released all of them back into the lake.

If you want to catch a bunch of rainbow trout, browns, brookies and kokanee like we did, contact Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy’s Guide Service, (530) 283-4103, email: bryan@bigdaddyfishing.com.

For more information about next year’s derby, call Zach Parks of Feather River College, (530) 283-0202, ext. 224, or Gary Coe of Kokanee Power, 916-985-4943.

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