Fuller and Rucker Lakes Offer You A Choice Of Trout Or Bass   By: Dan Bacher September 7, 2006 More Articles by Dan

Fuller and Rucker lakes are less than one mile apart and have similar High Sierra scenery, but they feature radically different fisheries. Fuller is a popular rainbow and brown trout lake, while Rucker is one of the highest elevation lakes in California where you can catch largemouth bass.

Both Fuller and Rucker, located in Nevada County near Yuba Gap, are natural lakes whose water levels were raised when PG&E constructed dams on them in 1970-71. Both Fuller and Rucker are the same size – exactly 69 surface acres. Both lakes are situated at similar elevations, with Rucker the e higher lake at 5499.5 feet above sea level and Fuller at 5499 feet.

Both lakes are rich in the aquatic vegetation, insect life, crawdads and other forage that you find in natural mountain meadow lakes. And both lakes are ideal places to fish from the bank, a float tube or a small boat.

Then why is there such a disparity between their fisheries? The answer: water temperature!

Fuller is a cold water lake supplied from a canal from Bowman Lake, while Rucker is a shallower, warmer lake provided by water from Blue Lake on Rucker Creek. Even during the heat of the summer, the surface water temperatures are relatively cold at Fuller. On the other hand, Rucker features “bath tub” like water temperatures ideal for swimming and wading throughout the summer and early fall.

Ted Sanford, a retired PG&E ditch tender, and Bob Simms, host of the KFBK Outdoor Show, tipped me off about these two unique fisheries several years ago – and I’ve be grateful to them ever since.

Fuller is by far the most well-known of the lakes off the Bowman Lakes Road off Highway 20 – and was the first stopping place on my latest trip to the lake this season. Shortly after I arrived at the lake on the 1-1/2 hour drive from Sacramento around 7:30 am during my latest venture to the lake, two anglers were already walking home with limits of rainbow trout.

There were only a few people other than me fishing. I set up my gear at my usual spot at the point near the parking lot and dam just about 50 feet from where my car was parked. I tossed out nightcrawlers on sliding sinker rigs with my new Shasta Tackle “Anglers Touch” spinning rods – and carefully placed the rods on a couple of stumps that I used as impromptu rod holdovers.

After about a half hour without any bites, I decided to switch over to “old reliable” – rainbow Berkley Power Bait. In less than two minutes, I started getting a bite, waited for the fish to take the bait, and set the hook. As soon as I hooked the fish, I could feel aquatic weeds load up on the line, so I brought the 11 inch rainbow in, weeds and all.

On the next two casts, I landed two other rainbows in the 11 to 12 inch range. However, just after I put my third fish on the stringer, the wind came up suddenly and it became difficult to see the trout bites as my rod swayed back and forth. After a long lull in the hook-ups, I hooked my fourth and fifth fish. The fifth one was a beautiful, square tailed holdover rainbow around 14 inches long.

Other anglers nailed limits and near-limits of rainbows with a few browns mixed in. Jim Couch of Sacramento kept four fish, including a scrappy brown, as well as releasing two other rainbows. He nailed the fish while soaking salmon eggs off the dam. His father also nailed four rainbows while fishing Power Bait.

Other shore anglers who landed fish at the lake during my trip include Bill and Linda Dobbs of Lincoln, who bagged three rainbows and one brown; Scott Pedersen , who kept one brown and five rainbows (releasing two) while shore fishing with worms and Power Bait; and nine-year-old Joe Herrera of Grass Valley and his dad, David, who nailed one rainbow and a brown.

Trollers also did well on trout. Ian Pearcy of Grass Valley landed one 14 inch brown and released 7 rainbows while trolling worms. Randy and JoDee Kaylor of Yuba City also bagged seven rainbows by trolling with spoons behind dodgers.

The Department of Fish and Game plants Fuller heavily with rainbow and brown trout. They stocked 6,000 pounds of rainbows this year, with the last 1000 pound trout plant taking place on August 8. The DFG also stocked 2,000 catchable browns in Fuller this summer.

After limiting out at Fuller, I drove back onto Bowman Lakes Road and took a right on the dirt road to Rucker Lake to try for largemouths. I didn’t have much time left, since I had to be back in Sacramento in the early evening, but I caught and released a bunch of small bass in the 8 to 12 inch class. I used wacky-rigged Berkley Gulp Sinking Minnows and Yamamato Senkos while wading in the lake’s lukewarm waters.

My first trip to Rucker in the summer of 2002, when I landed over 20 fish including a limit of largemouths going 13-1/2 to 15 inches, still ranks as my best trip to the lake, but I have had fun catching and releasing bass every time I’ve been there.

Because of its warm water, the DFG doesn’t regularly plant Rucker with trout. However the DFG planted 2,100 Goose Lake redband rainbow fingerlings in 1985. Redband trout, originating in the warm waters of Goose Lake, are uniquely adapted to survival in shallow, warm lakes not suitable for the survival of other trout and char.

I have never seen trout or any other fish other than largemouth bass caught by anglers when I’ve fished Rucker. The largest bass I’ve seen weighed around 3-1/2 pounds, although I’ve heard unconfirmed reports or larger bass taken there.

Purple, motor oil and blue plastics seem to be most productive baits at Rucker. I do best using wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senkos and Berkley Gulp worms or split shotting with Morning Dawn Magic Worms. I’ve never experienced much success on nightcrawlers or crankbaits, but other anglers have told me they have caught fish on them. I’ve never fished Rucker during the pre-spawn bite in the spring or the early summer, but I imagine this would be the top time to catch a big largemouth at Rucker.

There is no boat ramp at Rucker, although you can carry in a float tube, canoe or small boat from the campground. I’m usually the only one I see fishing at Rucker, although I saw over a dozen anglers when Doug McPherson, Goli Sahba and their two children, Roshane and Ossian, and I fished the lake on Labor Day in 2004.

Another option for anglers is fishing for rainbow trout or brown bullhead catfish at Blue Lake, located at 5964 feet in elevation, on Rucker Creek above Rucker Lake. The DFG hasn’t planted this lake recently and I haven’t heard any reports from fishermen going there in recent years, so the lake is definitely a “wild card.”

Fuller and Rucker lakes offer the angler two entirely different fisheries within close proximity to one another. You can catch rainbow and brown trout at Fuller –then switch gears and target largemouth bass – while enjoying relative solitude along the conifer-line shoreline of these two lakes.  

Fuller/Rucker Lake Facts

Size and Location: Fuller and Rucker lakes are located in the South Fork of the Yuba River watershed east of Nevada City off Bowman Lake Road in the Tahoe National Forest. Each lake is 79 surface acres in size.  

Management: The U.S. Forest Service this June announced that it had transferred the maintenance and operation of Fuller and Rucker lakes to Pacific Gas and Electric Company. To cover the maintenance costs, PG&E made the decision to charge fees for the use of the campgrounds at Rucker Lake, Carr-Feeley Lakes, Lower Lindsay Lake, as well as the Fuller Day Use Area and Boat ramp. The fees will range from $5 to $10 per day.  

Boating: Fuller offers a small boat ramp adjacent to the picnic area, while you must carry your boat into Rucker. Boat lakes are ideal for small aluminum boats, canoes and float tubes.  

Day Use and Camping: Fuller features picnic tables, a vault toilet and great bank access, but no camping. Five campsites and vault toilets are available at Rucker. Water is available from the lake and must be boiled. Nearby camping facilities are also available at Lake Spaulding and Bear Valley.  

Facilities Information: Contact PG&E at (916 ) 386-5164, the Tahoe National Forest Headquarters at (530 ) 265-4531, the Yuba River Ranger Station at (530 ) 289-3231, or the Sierraville Ranger Station at (530) 994-3401.  

Directions To Fuller: From Sacramento, drive east on Interstate 80 to Emigrant Gap. Take the off ramp and head north on the short connector road to Highway 20. Drive west a half mile on Highway 20, then turn right on Bowman Road. Drive 4 miles, passing over the Bear River and South Fork of the Yuba River, to Fuller Lake on the right.

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