Bucks Lake and mackinaw!

Unless the wind forecast takes a turn for the worse, I think I'm going to make a run to Bucks Lake either Saturday or Sunday in search of mackinaw.  I've never fished for macks, nor have I ever fished Bucks Lake.  Been gleaning as much information on the lake and these oversized char as I can over the past few months, but if anyone has tips or insider knowledge on this lake or mackinaw in general, I'll be most grateful!

I'm bringing some large minnow-type plugs to imitate kokanee, Flatfish, banana weights, anchovies (pretty sure they're legal in all of Plumas County, but I'll double-check to make sure), and various plus-sized jigs.  Hoping to get on some jig fish because, well, jigging is really my thing  , but will most likely troll around with a plug until I mark big fish near the bottom.

Again, I'm not sure whether this'll take place Saturday or Sunday, but if anyone wants to join, I'll enjoy the company.  Last I heard the lake is low and the powerboats are having trouble launching  .  I don't expect it to be lights-out fishing due to the oncoming full moon, but I'd like to give Almanor a break and change things up with a new species.

Good luck Chris! Cant wait to see what you pull out of there. Most recent technique I heard of for macs that I want to try is mooching a whole herring just off of the bottom.

Good luck Chris! Cant wait to see what you pull out of there. Most recent technique I heard of for macs that I want to try is mooching a whole herring just off of the bottom.

Thanks Kevin!  That's good news to hear about mooching.  That was the reason I was planning on bringing anchovies.  From what I've read, mackinaw are known to scavenge for dead fish on the bottom.  So it'd make sense that they'd hit a mooched dead fish, right?

Chris,

It's been a few years ago but I caught a Mack at Bucks Lake.  I think it was about 6lbs if I remember right, but who knows 10 yrs after the story.   However, it was from my aluminum boat.    From what I remember it is a fairly shallow lake except out in the main channel.  That is where I caught mine.  From what I remember, the channel went East to West towards the dam.  I was using a Lake Troller downrigger set at 75 feet and my rod was rigged with a yellow flatfish behind a chrome dodger.  I never caught a Mack before that so I missed the first take down.  I thought we had a snag, but after checking the line and setting back down, I trolled back over the same spot and was ready for the second take down.  After making sure I had a good hook set, I handed the rod over to our friend's 7 year old daughter.  Once we saw how big the fish was, I was hovering over her like a hawk in case she needed help.  I only had a fly fishing hand net that wasn't big enough for the fish, so I get the net over his head and grab his tail to get him in the boat.

Man, I'd love to meet you up there, but I don't think I can do it this weekend.  Very tempting though.

Good Luck. 
Bret

Dude u need come down here

Good luck Chris. 


Aaron

When I took a charter with gene st Dennis on tahoes west shore, he had us bouncing DR balls off the bottom in a grid to stir up the bottom and reduce the visibility a bit ( tahoe being so clear) after working over an area about the size of a football field he declared that it was high time for the fish to start biting. The rig he used that day was a 16" dosger (white) 10' setback off the DR ball that had flashers. Off the dodger was a short leader to a threaded minnow. He also just bagged the two fish record in tahoe by pulling 10" trophy sticks. Good luck

Thanks for the intel Bret, Evan.

Dude u need come down here

I know, I know!  I can only fit in a day trip this weekend though.  Ideally I'd like to do an overnighter for Tahoe.

A buddy of mine really, really wants to fish Almanor this Sunday, so if I do this trip it'll happen on Saturday.  Unless I sleep in of course, in which case I'll just chase pickles in Almanor that day  .

When I was there two years ago I marked them in this area.


Caught tons of trout here


But they were all small, the fun part was you never knew if it would be a brown, brookie, rainbow or kokenee

I've been fishing bucks for years. Would go every Father's Day weekend. Caught everything except for a Mack. Some years the fishing is WFO and some you will struggle to get one fish.

Thanks for that info Kevin!  From what I've read online it seems most of the mackinaw-type structure is located adjacent to that peninsula.  Thanks for reaffirming my suspicions.

Plan is to leave at o-dark-thirty tomorrow morning, get on the lake for the morning, then probably call it by late afternoon depending on the bite and conditions.  I called the Mt. Hough Ranger District for info on access to the lake, but their front desk people were not very helpful besides telling me the lake is currently accessible.  Does anyone know if the private ramps on the south end of the lake charge a fee?  I'd prefer to launch from the south side and push north to the peninsula.

I'll post a report on how it goes.  I'm not expecting lights-out action due to the oncoming full moon and calm, sunny conditions, but this'll give me an opportunity to check the place out and log mental notes for future trips.  If I can hook into one Mackinaw I'll consider it a success.  I don't intend on targeting any other trout species, have plenty of those in Almanor and they're bigger  .

Haskins creek there is a fee. Don't know what the water level is like bec if it's low then the Haskins launch will be out of the water. You might get access up by mill creek near the dam. This is a pay launch also.