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Bullards Bar is located approximately 21 miles north of Nevada City off of Highway 49, in historic gold country. The closest cities being Marysville in one direction and Nevada City in the other.

Located at the 2,000' elevation, it is 16 miles long and has 60 miles of convulted shoreline with a total of approximately 4,700 surface acres of boating space. While no other access to the reservoir beside the two launch ramps exist, you are surrounded by greenbelt filled with pine, fir, oak, madrone and dogwood trees. As you wind up into the North Yuba Canyon, sheer cliffs of granite come down to greet the crystal clear water.

The North Yuba is backed up by Bullards Bar Dam which is an awesome sight all by itself. Standing 645' above the canyon floor, it holds back 960,000 acre feet of water. It's the second tallest dam in California, 5th tallest in the United States. A hydro-electric dam, Bullards Bar Dam is operated and controlled by the Yuba County Water Agency. They are able to manage the water so that recreation access to the reservoir is never restricted.

Bullards Bar offers boat access campgrounds, land based sites, and shoreline camping permits. There are a total of only 160 sites, which limits the amount of people the area can accommodate. Emerald Cove takes site specific reservations for all camping. As Yuba County Water Agency's exclusive marina concessionaire, Emerald Cove Resort & Marina provides the reservoir's facilities which include a complete marina store, boat slips, campgrounds, and boat rentals.

For the fisherman, there are kokanee salmon, rainbow trout, german browns, largemouth, smallmouth and black bass, crappie, catfish, and bluegill. Bullards Bar has a reputation as having the best kokanee salmon fishing in California.