Finding a goose-egg-sized chunk of gold-bearing rock on the ground is a rare occurrence in the Gold Country these days.

But it does happen.

Just ask 14-year-old Jacob Hopkins of Colfax. Hopkins was walking along the edge of Rollins Lake on July 26 when he spotted the find of his young lifetime.

The right combination of sun striking the earth and the angle he was walking allowed Hopkins to see a stone in the water holding what tests now tell him is six ounces of gold.

“I saw something glowing in the water,” Hopkins said Monday. “I put it in my pocket and started yelling and jumping up and down.”

Nearby, his father, general contractor Mike Hopkins, saw his son and immediately knew what had occurred. A veteran gold seeker, Hopkins had found a similar rock 26 years ago while a high school student in Downieville.

“We’ve been in this area for three years and know that whether you’re fishing, hiking or whatever, if you keep your eyes open you can find a nugget,” Hopkins said.

The senior Hopkins said he had a similar discovery as a teenager. He found a four-ounce rock containing two ounces of gold as an 18-year-old.

A general contractor, Mike Hopkins said he’s always keeping his eye out for unusual rocks and so is his son. He recently came across a meteorite on a trip to Alaska. One of his dreams is to travel to Antarctica, where climate change may be warming glaciated areas and revealing more of the extraterrestrial rocks.

Jacob Hopkins said he enjoys panning, sluicing and sniping for gold as well as taking part in wrestling, track and basketball at school. Some of the money from his find will buy a new trail motorcycle, he said.

After the gold discovery, he found time that Saturday for some more fishing – landing a 15-pound catfish before leaving for home.

Almost three decades ago, Mike Hopkins sold his nugget to his father at a time when gold prices had been skyrocketing to more than $800 an ounce. Two days after it changed hands, gold dropped to about $400 an ounce, in sympathy with the 1982 crash in silver prices.

Jacob Hopkins has already found a buyer for the gold he found – his father. With gold prices hovering around $920 an ounce, Jacob is earning about $5,500 from his ability to spot the sheen of gold below the surface in Rollins Reservoir.

Tests have determined the gold content at about six ounces but the price on the market could be higher than the value of the gold if it turns out to be a good sample after an acid bath eats away the rock.

And while Mike Hopkins said he’s glad to see his son making a find that even tops the two-ounce chunk of gold he found, he’s hoping that as the buyer of the expensive rock, lightning won’t strike twice in terms of sometimes-volatile gold values.

“I’m hoping it won’t go down to $400 again,” he said.

The Journal’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.