Light over Colfax, CA

The report, as filed

At appox 0030hrs., 15 July, myself and a friend were in a 22 ft boat on Rollins Lake, located 5 miles from Colfax, CA. At that time we were heading sw at approx. 5 kts in the center of the main body of the lake, when we observed a very bright light that we assumed was a large low flying aircraft. However what caught our interest was that the "aircraft's" lights were so bright that they made its nav lights impossible to see. After about 2 min into the event, we saw a small and far less bright dot of light that seemed to just drop out of the larger aircraft. The smaller light stayed with the other aircraft for a few seconds and the desended in altitude and then flew west at a moderate speed and it also displayed a flashing light. The larger aircraft continued on a sw heading flying directly over us. Not until the aircraft had past us did we see any navigation lights. Also, the larger aircraft while at an altitude of maybe 5,000 to 7,00 feet made almost no noise. This is the second such event I've seen in a month in this area.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #128514). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.