Odell 5-15/16

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I'm going to Odell over the 4th of July holiday, never been there before, can anyone tell me what kind of Kokanee fishing I should expect during that time of year? My guess is they will be a bit deeper that time of year???Also I hear it can get pretty windy at times, is July typically a windy time of year at Odell? Would love to get into a Mack.....anyone use jigs for those? If so care to share your info, colors/weight etc? Your info is appreciated
 
July, your more than likely going to troll any where from 30-50 ft is my guess, all depends on weather, water temps and how you hold your mouth. LOL...
MAC's sorry not my forte, maybe someone else can chime in on that for ya.
 
Early July on Odell you can expect the koke's should be deep. I would guess around 50 to 70 ft and maybe more, but this is only a guess since I am already well into my trout lakes by then. You may find some surface activity still going on in the very early mornings and very late evenings, but I would not expect it to continue throughout the day like it does early in the season.

Based upon what I've seen at Odell, anytime is likely to be windy. It is a good sized body of water and that almost always leads to a lot of potential wind.

There is some jigging for mack's on Odell, although I suspect most of it is more accidental than intentional. Sometimes, when jigging for koke's, you can get hit by a mack cruising through feeding on koke's. It doesn't happen often but it can and does happen. If I wanted to jig for mack's, I would find out where the best concentration of mack's are in the lake and target that area by anchoring up and using a heavy jig, at least 3/4 oz or more, and fish according to my sonar for the depth. While jigs are very effective if you can locate the target fish, mack's included, trolling would likely be a better way to find them.

If I really wanted to know some good answers to my questions and no one here is able to help you, I would make a phone call to Shelter Cove Lodge on the west end of Odell. They have always been really good about helping people catch fish as best as they can. Don't be surprised if they are a bit optimistic and perhaps inclined to exaggerate the fishing just a bit since they make their money by encouraging people to come to the lake. All in all though, they are good people and try to provide the best information they can.
 
Thank you eric!

My wife and I just moved to Bend from Juneau, AK last fall. I stumbled on this site mostly by accident and have been reading posts on it all winter and early spring, chafing for the day I could fulfill the requirement to buy a resident license and make my first ever attempt at kokanee fishing. In AK I had a 17' Bayrunner with canvas, downriggers, all the goodies I needed to boat lots of halibut, king and coho salmon within minutes of the launch ramp, but I sold that boat when we moved rather than pay to haul it on the ferry and then tow it from Prince Rupert (in hindsight, I wish I'd kept it!). So, right now all I have is my canoe.
But eric's description of the cast/jig method to jumpers at Odell sounded like something I could handle provided I had the right weather, and on 6/2 I got to the lake at 7am and looked for boats. They were on the opposite shore, about a 30 minute paddle away, so off I went.
Pulled up next to the first boat I got to and they said they were jigging on the bottom, that casting the jig wouldn't work and I shouldn't even try it. Skeptically, I took their advice and in 30 minutes picked up two fish, but jumpers were all around me and I decided that guys on this forum had to have accurate info, so I began casting. It took a few minutes, but soon I was getting hit or hooking up nearly every cast. Despite a few long distance releases and mishaps with my net at the canoe's gunwale, in 2 hours I had 20 kokes and the rain was picking up, so I called it a day.
I have no doubt a limit was doable if only I'd brought raingear and could've stayed out a little longer!
Sorry this has run on so long, but you can tell I'm excited. My wife and I enjoyed a great meal last night, and the remainder are brining for the smoker.
Thanks to eric and all the others who've shared valuable info on this fantastic forum. I owe my success on my first attempt at kokanee to all of you!
 
spugak4 said:
My wife and I just moved to Bend from Juneau, AK last fall. I stumbled on this site mostly by accident and have been reading posts on it all winter and early spring, chafing for the day I could fulfill the requirement to buy a resident license and make my first ever attempt at kokanee fishing. In AK I had a 17' Bayrunner with canvas, downriggers, all the goodies I needed to boat lots of halibut, king and coho salmon within minutes of the launch ramp, but I sold that boat when we moved rather than pay to haul it on the ferry and then tow it from Prince Rupert (in hindsight, I wish I'd kept it!). So, right now all I have is my canoe.
But eric's description of the cast/jig method to jumpers at Odell sounded like something I could handle provided I had the right weather, and on 6/2 I got to the lake at 7am and looked for boats. They were on the opposite shore, about a 30 minute paddle away, so off I went.
Pulled up next to the first boat I got to and they said they were jigging on the bottom, that casting the jig wouldn't work and I shouldn't even try it. Skeptically, I took their advice and in 30 minutes picked up two fish, but jumpers were all around me and I decided that guys on this forum had to have accurate info, so I began casting. It took a few minutes, but soon I was getting hit or hooking up nearly every cast. Despite a few long distance releases and mishaps with my net at the canoe's gunwale, in 2 hours I had 20 kokes and the rain was picking up, so I called it a day.
I have no doubt a limit was doable if only I'd brought raingear and could've stayed out a little longer!
Sorry this has run on so long, but you can tell I'm excited. My wife and I enjoyed a great meal last night, and the remainder are brining for the smoker.
Thanks to eric and all the others who've shared valuable info on this fantastic forum. I owe my success on my first attempt at kokanee to all of you!
Click to expand...

awesomereport

congrats, and welcome to the forum!!!
 
Spugak4, that's an awesome report! Thanks for posting it! Welcome to Oregon. I am glad to hear you had a good time on the lake, and I'm very glad that you gave the jig casting a try. It's amazing how many things there are that "won't work" but still manage to catch a lot of fish. I am very glad to hear that the fish are still up on the surface, I know it's been a cold year but this is still getting pretty late in the season. Once you start to get used to fishing like this, you'll learn to do without the net, it only slows you down. Fishing like this for these smaller kokes means you can just hoist them over the side of the boat and drop them in the bucket. I wish you many happy fishing days out there but I do hope you will use great caution while fishing that lake from your canoe. I have fished it from a canoe myself and had great fun, but the weather there can get pretty nasty really fast and the winds can be quite dangerous. When I used to fish it from a canoe, I liked to stay pretty much up inside of the shelter cove area and never fished much past the rock slide.

Based upon your report, I guess I should have given it a try today since I had the day off, but I suppose that chores must come first. I look forward to seeing more posts from you.
 

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