Odell Lake report, jigging has been very very good to us

The Lucky Duck · Apr 26, 2015

Fished Saturday in blizzard conditions, fish were scattered and in the shallows. Worked hard for 75 fish.
Sunday was a different story crazy good jigging for us, came in at 9:30 with 161, when I pulled the plug we had 6 on .
My neighbor showed up around noon and helped us clean fish so we took him out and topped off the tank. 200 for the day and a bonus mack.
Conventional methods were largely ineffective, trolling was slow, anchoring was slow, and not many jumpers. You had to work your sounder and stay on the biters.
Most boats struggled. I got some great video showing about 40 fish caught in about 12 minutes.

JonT · Apr 26, 2015

"Most boats struggled." Gee, I wonder why.

troutdude · Apr 26, 2015

Holy cow Batman! Are you gonna leave any, for the rest of us???

rogerdodger · Apr 26, 2015

Odell lake report, jigging has been very very good to us.

Odell lake report, jigging has been very very good to us.

now them's good eats!

JeannaJigs · Apr 27, 2015

It's good to see they appear to be decent sized this year

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rogerdodger · Apr 27, 2015

JonT said:
"Most boats struggled." Gee, I wonder why.

that's an easy one- the other boats aren't as good at catching kokanee...

C_Run · Apr 27, 2015

Wow! If I ever see that green and yellow boat, I'll be the guy in the little green kayak tailing you.

Norfolk-N-Waypal · Apr 27, 2015

JonT said:
"Most boats struggled." Gee, I wonder why.

I'm new to OFF. Am I missing something?

kingfish · Apr 27, 2015

I caught some dandys in the willy late last year I threw them back cuz I had no idea how bad they were for salmon

Throbbit _Shane · Apr 27, 2015

Norfolk-N-Waypal said:
I'm new to OFF. Am I missing something?

Nope. I believe it is JonT who is missing something.

Nice catch Lucky Duck crew.

rogerdodger · Apr 27, 2015

kingfish said:
I caught some dandys in the willy late last year I threw them back cuz I had no idea how bad they were for salmon

sorry dude, you have kokanee mixed up with pikeminnows.

kokanee are landlocked sockeye salmon, the lake they live in is their 'ocean' and they go up inlet creeks to spawn and die...

kingfish · Apr 27, 2015

Rogerdodger u r correct wrong thread lolol

DrTheopolis · Apr 28, 2015

Throbbit _Shane said:
Nope. I believe it is JonT who is missing something.

Nice catch Lucky Duck crew.

I'm not a kokanee guy, but it's my understanding that they breed like rabbits. The reason most lakes have such high limits is because the higher the population density, the smaller the fish, and when it gets to a certain point, the fish become too small to harvest.

That's what I've always been told, anyway.

ChezJfrey · Apr 28, 2015

Throbbit _Shane said:
Nope. I believe it is JonT who is missing something.

I didn't take it that way. I could be OFF base, buy my interpretation was that it was supposed to be a funny...

"Most boats struggled."

Translated response (in my opinion): "Gee I wonder why...judging by the photo of a dock filled with your fish, it looks you caught the entire frickin' lake of fish right out from under them....LOL!"

rogerdodger · Apr 28, 2015

ChezJfrey said:
I didn't take it that way. I could be OFF base, buy my interpretation was that it was supposed to be a funny...

"Most boats struggled."

Translated response (in my opinion): "Gee I wonder why...judging by the photo of a dock filled with your fish, it looks you caught the entire frickin' lake of fish right out from under them....LOL!"

correct, the problem is that making that joke indicates, shall we say, a limited understanding of kokanee fishing, thus some snarky responses are to be expected....

The Lucky Duck · Apr 28, 2015

DrTheopolis said:
I'm not a kokanee guy, but it's my understanding that they breed like rabbits. The reason most lakes have such high limits is because the higher the population density, the smaller the fish, and when it gets to a certain point, the fish become too small to harvest.

That's what I've always been told, anyway.

You are correct, the best thing that we anglers can do is to take kokes out of the system to help ODFW manage the fishery.
I am certainly trying to do my part.

jamisonace · Apr 28, 2015

And your helping others figure it out too. I sure am glad you've decided to start posting here. Can you give some tips on jig size, corn flavor or anything else that might help the worst Kokanee fisher on the planet figure it out?

The Lucky Duck said:
You are correct, the best thing that we anglers can do is to take kokes out of the system to help ODFW manage the fishery.
I am certainly trying to do my part.

The Lucky Duck · May 1, 2015

We use corn scented with tuna oil, jigs vary basically the weight of the jig is more important than color. 1/2 for jumpers 3/4 for 50-100 and 1 oz for bottom or windy conditions. Orange pink and green are the most common. That being said we caught them on black jigs and a few with virtually no paint left---THOSE ARE THE BEST!!!!

rogerdodger · May 1, 2015

The Lucky Duck said:
We use corn scented with tuna oil, jigs vary basically the weight of the jig is more important than color. 1/2 for jumpers 3/4 for 50-100 and 1 oz for bottom or windy conditions. Orange pink and green are the most common. That being said we caught them on black jigs and a few with virtually no paint left---THOSE ARE THE BEST!!!!

excellent info, I have never jigged for kokes but plan to learn that this year.

based on my experience trolling for kokes, going back to the 90's when we lived in Post Falls Idaho and learned about kokanee in N.Idaho and Montana, we try to have 4 containers of marinated corn on the boat: 1- Mike's Lunker Lotion Kokanee, 2- garlic, 2- anise, and, added since we settled here in Oregon, tuna oil.

Odell Lake report, jigging has been very very good to us

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