Odell Lake Reports 1998

September 16, 1998

This was by far my best fishing day ever at Odell. Didn't figure it this way because I got up to the lake late (8:30am), had some motor problems until 9:30 am, started fishing and got 22 Kokanee by 3:30 pm. Really got on top of them and stayed there. Can be tough with only 1 pole in the water, no one else to try different depths, and the fish do move around. The West end seemed pretty quiet so I spent the day off Breezy Point and toward Princess Creek. Must have been my day... I sort of got in a zone, whenever I got out of the fish I made the right guess to find them again. Could have easily limited out... I was in the middle of a school at 3:30 when I decided I had enough fish for the Winter.

Some notes: Fish were really shallow, maybe 25 feet at the most. Green Wedding Ring seemed to get a tad bit more action than the Red Wedding Ring. It was a great learning experience. Since I knew I was over the fish I could try out different terminal tackle to determine it's effectiveness this time of year. I could try out different speeds and fish landing techniques. Flipping the fish into the boat without the net was, with only myself on the boat, the most effective. As for trolling speed, the fish were extremely aggressive. You could not troll too fast. The faster I trolled the harder my tackle was hit... amazing and incredibly fun. I was standing up at the wheel (I sat down once all afternoon), cruising past other boats, pulling in fish, throwing my line back out, while my line was out I scrambled to put the fish on the stringer and if I had time before the next hit, sharpen a hook or two. The other guys trolling slowly were just sitting there watching me run around grabbing my pole or running to the wheel. It got so crazy at 10:30 am, I knew when I was going to get hit. I trolled like a madman then slowed down and made a turn to port with my pole on the inside of the turn. BAM. What fun. Next years fish are going to be great, they're already nice sized now. The four year fish I caught were all 12'' to 15" porkers. With my high trolling speed I lost a lot of fish near the boat. I think I pulled them right up to the surface too fast and then there they are on the surface 30 feet away jumping and splashing. Later I learned to slow down to a slow idle before I grabbed my pole, but this knowledge came at the expense of one koke that easily would have been my biggest of the day. A perfect day.

This report submitted by Matt

September 11, 1998

Fished the afternoon of the 11th. I was a little curious after my last trip to Odell a week prior If I could find the fish a little more schooled up. Had a great time. Two of us fishing hooked 20 in about 4 hours, but only landed 11 of them due to extreme swells. Princess Creek was the ticket though it was pretty rough. Very unusual East to West winds made the West end pretty rough, too. At about 2:30pm the West wind suddenly kicked in; very eerie how the swells were suddenly confused and then slowly switched. Fishing died off abruptly with the wind shift and picked up after about 20 minutes of steady West to East flow. Green Wedding ring and Red Wedding Rings were used, both with good results. The largest fish came after we gave up on the unprotected Princess Creek grounds and went to the West End. Not the same numbers of hits for us, but bigger and a little darker fish. Really Fun! One last trip next Friday may be in the cards, I'll call up to Shelter Cove this next Thursday and get a report. Hope others are taking advantage of the low numbers of tourists out on the water after Labor Day.

This report submitted by Matt

September 4, 1998

Fantastic weather for late Summer, but I wish I could say that it helped the fishing. Reports from Shelter Cove Marina confirmed my thoughts that the fishing was a bit spotty. Fish were spread out all over the 3500 acres of water and extremely finicky about what they were eating. One guy said that he started taking the silver blade off his wedding ring and got a couple of hits... anyway, it did work for me in a limited way. Compared to my trip a few days ago it was a little slow, but this is what I found: Most fish seemed to be feeding at the 45 foot depth. Fishing was spotty off Princess Creek and View Point. Boats were spread almost evenly East to West with a few Jiggers anchored here and there. Jigging seemed to be slow... the schools were hard to get on top of. I started the first day Trolling off View Point up to Princess Creek... a couple of decent sized fish, but very slow compared to what I was hoping for. I didn't have a fish finder this trip, usually not a problem to find some action, but with the fish spread out this time it was tough. Didn't fish the afternoon - evening slot due to high winds and major disappointment from the morning's outing. The next morning I thought I couldn't miss by hitting Burly Bluff to Princess Creek and Burly Bluff over towards Trapper Creek. These are the areas that I'm familiar with and usually do ok, but another slow morning. Jumpers everywhere, all the time. My Mother got frustrated with all the jumpers and tried flatlining and promptly got a 18" Mackinaw (too small to keep). Pulled into Shelter Cove and got nothing but stories similar to ours (except for the RV guys and gals who fish 7 days a week all Summer long and always get 10 or 15 nice fat ones). After I got back to Portland I called down to Shelter Cove to talk to a friend of mine: "The fishing has really picked up... there's a line 20 minute long line at the fish cleaning station." Just what I wanted to hear. Somebody should really figure out the correlation between lunar position and the feeding habits of Odell Lake Kokanee. Had a great time as usual fishing this difficult, but fun lake.

This report submitted by Matt

August 30, 1998

Headed up to Odell August 30th for some Kokanee trolling. Got there a little late (on the water 6:45 am)and the bite died off promptly at 8:30 am. I got 3 in the first hour... nice fat 12 inch ones, but my friend couldn't stay awake to notice his bites. Big mistake taking someone who's not excited enough about fishing to stay awake. We were trolling 5 blade Jack of Diamonds followed by red wedding rings w/ silver blades. Fished the West end mostly, near Trapper Creek. The switch was thrown to turn of bites at 8:30, right after my friend got a huge bite that yanked the whole pole and reel off the end of the boat and out of his tired hands. I was pretty upset because he was using my gear... I should have told him to at least stay awake, but until the pole went over I didn't see any problems with just letting him sleep. Live and learn. The Kokes have come up a lot since my last trip in the second week of August. 40 feet is where most trollers were at this trip. All the main trolling lanes from Trapper Creek to Princess Creek seemed to produce fish according to my scouting later. Most caught all there fish prior to 9:00 am. Fishing picks up again in the late afternoon according to the owners of Shelter Cove Marina. I'm going back for a two day trip Wed. and Thurs. of this week and will have many opportunities to fish different parts of the lake at various times. The lake is loaded with fish, but finding the right depth and time of day is crucial. Another report coming soon!

This report submitted by Matt

July 22, 1998

I fished Odell Monday and Tuesday 20th @ 21st and found it very slow.  The fish are scattered and lake is very discolored from alge.  My guess is we'll need to wait to September.

This report submitted by LeRoy

June 26, 1998

Fished Odell during the evening of 6/19/98 and each day through noon 6/26/98. Started out trolling (without downrigger capabilities)  but went to jigging. Made up some of the little 1/2 oz banana weights in green & white & red & white.  They worked quite good in water up to 80 feet.  I would suggest in deeper water to make them from 1 oz.  Caught an average of 7 to 10 fish per day.   Mostly early morning & late evening, between the rock slide & Shelter cove.   Some nice size fish 11 to 14 inches. Average was about 11 inches.  The solid red, pink & white, & green & white  "Krocodile" jigs with corn seems to be the hottest thing on the lake at this time.  I saw one fellow bring up & release a 28 inch Mack with 4 lb test line while fishing for Kokes.  The weather was much more of a problem than past years.  Can't wait to go back next   year. 

This report submitted by Ron Wise

June 21, 1998

Went to Odell Lake 6/19 to 6/21, fishing was good on friday morning, fish where small, 8 to 10 inches. Friday afternoon the fishing slowed down. Saturday the fish had lock-jaw (east wind!), did manage to get three. Sunday fishing was better, did some jigging in 120' of water, got 6 in half an hour and the size of fish where bigger, then had to leave for home. A friend of mine was trolling around Princess Creek down 50' with a wedding ring and dodger and did real well.

This report submitted by Gary K

May 30, 1998

I have been a kokanee fisherman all my life from the days of fishing "half- fast" or "dish-pan" gang trolls with 3-4 ounces of lead at Lake Simtustus or wind drifting at Odell.  (We only discovered jigging about 5 years ago at Odell and have been limiting ever since)  This year (three trips so far) we have had moderate success jigging for kokanee at Odell.  This year it seems the only action has been shallow/fast jigging to jumping fish while you get the crud knocked out of you by the wind.  Our best success has been with a 1/2 inch crescent lead hammered slightly square and painted orange/green/white with red prism and "witch-lite" eyes.  Amazing how a home-made out performed our stand-by lures!

Anyway to my question, have you heard of large kokanee being picked up at Crane Prarie?  In early May after being beat up at Odell we decided to take a break and worm fish for trout at Crane Prarie.  We did all right on trout but caught several large (14-16") bright fish with pink meat that at Odell I would have identified as Kokanee.  Am I dreaming or have you heard of a kokanee population at Crane Prarie??  

This report submitted by  Mike Goodrich

*  I have replied to his question about Craine Prarie.  It was no dream, Craine Prarie does indeed have some pretty nice Kokanee.....Robert

May 23, 1998

Went to Odell on my vacation from work and caught 18 Kokanee in the 12 to 14 inch, nice and plump size. The fish were on the surface, I trolled with a Model T Ford Fender and wedding ring with a 5 foot leader and no weight to get the fish. The weather was cold, raining and snowing, so next trip to Odell will be later in the year to make the fishing a little more enjoyable.

This report submitted by Harold Stranix

January 1, 1998

I have had excellent luck jigging earley in the season and trolling from June onward. From my previous experiences the years of 1993 and 1994 have provided some of the hottest fishing, although three of us caught our limit last year on opening, if you want to call it opening anymore since the lake is open year around. I had the opportunity to fish the lake a couple of weeks ago, since some friends have a cabin there. Unfortunately I had no luck, though I must admit that I didn't try to hard since it was so cold and I was in a small boat. However I received word from the guide at Shelter Cove that he went out a couple of days ago and caught 15 Mackinaw off Princess Creek which sounded very encouraging.

This report submitted by Jason Merwin

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