Custom Kokanee Jigs

Happy 4th of July and hope you have an amazing holiday weekend

Odell Lake Trip 6/22/26 to 6/26/26,

Day 1, Arrived at Trapper Creek Cg right around 11 am. Got the boat in the water and set up camp. I did venture out to scope out the situation. Of course there was a west wind going by then. Was watching the finder and saw some fish on the bottom in 109’ of water. Dropped my jig down and fish on!! In the bucket it went. I managed 4 more kokanee before I got tired of back trolling in the wind so I called it a day and headed back to camp.

Day 2, I started fishing around 6:00 am in the same area I was in the day before. Didn't see a lot on the bottom but a lot of suspended fish up about 10’ from the bottom. Dropped my jig to the bottom anyway. Fish on!! It went that way till 8:00 when 25 kokanee in the bucket!! Most of the fish were 11”, an occasional 9” and 12” too!!.

Day 3, My friend Richard came up the night before and we went out in the morning at 5:45. Started in the same area, finished with 50 kokanee at 8:30. They were the same size as the day before but Richard got the biggest kokanee right at 13”.

Day 4, Same as day 3, 50 kokanee by 8:30. With the impending weather change, I pulled my boat as I had my possession of 75 kokanee and Richard said he had enough with his 50 kokanee.

Summary, it was an awesome trip, jigging was very good!! Bigger fish on the bottom(11” to 12 ½”) with an occasional small one(9 ½”). It was super calm in the morning so I just drifted. Trollers were also doing good. Thanks Richard for joining me and seeing Rich, Nate and Jeff in “the wild”

A quick Odell Lake update, Jigging is really good at the mouth of the west bay. Trollers are doing well also. Full report a little later as I just got home.

A rarity, a same day report!! Shifted gears today and took my friend Kevin to Netarts Bay to do some clam digging with this series of low tides.

I got my limit of butter clams in about 1 1/2 hours. The size was bigger this time.

Kevin got his limit also, 12 Gapers, 6 butter clams and 2 crockles. He had some really nice gapers this time too. Sorry no pictures of them.

Weather was perfect for digging, slight overcast, little wind and not too hot or cold!! Not a lot of people but it was a weekday.

Thanks for the company Kevin.

Haven't posted for a while because I haven't been fishing!! I have been working on building up my jig supply though!!

I do have a spot at Trapper Creek Cg but that's a couple of weeks away.

I'm thinking of heading up there this week. I'll have to get a first come first serve spots at Princess Creek Cg as Trapper Creek Cg is still closed and doesn't open till June 12. Not sure why it hasn't opened sooner as there is no snow there. That is what delays the opening in the past. Then there's " "the dangerous tree" excuse but they had well over a month to do that!! I guess is just lack of personal!! Of course like most of the Reservoirs Recreation is on the bottom of the list!!

Well so much for the rant!! I need to get some kokanee to smoke.

The weather looks good for the weekend, let get out and get some kokanee!!

Well, my day late report!! Went back to Odell Lake for some more jigging. Left Keizer about 8:30 am on May 19 and arrived home at 5:30 pm on May 22.

Day 1, arrived at Sunset Cove Cg. Around noon. I first stopped at Princess Creek Cg to see if it was open, only day use was open. Campground still closed. Only 1 trailer in the day use area. When I got to Sunset, I grabbed the same camping spot I had last time. It is a very nice pull-though!! It is shady there, a perfect spot on a warm day. Only down side was the road noise. Got the boat in the water and in a moorage spot. Looked out at the lake and it was doing “the Odell thing”, white caps over the entire lake. So I just stayed at camp and contacted Jay Kendrick of Santiam Fishing Rods. He invited me to have dinner with him and Brad Halleck of Kokanee Power of Oregon, of course I accepted!! Had bbq chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes and roasted peppers. It was very good!! Ater dinner we sat around the fire and told various stories!!

Day 2, got out on the lake around 6:15 am. Not many jumpers so I started motoring around to find some Kokanee. Did find much. Got a call from Jay, he said there were some fish around the view point so I meet with with him and Brad. We were just picking up a fish or 2. Jay got a call from a friend and he said let's go!! So we picked up and move down the lake a little bit and sure enough, lots of fish showing!! It was “lights out fishing” till the wind really kicked up!! Jay let me tie up to his boat so I didn’t have to throw anchor. Ended the day at 11:30 with 24 in the box. I just couldn't get them last 1!!

Day 2 was almost a repeat of day 1 except the fish were in a different area. That day Brad had to leave just after noon and at that time I just needed 8 to fill my box with 25. It took me another 2 hours to get the 8!!

Day 3, meet up with Jay, he had Scott Walters and Tammy Walters of Lucky Duck Fishing with him. We were in the view point area and getting some fish. Tammy had the “hot rod” of the group!! Every time I looked, she had a fish or a bite!! That spot went dead so we scattered to find some better spot. I found a spot but was only getting a fish or 2. Got a call from Jay, so I joined them. It was still slow for me but they were putting fish in the boat. Jay hooked into a mac and the fight was on!! It was quite a show, Scott got in on video so check it out on Lucky Duck Fishing. I ended the day at 1 with 9 in the box.

Summary, fish were on the bottom, 90’ to 124’. When you found the fish, they were hitting. It also seemed that the fish really didn't start to show till after 8 and then disappeared around noon. Color of jig didn't really matter. 1 jig got 90 % of the fish (pink/white diamond jig splash in 1 oz.) The fish were bigger this time, 10” to just over 12” and an average around 11”. Weather, sunny most of the time, day 1 strong west wind started around 8, day 2, strong east wind started around 8. Day 3, calm most of the day!! It sure helped having a “buddy boat” to help find the fish. Thanks to Jay, I got 4 smoker full of fish!! I don't think I would have done as well with out his help!!

So that's my long draw out day late report!!

A Day Late report, technically 5 days late as I left on Monday morning. I arrived at Crane Prairie at Noon. I pulled in Rock Creek Launch, it was open but the campground was blocked off!! Bummer. I took my bike out of the boat and did some exploring for a boondock camping spot. Found a couple of decent spots. Went back to the launch, found a great spot to moor my boat on the bank so I decided to just stay in the parking lot!! Not the best but I made do. I didn’t fish that afternoon. I did talk to some people come in from fishing to try and get some intel on the fishing and area.

Day 1, Got up at the crack of dawn the next day and headed out. I got out to 14’/15’ of water off Rock Creek ramp and deployed 2 lead core rods and started trolling. In no time I was hung-up!! Did that a couple of times and decided to go with only 1 lead core line and flat line on a downrigger rod. Not only it being 15’ deep, there are clumps of weeds that are 7’ high in spots!! I thought I was in for a long day as I trolled around for over an hour and zip!! All of a sudden my lead core line goes off!! Fish on!! Got that one in. A nice 13” Kokanee. That rod did get most of the fish that day. I had on a gold arrowflash dodger and a homemade pink spinner fly. My long line did catch a few fish but the lead core out produced it and got the bigger Kokanee. I ended the day at 10 am with 10 nice fish in the bucket.

Day 2, started early again, I didn’t get a fish till 6 am. It was again on the lead core line. Switch some gear on the long line and went with a jet gold color dodger and a homemade pink fly without a spinner blade on it. Set it back about 45’. Wow, it really started to produce!! Caught the majority fish on that setup. The fish seemed to be a tad smaller on the second day but nice size. Finished with my 10 Kokanee at 8 am!! Packed up and headed to Odell to do some jigging.

Day 2 continued, I got to Odell around noon. Stopped at Sunset Cove Cg./ Launch. Got a camping spot, a nice pull-though. Prepped the boat and got it launched. By that time the afternoon wind was in full force!! I just decided to stay in camp, d**k around, gather some fire wood and relax.

Day 3, got up early but not at the crack of day. I had some recent intel from Jay Kendrick of Santiam Fishing Rods and headed to the View Point. Looked around for some fish to jig, I found none!! Went exploring, found zip!! I got a call from Jay and he was at the view point and just put some fish in the boat. Got in that area and found Jay. Yep, he was sitting on a pile of fish. I started getting fish in the boat and the wind was starting to pick up already, that was at 8 am!! It was almost white capped but not quite. I was still able to back troll and get some fish. Then Jay offered to let me tie my boat up to his(He has an electric with spot lock), so I did, we talked and put fish in the boat we gave up about 11 am as the wind was really starting to blow and he had a pile of fish and I didn’t do too shabby either. I did a count and I had 18. Went back to camp and began fileting fish. I just d**ked around camp after that.

Day 4, got out fishing about the same time as day 3. No fish in site!! Looked around, tried jigging in various spots, zip!! Wind did started again by 7:30. Started looking around (still in the view point area) and finally found a pile of fish. This was at 9 am. Started putting fish in the boat. Had to back troll to keep the boat still and into the wind. I could have thrown anchor but didn’t. I put 16 in the cooler and called it a day at 11 am, by then the whole lake was in white caps. The fish are smaller 9 ½” to 11”. If you can find the fish, they were hitting jigs. It didn’t seem to matter what color you were using as long as you had some corn on the hooks. Fished anywhere from 105’ to 124’ view point area. Water was 47*.

Summery, Nice fish at Crane, fairly easy to limit. Downside no camping yet. Water temp 56* and water was turning green. Odell, smaller fish and you got to find them and of course the wind. It was a great trip and got a bunch of fish to smoke, I do have some in brine already!!

And that’s my day late report!!

Just a quick note, the gate to Princess Creek Cg is open for boat launching. The campground is still closed. Might not open till just before Memorial weekend.

A day late on my east trip tomorrow!!

Not a fishing report but a clam report.
I went to Netarts bay to do a little clamming for bay clams with my friend Kevin. It was a -1.4 low tide. Got there just before 9 am. One of the parking spaces was taken up for a school field trip. It's good to see that they still do that!!

Hiked out to the clam beds and started looking for the clam holes, took a while and finally found some. Started digging. Got one, it was a medium size butter clam. All right!! Keeped digging in that area and put 20 in my bucket. The size just wasn't there this trip. Even though I picked the bigger hole, the clams were smaller. I ended up with 3 3/4 cups of ground clams. Sill a great day to be out. Weather was perfect for digging, cool and overcast.

The hardest part of the trip is the hike back to the truck!! Man, even though the clams were smaller this time, that bucket was very heavy by the time I got back!!

I always tell people who want to go bay clamming, it's a 2 hour drive there, 2 hours digging, 2 hour drive back, 2 hours to clean the clams and it takes 15 minutes to eat them!! Even with all that, I still go atleased 2 times!! Oh so good!!

So that's my report!!