05_2025_REELLIFE_digital - Flipbook - Page 8
locations
Kokanee, which are a landlocked sockeye salmon, can be found in a couple of dozen or
so lakes in Oregon and are some of the best eating at any fish fry. This year, we did the
scouting for you. Here are seven lakes and reservoirs you must fish in 2025.
LAKE BILLY CHINOOK
At Lake Billy Chinook, it’s
not hard to imagine the
old river channels – the
Deschutes, the Crooked,
and the Metolius and their
confluence, now obscured
by 4,000 surface acres and
up to 415 feet of water.
Round Butte Dam was
finished in 1965, and
the power of the water
was harnessed by three
1000-kilowatt generators.
Today, the Pelton Round
Butte complex generates
enough energy to power a
city the size of Salem.
Kokanee angling is popular
here, and anglers show up
as early as February, teasing
them with jigs early in the
season. Trolling pays off
later in the year.
ODELL LAKE
Odell Lake (and nearby
Crescent) are some of the
coldest, deepest lakes in
the state, which makes
them good habitat for a
big char we call lake trout
or mackinaw. Odell and
Crescent also have good
populations of kokanee
(a landlocked sockeye
salmon), the lake trout’s
favorite food.
Kokanee can be easy to
catch when conditions
are right. Full-grown, they
average 12 to 18 inches.
Kokanee are most easily
enticed in the early
morning. As soon as the
sun hits the water, the
plankton go deeper, and
the kokanee follow.
Jigging is a favorite
technique early, but trollers
seem to do better in the
summer.
An easy rig, whether
using a downrigger or not,
consists of an eight-inch
flasher on the main line
terminated at an Apex or
Wedding Ring spinner.
Most anglers add white
corn and season it with
a scent like Pro-Cure's
Kokanee Special Super Gel.
To rent a cabin or a room,
click on odelllakeresort.com
WALLOWA LAKE
Sockeye are native to
Wallowa Lake. Historic runs
of sockeye were strong in
Wallowa Lake until 1916,
when the lake’s dam was
enhanced. The fish still in
the lake were landlocked.
Wallowa, with 1,500 surface
acres and an average depth
of 160 feet, can be daunting.
Favorite kokanee areas
are the western shore off
Eagle Point and along the
eastern bank up and down
