Custom Kokanee Jigs

10/22/2026

Well, I did it again, played "hooky" yesterday instead splitting wood!!

Went to Detroit Reservoir and started fish at 8:30. 4 other boats on the water when I got there. No waiting to launch!!

Got the boat in the water and headed to the middle of the lake and dropped 1 rod and was getting the other one ready when the release popped!! Kokanee in the boat!! What a great start, to bad it didn't last!! Next 2 Kokanee to the boat was over a hour and a half away!! That wasn't to say I wasn't catching fish, got lots of fish but they were chinook smolts!!

I ended the day(6 hours) at 2:30 with 8 Kokanee in the box.

Summary, a stronger east wind than i liked, calm down around noon. Sunny. Not much boat traffic!!
Fished Mongold Ramp/Blowout area and got 4 Kokanee, went the Kenny Creek area and got 4 Kokanee. Down 60' to 70'. Pink did the best. Lots of chinook smolts in the Mongold ramp/Blowout area. Not as many at Kenny Creek but they were still there.

10/22/2026

Looks awesome Jeremy

Here is the next Giveaway!! It’s prototype Wednesday - “The Black Super Mysis Bug”. Now I’ll be honest, that I’ve been fishing these for two years and they work so well I haven’t released them yet. They won’t be available till probably 2028, so this is an opportunity to have a lure that only a handful of people have!!

Rules to the giveaway

1. Make sure you have liked KokaneeKid Fishing
2. Like This Post
3. Share this post

Winner will be announced 10/28/2026 on this post so make sure you check back to see if you have won!

Good Luck and Great Fishing
Jeremy Jahn.

10/20/2026

Took the day off from making "small usable wood" from "large pieces of wood" and casted 200 Diamond jigs for next season. 100 - 3/4 oz. And 100 - 1 oz. jigs. Still have to clean them up before applying my "magic" paint.

This was the only jig I used this year at Odell with great success. Hopefully come this spring it will be great fishing as well.

10/08/2026

Finally, my day late report!! Went back to Detroit Reservoir on Tuesday in my boat with my friend Kevin.

Started fishing around 8 and finished at 2:45 with 19 kokanee in the box.

It started out with an east wind, went calm and then a west wind. Started at the Kenny Creek area where Brad and I fished last week. Started at the same depht. Kevin got the first 2 fish on a long line. I tried fishing 2 downriggers but got tangled right away so I went with just 1 downriger. I did get both rods in the water when trolling with the wind and when the wind died down.

We trolled in that area, not seeing a lot of fish on the finder as before but picking up a fish here and there. The "Slayer" ( Allan J. Roche' ) showed up in that area and left a little after 10 with his limit!! At that time we had around 8 in the box. Dinked around in that area for a while and decided to head east back to the ramp pick up a fish or two. We got into some fish around blowout arm and put the rest of the fish in the box there and trolled a while more for the last kokanee to no avail!! At that time it was 2:45 and time to leave.

Summary, slower catching for us this trip, fish size was 9" to 10 3/4", dime bright next years fish. Down 45' to 75' . Pink seemed to work. Tuna/Garlic white corn. Some smolts around Kenny Creek and more down by Blowout. 5 boats on the water when we got there and only 1 trailer and 2 kayakers when we left!! Weather was sunny, cool east wind in the am, turning calm and then the west wind kicked in the afternoon. Even though we didn't limit it out it was a great day on the water.

Thanks for the company today Kevin.

That's my report!!

10/02/2026

I got an invite from Brad to go fishing for some next years Kokanee at Detroit Reservoir.

It was an awesome day on the water. We started around 8 am and finished with 20 in the box a little after 10 am.

It started with a brisk east wind and the settled down to flat calm.

We were using downriggers down 45' to 50'. Everything thing we were using worked. Did get 1 Kokanee and 1 chinook smolt at 60'. 1 rainbow was caught and released. It hit my gear before it was deployed down to 50'!!

If your after bigger fish, this is not the fishery for you!!

It was nice seeing Allan J. Roche' on the water also.

Thanks Brad Halleck for the ride and using all your Kokanee Santiam Fishing Rods.

09/20/2026

Wow, a two day late report!! Went to Odell on 9/16/26 to deliver some Kokanee Jigs to Odell Lake Lodge/Resort.

I saw some first come, first serve lake side spots at Trapper Creek Cg. I grab site 13. It was supposed to be open for 3 nights but on Thursday I saw that it was reserved on Friday!! Oh great!! Moved to site 22 for Friday night. Not to happy about moving but made the best of it.

I didn’t fish on Wednesday as there was a very strong east wind blowing. I did get the camp all setup and boat in the water ready for Thursday.

At about 4:30 Thursday morning it started raining!! I'm not really setup for the rain though!! Got up about 6:30 when I went out and at that time there was a slight drizzle. Went down to the boat and it was a little wet as I didn’t put on the side curtains!! I put the side curtains on which is not an easy thing to do on the water. Went back to camp and everything I left out was wet, oh well, I'm going fishing anyway!!

Finally got out on the water about 8:30!! At first there was a slight west wind, then it changed to a north wind and finally a strong east wind all in half an hour!! Of course it was raining as well. I did get 1 line in the water and got 1 kokanee before I got frustrated with the wind!! Pulled the downrigger and headed to the east end. Still a little windy at the east end but not wavy. Of course it was still raining off and on. Got all the gear deployed and start fishing with the wind. I started picking up a kokanee here and there. I got down to Princess Creek, my friend Richard gives me a call and he was going to be in camp around noon so l continued trolling towards Trapper Creek. By that time I had 16 Kokanee in the cooler. When I hit the beach in front of the camping spot Richard was there. It quit raining so I fixed my lunch (bacon and eggs), filet the fish. Then Richard wanted to head out to do some fishing, there was still an east wind and rain on and off so we headed to Breezy Point and dropped the gear. By the time we got back to Trapper Creek we had 9 kokanee in the box. Decided to call it a day and get a fire going.

Friday morning we broke camp and moved to site 22. So we finally got on the water at about 8. The water was almost calm, clear skies and the sun was out. Started trolling right away and by the time we got to Princess Creek the west wind was starting to pick up. Ran back to Trapper and start fishing again with the wind. Got down to Breezy Point and decided to call it a day. This was about 1pm and we had 32 Kokanee in the cooler. Got camp set back up, pulled the boat, walked around camp and to Shelter Cove and then got all the fish fileted. By that time it was campfire time and dinner time. Richard offered to cook dinner(bacon & eggs in cast iron pan over the fire) and I gracefully let him!! It was great Richard, thanks!! Sat around the fire and hit the sack around 9.

Saturday got up about 7 and picked up camp and hit the road about 8. Richard was about an hour behind as he had an appointment to make.

Summery, I'm not setup for rain!! I'm not a fan of the wind either!! The Kokanee didn't seem to be any bigger than in the spring!! 9” to 12”. Some are just starting to turn. Some of the 9” are this years fish!! When it was windy and raining, we got some fish down at 10’ but on Friday the best depth was 60’. Pink or orange was working, tuna/garlic corn. Fish were all over the lake. There are a lot of Kokanee showing on the finder from 20’ to 100’. It was nice having a boat with a top and the side curtains to keep the rain and wind off us.

That's my report!!

09/10/2026

Willamette National Forest just went to Fire level 1 which means you can now have campfires in desinated campgrounds

RETURN TO STAGE 1 FIRE RESTRICTIONS EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 9, 2026

With moderated weather conditions, the Willamette National Forest has returned to Stage 1 Fire restrictions effective today, September 9, 2026. Once again, campfires are allowed inside fire rings at most developed campgrounds and other designated recreation sites. Campfires are also now allowed in the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, Three Sisters, Waldo Lake and Diamond Peak wilderness areas.

Otherwise, all campfires, charcoal or briquette fires, pellet fires, and any other open fires are prohibited. Portable cooking stoves, portable gas campfires, and lanterns using gas, jellied petroleum, pressurized liquid fuel or propane with an on/off switch are allowed in areas cleared of flammable vegetation.

The Forest remains at Industrial Forest Precaution Level (IFPL) 2.

Smoking is also prohibited, except within a building or vehicle, developed recreation site, on the water, or in an area cleared of flammable vegetation.

Do your part to help firefighters by preventing human-caused wildfires.

More info: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/fire

08/25/2026

A same day report from Detroit Reservoir!! I took Kevin in my boat this time!!

Started at 6:30 and put the last Kokanee in the box at 11:45.

I only got a few of this year's fish and the rest is next year's fish. We didn't get the last fish until the west end of the Reservoir was in white caps!! Most of the day the wind was very manageable.

Got 3 Kokanee right away and then it was a fish here and there for the rest of the 20 fish limit.

The usual gear was working, pink bugs, blue bugs, black bugs. The fish seemed a little deeper for us, 70’ on the downriggers, 125’ back with 3 oz. On the long line.

It is the low water ramp now!! Quite a few boats out. There is not a lot of parking on the low water ramp and there were about 5 rigs parked past the no parking sign. Not sure if they got a warning or ticket, just beware of the signs!! You can park in the main lot if the low water ramp parking is full.

Thanks Kevin for the company and all your help unloading and loading the boat today.

That's my report!!

08/20/2026

Well, my usual day late report, technically two days as I did a rare two days in a row!!

On Tuesday 8/18/26 I went to Detroit Reservoir with my friend Kevin in his boat. Started fishing at 06:30. We finished putting the last Kokanee in the cooler at 11:30.

On Wednesday, 8/19/26 went back to Detroit Reservoir with my friend Steve in his boat. We started fishing at 06:30 again!! We put 20 Kokanee in the cooler at 9:30!!

The weather was great, slight east wind to start and then died down a little at 8:00. We got out of there before any skiers or wake boarders showed up!! Fish ranged from 10” to a few in the 15” range. Depth was 50’ to 70’ on the downriggers and 3 oz. or 4 oz. Lead on the long lines. Fished from the south side across the ramp at Mongold to Kenny Creek. As for terminal tackle, bugs and small beads and blades in pink and orange were working.

Thanks Kevin and Steve for letting me tag along.

All fish are now in the smoker or brine!! Good eats to come!!

Oh, when Steve and I left on Wednesday, only 1 dock was floating at the main ramp. I would suspect after this weekend or maybe before it will be the low water ramp(no docks) from now on.

08/11/2026

Wow!! Another same day report!! Went back to Detroit Reservoir with my friend Kevin in his boat. Start at 6:30. Dropped the gear and started fishing just out from the ramp towards the south shore. It wasn't long before a rod had a fish on!! Fish in the net!! It was like that till around 8:30 and then the bite slowed for us. Headed west towards the dam, we picked up a fish here and there. Finally number 20 hit the cooler at 10:30.

Details, great bite early, down 55' to 60' on the downriggers, 3 oz. And 100' back on the long lines. Blue bug, pink beads were the best. Dodgers, gold, silver arrowflash dodgers.

No big fish for us this time, 10" to 12". We did get 3 fin clipped kokanee.

2 docks still floating at the main ramp. They also had the low water ramp available.

Thanks Kevin for the invite and trip.