Since Okanagan Lake is so long and deep, it is possible to believe that something large and unusual could be lurking along the bottom. When people insist they have seen a live object in the water, one explanation is that they have seen a sturgeon. This fish is the largest freshwater fish in North America. A sturgeon can grow to be 13 feet long and weigh about 900 pounds. But a sturgeon doesn’t move in the undulating manner that Ogopogo does. And there is no proof that sturgeon live in Okanagan Lake.

Ogopogo has a
mouthful with Jan
and Ruth, authors
of this vignette.
Let’s hope
Ogopogo is
a vegetarian.

A group of scientists in BC think Ogopogo may be a huge river otter. They watched a video filmed by Salmon Arm resident Ken Chaplin. Chaplin filmed the lake creature near Bear Creek Provincial Park in July 1989. The film shows a head breaking through the surface of the lake, part of a body, and a long tail waving in the air. Chaplin described the creature as hairless with dark green skin covered with blotches. It was about 15 to 20 feet long. He spotted the beast about 75 feet from the shore. Chaplin and Arlene Gaal think it was a baby Ogopogo. The scientists concluded that the animal on the film must have been an otter because it wasn’t a log, and it didn’t have a beaver tail. Although otters are covered with brown hair, one scientist thought the wet hair of the otter, covered with algae, could be mistaken for green skin. Only the size is wrong. The largest of the river otters is only 4 to 5 feet in length. If Ogopogo is not an otter, perhaps it is a new or unknown animal species.