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Description
The lake-dwelling cryptid known as Ogopogo, or Naitaka in the Séliš language, is said to inhabit Okanagan Lake of British Columbia, Canada. Ogopogo is among the most well known of the lake monsters, with Lake Champlain's Champ and Loch Ness' Nessie coming in a close second and first respectively in terms of popularity.
Ogopogo was allegedly first sighted in modern times in 1926, by a group of 30 people in a bus all claiming to see something large and animate out in the water just offshore. However, many accounts purported to sight the cryptid go as far back as 1872. One such case, occurring in 1914, included the apparent discovery of a decomposed 5-6 ft long, bluish-grey, 400 lbs carcass some likened to a manatee. It was said to have had flippers and a tail fin, raising speculation as to whether or not it was actually an Ogopogo. Before anyone of official scientific credentials could examine the globster, it was washed back into the lake, apparently too decomposed to recover. Of course it was.....why not? Anyways, Ogopogo has since then gotten a reasonable amount of attention made towards it, with many cryptozoologists and amateur investigators attempting to identify what this thing was.
Descriptions of the creature are consistent, usually describing a 15-20 ft long, dark, serpentine creature with an equine- or goat-like head. Such features aroused the thought that this cryptid and another British Columbian cryptid, the Cadborosaurus, or Caddy for short, were in fact part of the same species, or at least related. In fact, cryptozoologist and biologist Roy Mackal believed that both cryptids was in actuality part of a relict population of the archaeoceti Basilosaurus (or Zeuglodon to you zealous Richard Owen fans). I personally don't bye this explanation, as one must account for the pretty big gap between when basal whales like Basilosaurus occurred in the fossil record and now. One must also account for how such air-breathing mammals can go unseen from the attention of any onlooker camped at Okanagan Lake for such long amounts of time without barely even giving the slightest hint of their existence.
I agree with Benjamin Redford when he states his belief that the whole Ogopogo dilemma can be choked up mainly to superstitions surrounding a mythological water spirit, part demon, part god, known to local tribesmen as N’ha-a-itk. This supernatural entity is believed by some to be a source a evil and control over the weather of the lake. One can say that this myth has been passed down via oral tradition, eventually reaching the attention of the white settlers residing at Okanagan Lake, where they proceeded to turn it into an urban legend, probably to attract tourists or to just have glory and fame. No ancient whales or demon fish, just a tall tale and some logs floating about, I guess.

Reference:
• Chorvinsky, Mark. "Nessie and Other Lake Monsters". Strange Magazine Online. Mark Chorvinsky. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
• Radford, Benjamin. "Ogopogo the Chameleon". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017
• Coleman, Loren and Clark, Jerome. Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 5 August 1999. Print.
• Coleman, Loren and Huyghe, Patrick. The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep. Los Angeles: Jerome P. Tarcher/Putnam, 27 Oct. 2003.

Description
The lake-dwelling cryptid known as Ogopogo, or Naitaka in the Séliš language, is said to inhabit Okanagan Lake of British Columbia, Canada. Ogopogo is among the most well known of the lake monsters, with Lake Champlain's Champ and Loch Ness' Nessie coming in a close second and first respectively in terms of popularity.
Ogopogo was allegedly first sighted in modern times in 1926, by a group of 30 people in a bus all claiming to see something large and animate out in the water just offshore. However, many accounts purported to sight the cryptid go as far back as 1872. One such case, occurring in 1914, included the apparent discovery of a decomposed 5-6 ft long, bluish-grey, 400 lbs carcass some likened to a manatee. It was said to have had flippers and a tail fin, raising speculation as to whether or not it was actually an Ogopogo. Before anyone of official scientific credentials could examine the globster, it was washed back into the lake, apparently too decomposed to recover. Of course it was.....why not? Anyways, Ogopogo has since then gotten a reasonable amount of attention made towards it, with many cryptozoologists and amateur investigators attempting to identify what this thing was.
Descriptions of the creature are consistent, usually describing a 15-20 ft long, dark, serpentine creature with an equine- or goat-like head. Such features aroused the thought that this cryptid and another British Columbian cryptid, the Cadborosaurus, or Caddy for short, were in fact part of the same species, or at least related. In fact, cryptozoologist and biologist Roy Mackal believed that both cryptids was in actuality part of a relict population of the archaeoceti Basilosaurus (or Zeuglodon to you zealous Richard Owen fans). I personally don't bye this explanation, as one must account for the pretty big gap between when basal whales like Basilosaurus occurred in the fossil record and now. One must also account for how such air-breathing mammals can go unseen from the attention of any onlooker camped at Okanagan Lake for such long amounts of time without barely even giving the slightest hint of their existence.
I agree with Benjamin Redford when he states his belief that the whole Ogopogo dilemma can be choked up mainly to superstitions surrounding a mythological water spirit, part demon, part god, known to local tribesmen as N’ha-a-itk. This supernatural entity is believed by some to be a source a evil and control over the weather of the lake. One can say that this myth has been passed down via oral tradition, eventually reaching the attention of the white settlers residing at Okanagan Lake, where they proceeded to turn it into an urban legend, probably to attract tourists or to just have glory and fame. No ancient whales or demon fish, just a tall tale and some logs floating about, I guess.

Reference:
• Chorvinsky, Mark. "Nessie and Other Lake Monsters". Strange Magazine Online. Mark Chorvinsky. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
• Radford, Benjamin. "Ogopogo the Chameleon". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017
• Coleman, Loren and Clark, Jerome. Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 5 August 1999. Print.
• Coleman, Loren and Huyghe, Patrick. The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep. Los Angeles: Jerome P. Tarcher/Putnam, 27 Oct. 2003.