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[habzrule]

Hi guys...long time no post but been following as usual.  Was just scanning the posts about the trip.  Definitely lots of fun catching the smallies out there...the floating worm works very well, and another thing I have always had great success with is a floating jig head. Smallmouth can't resist a juicy worm on a Chartreuse floating jig head.  I usually attach some weight about a foot and a half off the bait, and just drift over spots allowing the weight to kick up a fuss and attract the fish to the bait.  My apologies if this was already mentioned, I only made it through 3/4 of the posts and gotta run!

[Rodney]

Nice Keith, did you say 20 inches? How big are the ones in Stowel?

Take some photos, would love to see. Looking forward to see a couple more updates from you before the end of your stay.

[keithr]

I happened to talk to someone local who fishes Stowell regularly.  He fly fishes it.  He caught and released a 14 inch female while I was there.  He said that was a good fish for that lake and that the largest he had ever taken there was 18 inches.  He also said that it is a dependable producer of 12 to 14 inch cut throat and that they are the best eating fish from lakes on the island.  He mentioned that Weston Lake (which is barbless fly fishing only) has large rainbows, but that they are hard to catch, at least in part because there is plentiful feed for them there.

I fished Weston for a couple of hours and had only one strike, which I missed.  I've fished Stowell three times.  The fellow who gave me the above information was the only other fisherman I saw in all that time.  You need a floatation device to fish either of these lakes.

Here at Lakeside Gardens the fishing is pretty good right from shore.  The lake (St Mary) has been windy today.   I caught a few perch from shore this morning, fishing with bait, hoping for a trout.  Those chunky little perch, by the way, are very tasty, better than the trout we've had so far, IMO.

It seems to me the lake is clearing (of algae) somewhat, but I may just be getting used to it.  Seems like I can see deeper offshore now than I could a few days ago.  I'm hoping it clears some more, because I want to try catching a few bass on the fly rod.  In the meantime, if the weather improves even just a little bit, tomorrow morning I'm probably going over to Stowell (it's 10 miles from Mark's place and there is a bakery with pretty good coffee at about midpoint).  It's tough this life I lead, but someone has to do it.

[Rodney]

Sounds like some good times there Keith, making us envy. Fishing from that floating dock can be just as fun sometimes.

[keithr]

the front porch of cabin number 6 is a pretty good spot too.

I was sitting on that dock yesterday, thinking:  everybody goes out on the dock and casts out as far as they can, but people going by cast as close to shore as they can, and when I'm out in a boat, seems like every time I cast close to a dock I get a strike. 

So I dropped the bait right off the side of the dock and right away caught two bass right under my feet.

So far, it looks like it's going to be a pretty day (it's 7:30 now).  I'm about to have breakfast, then load the boat and head for Stowell. 

I have a picture of that 20 inch trout, but I don't know how to post it.

8:30 pm:  fishing was good  I caought 8 or 9 cutthroat, the biggest 14 inches long.  Kept four, two of which we just had for supper.  Came back to St Mary Lake by about noon and fished off and on from the bank with a spinner bait and caught maybe half a dozen bass, including one pretty nice one.

[Rodney]

For Keith.

[Rodney]

Nina and I will be staying at Lakeside Gardens from Thursday July 13th to Sunday July 16th (the night of 13th, 14th, 15th). Fishersak and his wife are also planning to be on the island at that same time and fish with us.

Mark the owner of Lakeside Gardens has also informed me that the following cabanas are still available during that time:

Four cabanas from July 9th to 14th.

Three cabanas on the night of July 14th and 15th.

If anyone else wants to join us around that period, please send Mark an email at lakesidegardens@saltspring.com or phone 250-537-5773. Best to book soon as these cabanas will be booked up very soon. Cabanas are $75.00 per night. Mention "Fishing with Rod" and receive a discount.

[keithr]

Or try to reserve a camp site.  The shower is great and the bathrooms are close. 

[Hiker]

July wasn't good for me, so me and my wife decided to go like we did last year, the last weekend of June. Weather was as you all know hot, hot, hot. Fishing surprisingly wasn't too bad.

We arrived on Friday (June 23rd) afternoon, set up our campsite, inflated our Seahawk and went fishing around 4:30pm. That afternoon we both used shrimp and it just worked nicely. Despite heat, bas were really active and taking it left and right. We mostly fished around a beaver nest. We kept and bbqed one bass. I lost desire to eat it after cleaning it, but my wife didn't complain I know that bass can taste good based on experience from last year, but I guess because of heat this fish when I was cleaning it just didn't smell appetizing. So, I had my homemade burgers. Not bad.

Tomorrow we slept in, allowing ourselves to get some well deserved rest from day before. Around 11am we were again on water. This time around I used green and red "wedding band", and it just worked superb. In the late afternoon we were out again, I used wedding band and it worked really good. Strangely bass were more interested in my spinner than in my wife shrimp. She tried to use wedding band and almost got a biggest bass I ever seen. It got off just next to boat.

On Sunday, before we will head to ferry we did some more fishing and wedding band wasn't working. I changed it to a bigger spinner, and surprisingly in clear water started to get some hits.

Any way, fishing wasn't bad, we had a good relaxing time, seen huge bold eagles catching fish close to us, and had a good experience overall. The only thing I could wish for is that it was a bit cooler. It was so hot, and we had to reapply sun cream SPF30 every 2-3 hours. Because of heat fishing wasn't as good as last year, and didn't get any trouts nor I have seen anybody catching any.

For all of you who are going - bring your swimming suites. I wish I did. There was so many people swimming in the lake.

Have a good trip.