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Author Topic: Bass and trout fishing at Lakeside Gardens Resort, St Mary Lake  (Read 4076 times)

Rodney

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Bass and trout fishing at Lakeside Gardens Resort, St Mary Lake
« on: March 31, 2010, 05:47:11 PM »
It's that time of the year again, smallmouth bass and trout fishing is about to start at St Mary Lake on Salt Spring Island!

Lakeside Gardens Resort on Salt Spring Island has been an advertiser of Fishing with Rod since 2002. It offers three types of family-oriented accommodation (RV/camping, cabanas, cottages) at very affordable rates (please see their website for rates).



Contact information
Name: Mark Toole
Phone number: (250) 537-5773
Email: lakesidegardens@saltspring.com

The Fishing
The resort is right beside St Mary Lake. The smallmouth bass fishing is excellent between April And September. Early spring provides surface action as the fish are generally in the shallows. Between late spring and early fall, the fish are in deeper water and can still easily be fished with plastic or natural bait. They are between 12 and 18 inches, but bigger fish do emerge at times. The fish are plentiful, 100+ fish per day is normal. The rainbow and cutthroat trout fishing is good between April and June, fish up to 4 or 5lb is not rare. There are also yellow perch in the lake. Fishing is mostly done from a boat (boat rental is available at resort, limited so ask ahead of time), but shore fishing is not impossible. Some of the biggest bass are caught from the floating dock at the resort.



Other Activities
The resort has a nice beach for tanning and swimming. The playground, canoes, pedal boats are available for the kids. Saturday artist market in town is worth visiting. The galleries around the island are also a must visit. Nearby beaches and provincial parks make great day trips.

My personal recommendation is to book a trip between early May and early July. Smallmouth bass retention opens after June 15th and they are very edible. A three night stay is best, which gives you two full days of non-stop fishing action. If you are booking weekends, call several weeks earlier as they can be booked up quite fast.

Video of bass fishing from St Mary's Lake

Clip one | Clip two | Clip three | Clip four | Clip five
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Rodney

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Re: Bass and trout fishing at Lakeside Gardens Resort, St Mary Lake
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2010, 05:48:37 PM »
This year, we've booked our trip for the weekend of May 29th/30th so if anyone else decides to visit the resort that weekend, we'll see you there. :)
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Rodney

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Re: Bass and trout fishing at Lakeside Gardens Resort, St Mary Lake
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2010, 01:39:30 AM »
Video, photographs and story of our trip this year can now be found at:

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/blog/?p=174
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