A group of us made it over to St Mary's Lake on Friday until yesterday. While comparing our gear for the trip, I was surprised that no one else brought their fly gear. "What if the trout fishing was good instead?", I asked.
It never rained on the way there but as soon as we arrived on Salt Spring Island, it started to pour. Friday was a wet one. The waders really came in handy when standing in one big puddle inside the boat.
Friday afternoon was more of a scouting trip, picking out the spots where we might find some fish. I managed to connect with a couple of bass as well as some trout.
After dinner, I proceeded to fish briefly on the floating dock until darkness and managed to hook another bass and lost a big trout.
Saturday morning the alarm clock went off at 6am but no one was very keen to be standing in puddles again that early, so we all didn't get out until 9am. I found Marco and his uncle tucked away just around the corner from the resort, with many risers in front of them. Trout they were, according to Marco, but not so interested in their spinner baits. I proceeded to chuck a leech pattern out and managed to hook and lost a good sized fish on the second cast. Soon after they stopped rising.
We then made our way to the east bay where we had some success yesterday. Marco managed to connect with a good sized cutthroat trout, which did not hesitate to take his oversized spinnerbait.
Soon after, my indicator on the 4wt took a dive and I found myself with a rather big bass at the end of the line.
The sun came out just in time for a great afternoon of fishing.
We made our way back to the resort at 1pm for lunch. Just before I reached my cabana, I noticed a couple of rises in front of it. I anchored, threw the leech pattern out once again and within a couple of quick strips, I was hooked up. The first fish splashed a few times and got off. I proceeded to make another cast, but a peddle boat decided to cruise by in front of me. Not to worry, I made the cast out, and to my surprise a cutthroat trout grabbed the leech pattern seconds later.
Meanwhile, Marco and his uncle had spotted the action on their way back. They anchored beside me, threw a couple of krill out and were also into fish in no time. We managed to hook a couple more good sized rainbow trout as well as some smaller cutthroat trout before lunch.
After lunch, we spent a bit of time fishing on the floating dock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1yh7hvE9bwThe rest of the afternoon was very peaceful on the lake, but fishing was spotty. I managed to find a couple more bass before we settled in for dinner. We were just slightly too early for the bass fishing but one can't really complain if the trout fishing was good as an alternative. We may return for a second trip in early July.
Derp, Gman and Steelhead King will show you some of their photos and reports too.
Author
Topic: St Mary's Lake, May 2nd - 4th 2008 (Read 1833 times)