Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Fisherama on July 09, 2008, 12:07:55 PM
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Memories of St. Mary's Lake have always been ones that I've held close. I remember cool, crisp mornings when all was calm except for a thing layer of fog, lifting with the incoming sunlight as it crept along the water's surface. And warm late summer evenings. My brother would work the oars of a tattered row boat while I trolled off the back. We would travel the lake from end to end, covering any structure we could discern, docks, sunken logs, and always hugging the reeded shoreline. That was over 15 years ago, we were young, certain, carefree and always on the look out for Walter!
This past weekend, I was finally able to make it back, with the company of some good friends. We ended up booking a cabin at Salt Spring Cottage Resort (sorry Rod, I know you're partial to Lakeside Garden but the boss did all the booking) and took to the lake almost immediately. The bass fishing was quite good for the most part. During the first couple of days, we were hooking up every few casts with an abundance of larger fish. However, as the temperature dropped and intermittent showers rolled in, the fish seemed much less willing to bite. I would even be a stretch to say that we were hooking up only once every half hour.
Regardless of the fishing, our stay was great as always and the management at Cottage Resort was extremely friendly and helpful (highly recommended).
Things I've noticed after a 15 year absence:
- The campsite of my childhood "Shady Willows" has been replaced by an RV park. It's always difficult to accept change. :-[
- The lake looked much bigger when I was smaller :D
- White grubs are still the ticket ;)
fisherama
Some Bassy Photos
http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=234234033/PictureID=5327326174/a=55338624_55338624/t_=55338624
http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=234234033/PictureID=5327329870/a=55338624_55338624/t_=55338624
http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=234234033/PictureID=5327328839/a=55338624_55338624/t_=55338624
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Great story and great pictures! I'm pumped to do some smallmouth fishing this summer!
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That's awesome, what techniques were you using? Did you try the evening for them?
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Great report. I'm going back this sunday for 3 days...hope it isn't too hot for the bit.
Any tips for the hot days would be appreciated.
Staying at Lakeside again.
Cheers,
Steve
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one more cast
I actually found that they were more willing to bite when it warmed up. Although, It really never got past the mid 20s while we were up there. We did try fishing in the evening, but found that different parts of the lake were more productive at certain times of the day so the actual time of day wasn't much of an issue. Overall we had most of our luck fairly close to the shoreline, casting towards structure, allowing the offering to reach bottom then very slowly retrieving. Hope this helps! Good luck this weekend.
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When it gets warm in July, we've always done well by dragging tubebait below a sliding weight in waters up to 30' deep.
Tubes: http://www.reactionbaits.com/detail.aspx?ID=171
Wide gap hook to go with the tube: http://www.reactionbaits.com/detail.aspx?ID=405
We usually put a sliding weight onto the main line, tie a swivel, then two feet of leader, then the hook.
Here are a couple of related video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3n6l-SCkxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl607FPlwPs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Yv4xa2ZG4