BC Sport Fishing - BC Gulf Islands & Discovery Islands, British Columbia, Canada

St. Mary Lake, near the north end of Saltspring Island, is an anomaly. There are few freshwater lakes on any of the islands. St. Mary Lake is large enough to hold the rest of them put together.

Stocked with trout and smallmouth bass, the lake is reached from a small beach and boat launch at the junction of Upper and Lower Ganges Roads and Vesuvius Bay Road. Powerboats are not permitted here, except those with electric motors.

Owing to the strength of the tidal currents coursing through Active Pass between Mayne Island and Galiano Island, there are plenty of nutrients in the water to attract marine life. Salmon feed in these waters, although in recent years the large chinook have all but disappeared. It's not as easy to purchase fresh seafood on the islands as you might imagine. Most islanders do their own crabbing and shrimping, but at Horton Bay on Mayne Island, you may find such delicacies for sale.

Although the availability is seasonal, stop by the federal dock between 4 and 6pm and look for a truck with the personalized licence plates CRAB 4U, which says it all. For more information on fishing in the waters of Active Pass around Mayne and Galiano Islands there are two marine services in Miners Bay on Mayne Island; and you can chat to the folks at the Corner Store, in Sturdies Bay on Galiano Island.

East Point Regional Park on Saturna Island is a good place to spin-cast for salmon that feed in back eddies created by the swirling currents. One of the best places to begin a boating fishing trip in the Gulf Islands is from Silva Bay at the south end of Gabriola Island. The nearby Flat Top Islands are a guaranteed hotspot to mooch for salmon. It's hard to keep a secret. You can tell where the fish are biting by looking to see where boats are congregating.

The waters around Quadra Island have yielded some of the largest salmon ever caught on BC's west coast. Although much of the activity is centred in nearby Campbell River on Vancouver Island, there's plenty of action around Quadra, particularly at Quathiaski Cove, where the ferry linking Quadra and Campbell River docks.

Boaters must be extremely cautious in the waters of Discovery Passage. Anglers congregate in the waters off Cape Mudge, Copper Bluffs, April Point, and at the entrance to Quathiaski Cove around Grouse Island. Good fishing is also found in the protected waters around Rebecca Spit Marine Provincial Park, where a popular public boat ramp is located.

Inland on Quadra Island, cutthroat trout are numerous in the freshwater regions of Village Bay, Mine, and Main Lakes.

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