Not sure where on the island you're looking but we fish the lower half (Campbell River down (mostly Nanaimo area and Victoria)).
Victoria:
Beaver / Elk Lake - Lots of people fish here, but mostly with motors and trolling. The lake is full of bass, perch, and sunfish are abundant but the lake is stocked with rainbow. If you're looking for the rainbow they're mostly pan fries. Best to fish the lake in the early morning/evening with a dry fly as the lake is FULL of a weed that grows right to the surface (many people have died in this lake because of this weed). I rarely fish this lake now, but in the past I've had lots of luck with a nice olive fly that's white/grey in colour. Friends have lured bass in the channel between elk and beaver lake using a black/brown leach pattern with a sinking tip.
Durrance Lake - This is a smaller lake that used to be quite remote back in the day, but now it's becoming a bit of a party lake with teens and people using the lake for topless and nude sunbathing. Not bad if you're there for the summer scenery when you're fishing. I have had TREMENDOUS luck on this lake with a green mayfly. I just wait to see a few rises in the evening and cast into the rises. I've landed some very nice Kokanee in this lake upwards of 4lbs (I honestly though it was going to break my rod). Very common to land pan-fry rainbows all year long here. If you get too close to shore with your casts you'll end up with sunfish as the lake is full of them as well.
Florence Lake - This lake is out in the westshore and it's very shallow, murky and weedy. It's GREAT for dry fly fishing all year round for small pan-fry Rainbows. The lake is known for it's bass fishing as well as sunfish and perch. There used to be a dock you could cast from as the lake is not very populated with anglers, but I haven't fished this lake in a long time.
Glen Lake - Another small lake that is known for bass, perch, crappy and I think it's also stocked with rainbow. I've never had luck on this lake, but there's a fishing/swimming dock. My son and I have fished here on the dock in the off season when there's nobody swimming from the dock. Access to the dock is via the Galloping Goose trail, but you can also drive the end of Anders Road, park and walk a few meters to the right and you can't miss it. I'm certain there's a boat launch at the other end of the lake, but I can't recall. Only thing we've caught is sunfish here.
Ida Anne - VERY small lake that most people don't know about. It's not a fly-fishing lake that I can see as it's mostly for spin-casting. My son fishes here a lot and catches pan-fry rainbows and bass.
Langford Lake - This is "THE" lake to fish if you live out in the westshore. Even if you don't it's worth venturing out to it. It has a large fishing dock system for spin casters and you can launch a boat/belly-boat from the beach at the end of Leigh Place. This lake has an aerator that was installed in the middle of the lake and the fish just congregate around here. I've fish this with my kids trolling a red and green Doc Spratley. My neighbor frequents this lake and swears by using what looks like a white Dun cast into rises in the evening. People have caught some record-setting Rainbows in this lake (I'm aware of a friend who landed a 6lb rainbow that he put back after weighing).
Nanaimo Lakes (Lake 1) - The Nanaimo Lakes are is controlled/owned by Mosaic (odd that everywhere else in the province it's crown land leased to logging companies but on the island it's logging company owned and they grant access at their whim to the lakes. Nanaimo Lakes is a good 40 minutes outside of Nanaimo and Lake 1 had great fishing. Recently (2021) Mosaic gated off access to Lake 2, so the public can now only fish Lake 1. This has turned into a disaster as the lake is now fished out. A recent trip with the family confirmed this with catching 1 rainbow on a green Doc Spratley, but nothing else being caught over 5 days and nothing being seen on the fish finder on the bigger boat. I chatted with a couple that were fishing the river mouth (hubby anchored his belly boat on one side and the wife dry casted from shore. They also have never seen it this bad and they struck out all weekend.
Nanaimo Lake (Lake 2) - This is such a great lake to fish and it's a shame Mosaic has restricted access to it. If access is returned, then you can motor out and trail a leech pattern around the cliffs on the left side of the lake right up to the sandbar. I've had TREMENDOUS luck on this lake trolling a bright green caddis. I've had so much luck I actually took a picture of the fly I was using as I need to either get more or tie some myself.
If you make it out to the sandbar, bring a set of waders (warning: in the spring the river can be really moving so don't push your luck and get swept over). We'll fish the river and let it take the fly down to where it enters the lake. The fish congregate where the river flows in and it's just an incredible sensation. Remember the old LottoMax commercial with the guys fly-fishing the river? That's just like this and it's a dream. Make sure you bring bear spray with you just in case as it's been common over the years (pre 2021) to see bear, cougar, and elk prints on the sandbar area.
Nanaimo Lakes (Panther Lake) - this is a fly-fishing only, catch and release, electric motor only lake. Access is restricted by Mosaic, but if you're a member of the Nanaimo Fly Fishing Club, then they have a key (or at least that's the story I've heard). This is on my bucket list to fish before I die, so hopefully Mosaic will grant access here.
Nanaimo Lakes (others) - there's about 4 other lakes in the watershed area that can be fished or have been fished, but not by me or anyone I know. It would be great to get info on this and how they got past the restricted gates by Mosaic. I'm getting desperate to fish these lakes but I'm also not getting any younger so the time is slipping away.
Lois Lake - This hard to find lake is off the grid in Duncan and accessibly on weekends and stat holidays when there's no active logging. I've fished here a couple times but ever since the show 2 Men and their Fishing Rods featured the lake, it's become "crowded". There is limited parking at the end of the logging road and a small spot where you can launch a boat. On a long weekend in November, we ventured here and there was snow on the ground. We headed out and trolled attractor patterns as this lake is very dark and murky. I kid you not - the BIGGEST rainbow trout I've ever caught came out of this lake. All the fish were extremely dark in color likely due to the peat in the lake but they were just massive. To put this into perspective, these fish needed to be held with 2 hands as there were as big as pink salmon. Went back a year later and the lake was crowded and nothing showed up up on our fish finders. Between 2 boats, nobody caught anything either trolling or dry casting. I think people were taking the trophy fish as opposed to returning them back to the lake and it's now fished out. It was very sad to see.
Prior Lake - I've never fished this lake as it's a nude beach lake. There is a fishing dock that you can fish from in the off-season when nudists are not all over the dock. I'm sure you could hike in your belly boat, but that's a bit of a trek.
Prospect Lake - I'm not a fan of this lake as it's infested with Canadian Geese. It's a smaller lake and very similar to Beaver and Elk Lakes.
Spectacle Lake - Top of the Malahat and is known for brown trout although I've never caught one or seen one come out of here. My son and I fished this lake in the fall and we had a long hike with our inflatable down to the beach. The lake was swarming with spin casters from the shore who can fire their casts 100ft into the middle of the lake somehow and would then yell at us if we got close to their lines. It was like navigating a minefield. We started dry fly casting around the lake but didn't get a bite so we thought we'd troll some leech patterns. Also unlucky. We didn't have any luck at all, but I'd love to hear if anyone has caught anything on a fly out of here.
Thetis Lake - Nice big lake with lots of places to fish. In the off-season (when people are not sunbathing), you can make your way over to the cliff jumping area and troll and a green wooly bugger or black leech fly to land some nice Rainbow. I've also had plenty of luck with a red Doc Spratley. I've also enjoyed casting an Adam's into rises and landing rainbow.
There's like a bunch of others, but these are my main ones or the ones I know about. I had a Telus installer come to the house and he saw all my gear and we spent nearly an hour talking about fishing. He does a lot of river fishing in the Cowichan and showed me some incredible brown trout pics. I'd like to get up there sometime, but I'm not sure where to start.
