Main Lakes Quadra Island

[Eric Reesor]

I am new to this forum so I have no idea whether or not advanced still water fly fishing techniques are actively discussed here or not.

In mid June next year I will be camping on Quadra Island. I have always wanted to try for Cutts on the Main Lakes group. I use an Outcast Stealth and am just wondering if anyone here has ever tried still water fly fishing with scuds on those beautiful little lakes? I know sticklebacking the shallows should work well there for the Cutts but I have a hunch that under the right conditions there might be very good scud fishing to be had. Cutts in my experience are quite leader shy but if there is a little chop then they might just take to the shallows to feast on the shrimp without worrying about birds of prey as they are wont to do in crystal clear still waters of those beautiful lakes.

Getting out rowing and searching for the right spot is what is best about still water fly fishing and is what it is all about IMO, but also knowing what to fish and where and when has played a major roll in my success as a still water fisherman over the years. Sharing information is important as is not jumping to conclusions about what works best on any given day or on any body of water. I have yet to fish with scud on the West Coast and wonder if it might be a missing link in how to still water fish for the elusive Oncorhynchus clarkii on both Vancouver Island and places like the incredibly beautiful Quadra Island lakes. Certainly trolling around a worm on lakes like Sprout all day is boring as all get out and at best a very uninteresting undertaking to say the least. When the bite is on with Garramus, leaches, mayfly, caddis and chironomid the fun is the most rewarding fishing imaginable IMO, far and away more rewarding than setting down riggers and puttering along on ponds as most are wont to do while fishing here in BC.

When I have had a chance to have good look at those incredible lakes I did notice that there is very little signs of large caddis populations that would excite the fish into taking pupa and dry. But as we all know that can be very deceptive and there might be times that the lakes turn on with caddis. Big mistake would be to not take both chironomid and caddis along just incase things happen.

I have read from the studies done on those lakes that the scuds are extremely plentiful as the water is well oxygenated and the bottom habit is ideal for large populations of Gammarus and their tiny relative, the bane of all flyfishers the tiny Hyalella. There are also reported to be decent populations of sculpin so the options using diverse wet fly techniques are certainly there on the Main Lakes. How well three spine stickleback are doing on the Main Lake would be interesting study because they certainly are almost extinct in most of the lakes around Victoria where I live and in most of Southern Vancouver Island lakes where trash fish like carp, perch and bass have come to rule the roost.

Hello to all fellow fisher men and women and above all best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year.
Eric

 

[Saltwedge]

Did you go? How was it? I’ll be there in July amd will camp for 2 nights and will try to fly fish for trout from our canoe and from shore. Cheers.

 

[Fishless]

Did you go? How was it? I’ll be there in July amd will camp for 2 nights and will try to fly fish for trout from our canoe and from shore. Cheers.

Would love to spend more time there,the road in is rough ,fish are smallish....like to fish a #8 GP on a sink tip,...close to the lilies,a 11/2 lber is a trophy for sure....beautful area for sure

 

[Saltwedge]

GP?

 

[Fishless]

GP?

General practioner,...my go to for 75% of my fly fishing,seems to work almost anyware

 

[Saltwedge]

Ahh... thanks! Looks more like a saltwater or steelhead fly to me... take care!

 

[Eric Reesor]

Did you go? How was it? I’ll be there in July and will camp for 2 nights and will try to fly fish for trout from our canoe and from shore. Cheers.

Sorry @Saltwedge I didn't manage to get my outcast stealth frameless pontoon boat onto the Main lakes to actually go fishing again this year. No time whatsoever to fish. Other than camping and hiking in the south end we did very little other than finally get away from the traffic and recent big city madness that now is destroying all peace and quiet in the Greater Victoria Area. It was beautiful but painful to see the damage being done by poorly thought out over development around Campbell River and all over Vancouver Island for that matter. Fortunately the Nootka Rose, Fox Glove and countless other beautiful sights were in full glory so the trip was wonderful even though we did not eat any fish whatsoever on the trip aside from a can of good old Brunswick Sardines on crackers with cream cheese that is. Oh and one can of smoked kippers. I do eat fresh water fish but only if they are bleeding from the gills enough that letting them go is not an option and it is legal to retain them. The fresh water indigenous species here on the West Coast are far too precious to consider as being just a grocery instead of the marvels of nature which they certainly are.

Sherry and I did finally manage to drive up and take a peek at the lakes and I saw some really nice looking bugs coming off. Some intermediate sized light brown caddis that would be very nicely imitated by a Goddard size 12-14, but no fish taking them on the surface. The fish were most likely taking pupa down in the 7-12 foot water but the hatch was sparse so the fish would no doubt be cruising picking off random bugs. One would be best to drift slowly kicking with the line out kick boat style certainly not paddling a canoe trolling a caddis pupa, which can be a sure recipe for disaster! A Wooly Bugger trolled on a type 3 might work in a canoe but one would definitely need to use a rod holder or face taking a swim to get the rod back if a fish hit hard. Something which I have seen happen on the interior lakes of British Columbia and has happened to me once. For me the disaster occured on Roche Lake where I lost a rod overboard by not having it in my rod holder and moving to pull up an anchor to try a different spot as the hatch slowed. The rod was out of the boat before I could even swing around and grab it from in front of my legs. I watched in horror as the trout pulled it away as it sunk down to davy jones's locker way out of my reach. If I was younger I would have followed it down and at least tried to grab it but I doubt even Summer McIntosh would have managed to get that fishing rod back, the fish was a rocket rainbow and was most likely in the 5lb plus class because it didn't even bother jumping when it felt the hook it just tore off like a huge bone fish on me, the RAT!

The great thing about fly fishing for cutthroat is; cutthroat like all ecologically smart fish do not like to expose themselves close to the surface when there are eagles around on a bright sunny day or even on slightly cloudy days without wind to ripple the lake surface. Chances are on the incredible Main Lakes on Quadra Island one would do better sticklebacking with a green rolled muddler if the cutts are close to shore chasing fry. Out further from shore a Mickey Finn or Wooly Bugger is usually the hot ticket on fresh water lakes slow and down at least 6-10 feet where the fish near the thermocline can come up and smash them and race away before an eagle sees them roll as they take the fly, sheer poetry in fishing and for me the most beautiful of all experiences fishing for cutthroat in still waters. But one never knows with O. Clarkii (Cutthroat trout) can surprise the fisherman and take a caddis pupa or hairs ear nymph like an Rainbow trout if a really big emergence suddenly comes on but not commonly on the surface like Rainbows do (O. Mykiss) to be species specific! As Roderick Haig-Brown so rightfully claimed. I have done really well fishing for both fresh water and anadromous Cutthroats all over Vancouver Island on the fly and dearly miss that once incredible fishery indeed with eagles in nests waiting for a fish to make a mistake and show themselves and fishermen and women making mistakes and feeding loons and eagles trying to bring in their catch before the resident predators do. On some lakes where the loons are educated and so are the fishermen it is common to have a small fish taken right off ones hook by hungry loons. That is why we fish barbless on our lakes we are not barbarians and do not wish to harm the resident flora and fauna. I have had loons swim right under my Outcast Stealth and Bucks pontoon boats and take a small fish that I just released. Fortunately for the fish that are larger, loons by and large ignore fish over about 14 inches in length in my experience fly fishing over the years. But as far as the wild life getting to my catch first: all bets are off on the great planted and some of the natural reproducing Kokanee lakes here in BC. If the fish is legal the loon or eagle had better not get my dander up because the BBQ calls. BUT if there is a nest anywhere with chicks I see no reason to get my dander up at all and make magnanimous exceptions and do not complain about fish robberies by the hungry wild life of BC in the slightest. On the Bulkeley River or other similar salmon rivers if a grizzly wants a fish I just hooked then certainly I make a rational exception to my hunger for catching a wonderful and delicious salmonidae!

The Cutthroat on the very best lakes in BC are not necessarily huge but indeed one can be very surprised with a 6 weight fly rod and a 5 lb plus cutthroat if one studies the water and knows the fisheries well. My best fish on Vancouver Island was about 3 lbs on the fly, but I have seen a great many 4 lb plus beautiful and great eating cutthroat taken on a quite few Vancouver Island lakes over the 50 plus years of my life I have been here. They were once very abundant on very many lakes like Shawnigan, Elk and Beaver, Langford and a great many wonderful lakes like Sprout, Great Central, Woss and very many other incredible lakes all over this once incredible Island and many other parts of BC were anglers call home.

All Sherry and I managed to do this year on Quadra Island was see one humpback whale out in the ship channel and watch the ubiquitous flotilla of guide boats and tourists trying to hook early (Georgia Straight) resident chinook or some poor little resident coho before it decided to run for cover in the Campbell or other local creek or river system before the major runs and the larger fish from up north start in earnest in the early fall. I did not even bother to sling a mini buzz bomb on the rip tide from the campsite with permission from the We-wai-kai campsite owners, though just about everyone else camping there was doing it there this June. Which is just as well because unfortunately this June very little needle fish to speak came in on the rip and no heavy signs of gulls feeding off the schools of herring chased by the seals as there once was in abundance in that once incredibly productive area of BC.

The only extremely interesting sighting during the trip to Quadra Island this year was to witness a newer super sized deep draft Carnival Cruise ship come roaring up past Cape Mudge. As a result of the speed it was going it had to give a really dumb boater trolling very slowly 3 super loud blasts off the big horn and then 5 as it rounded Cape Mudge and headed for Ripple Rock in a race before the tide reversed. From what I saw the owner and want-to-be sunk occupants of the offending 16 or 18 foot Campion shaped sea going sport boat in the ship channel must have not had time to use the electric Scotties before the ship was on them. My bet is that the porta pottie most likely under the bow storage was used heavily by the skipper after that little bit of less than adequate seamanship! The usual nonsense of hell bent for leather boating madness that goes on near Cape Mudge and Campbell river after the salt water fishing season opens up. And I thought that the US mega corporations that have billion dollar floating casinos was boycotting our waters at the behest of their leader, too bad they didn't even thought they still have to pay to sani-dump in Vancouver and Victoria and our water is getting more expensive than diesel fuel in their minds. Amazing how loud the horns are on those cruise ships/floating casinos are when necessary the standard and very necessary warning sound blasts vibrated our trailer windows in our rented campsite from over a kilometer away. It was something to behold a gigantic cruise ship almost running over a ship of fish crazed fools.

Well maybe next year I might actually get a chance to fish on those enigmatic and wonderful little lakes on Quadra! My wife took all the pictures so they are on her phone, I took a few but certainly nothing of any real interest to anyone on this fish mongering oriented web site. So nothing to report the same as my salt water license and steelhead tickets that as a senior I am obligated to report my catches and even where I choose to fish each year.

Eric Reesor.