Maple Lake is a small lake close to Courtenay, but don’t let its size fool you. It is a great fishing lake with decent-sized trout and It’s close enough to town to get away for a quick afternoon of fishing. It is a favourite of locals, with both beginners and experts enjoying the fishing here. The Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. regularly stocks it with catchable sized rainbow and cutthroat trout.
This is a shallow lake, and while people can and do fish year-round, the best fishing is in cooler weather. October to April are the best times to head out, and the rainbows and cutthroats are more active then. Maple Lake can be somewhat weedy along the shore, and it can be challenging to get your lure or fly out far enough. As a result, there are some shore fishing opportunities, but small boats work best. It’s a great lake for fly fishing, whether trolling streamers, casting dry flies or chironomid fishing.
It is located five km south of Courtenay. Take the Comox Valley Parkway off the Inland Island Hwy. (Hwy. 19) and turn left onto Minto Road. Drive past the cemetery and through the highway underpass to the parking lot. A Cartop boat launch is located about 200 m from the parking lot. There is a road from the parking lot to the launch area but it’s rough and requires a vehicle with good ground clearance. Electric motors only.
Rod Hamilton demonstrates the tying of flies that work well on Maple Lake.
Rod Hamilton, Cam Lewis and Dean Hodgson take you to Maple Lake for a day of very cold fishing. They show how to get to the lake, where to launch your boats and take you along as they land some lovely rainbows.
This is a very informative article by Rory Glennie on fishing little lakes such as Maple. It’s well worth a read.
Early Season Little Lakes
Roderick Haig-Brown wrote of little lakes, “To be little, I think a lake should be not more than a mile or two long.” Even at that modest size, given a good width, there is plenty of area to keep a fly fisher busy. Several come readily to mind; Maple Lake near Cumberland; Northy Lake at Black Creek; Long, Diver, Brannen lakes around Nanaimo; Quamichan in Duncan; Spider Lake near Qualicum Beach; Antler Lake at Gold River; Darkis perched above the Buttle Lake campground to name a few. To qualify as an “early season” little lake they need to be ice free and accessible the first of April or...
This the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC’s Stocking report for the lake. You can see, there are lots of fish there.
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Open in new tab This is a contour map of Maple Lake
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