Fishing Doe Lake in Cowichan Valley Regional District, British Columbia

• Overview

  Doe Lake belongs to Cowichan Valley Regional District, British Columbia. Height above sea level is 501 metres. Surface area runs to about 2 hectares — small enough to read in one session. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Cowichan Valley Regional District. Start from Lake Cowichan, 18 km down the road. Further out sit Youbou (21 km) and Duncan (36 km). It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Doe Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Open biodiversity records for Cowichan Valley Regional District list Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon and Coho salmon. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Work Doe Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 2°C in December to roughly 15°C in August. Ice comes and goes from one year to the next. Cover comes and goes, so treat it with suspicion rather than trust. March through May is the strongest run, with October and November a second stretch. Time your trip to Doe Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Dimple Lake at 2.8 km is the sensible second choice. Check the position at Doe Lake before loading the car.