The Fishing Lakes are a chain of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley cottage country some 40 miles (64 km) to the northeast of Regina, Saskatchewan. The perimeters of Pasqua, Echo, Mission and Katepwa Lakes are the location of several provincial parks, public swimming beaches and are — where not public property or aboriginal reserves — intermittently built up with private cottages and youth summer camps. They are fed by the [[Qu'Appelle River]], by underground aquifers and by numerous creeks flowing through [[coulee]]s that open into the valley. Because the flow of water through the lakes is very sluggish — the Qu'Appelle river is little more than a small creek at this point in the Valley — and because the runoff from the surrounding farmland contains large amounts of farm fertilizer, the