Brook trout
Brook trout in BC lakes
An introduced char from eastern North America, stocked into BC lakes that would not grow much else, and the fish most likely to be biting when everything in the lake next door has shut down.
Telling it apart
The most decorated fish in the province: pale spots on a dark green body, red spots inside blue halos along the flank, and white leading edges on the lower fins that are visible from the boat. A brook trout is the easiest identification on this whole list.
Where it is
Small, cold, often high lakes, and a scattering of low ones. Brook trout are stocked where they suit the water rather than spread naturally, so the distribution in the table below is a record of stocking decisions as much as a map of habitat.
| Region | Lakes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kootenays | 69 | 30% |
| Okanagan | 44 | 19% |
| Thompson-Nicola | 39 | 17% |
| Omineca | 25 | 11% |
| Cariboo | 20 | 9% |
| Lower Mainland | 13 | 6% |
| Vancouver Island | 8 | 3% |
| Peace | 8 | 3% |
| Skeena | 4 | 2% |
How to fish for it
Shallow and close to shore for most of the season, which makes them the best fish here for a float tube or a bank. They feed in colder water than a rainbow will and they keep feeding under ice, so they carry the shoulders of the year. Small flies, small spoons, worms where bait is allowed. They spawn in autumn and the fish are at their most aggressive and their most beautiful in September and October.
| Lake | Biggest on record | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Fortress Lake | 11.75 lb | Fortress Lake Retreat lists a record brook trout of 11.75 lb; most run 3 to 6 lb. |
| Gardom Lake | 10 lb | A brook trout over 10 lb from Gardom was recalled on the BC Fishing Reports forum. |
| Red Lake | 8 lb | Brook trout of 8 lb are not unheard of at Red Lake, says Fishing with Rod. |
| Marquart Lake | 6.6 lb | Thompson-Nicola |
| Klinger Lake | 6 lb | Brook trout of 3 to 6 lb per a 2013 BC Fishing Reports thread near Houston. |
| Bruce Lake | 5.5 lb | Anglers have seen brook trout to 5.5 lb per a 2007 Peace Williston survey. |
| Snowshoe Lake | 4.4 lb | Kootenays |
| Beaverdam Lake | 4 lb | Brook trout to 4 lb through the ice per BC Adventure and Fish'n BC near Clinton. |
| Dugan Lake | 4 lb | Cariboo |
| Jewel Lake | 4 lb | Okanagan |
| Pinantan Lake | 4 lb | Thompson-Nicola |
| Tulip Lake | 4 lb | Thompson-Nicola |
Of the lakes on this page, 12 are catch and release water. That is a signal rather than a rule: what you may keep is in the Province's Synopsis, and the licence page explains where to read it.
Lakes to start with
Each of these has a page with its depth, its fish, the rule text we hold for it and a seven day forecast, and each is here because of the record beside it rather than because of its reputation.
- Gardom Lake 10 lb on record, Okanagan
- Red Lake 8 lb on record, Thompson-Nicola
- Bruce Lake 5.5 lb on record, Omineca
- Yellow Lake 4 lb on record, Okanagan
- Ferguson Lake 3.1 lb on record, Omineca
- Champion Lakes 3 lb on record, Kootenays
- Cobb Lake 2 lb on record, Omineca
- Raven Lake 2 lb on record, Cariboo
What these numbers are, and are not
The lake counts on this page come from the Province's fish observation records, plus angling reports where we hold them. An observation record says a fish was seen in that water on some date, and those dates run from this year back to the middle of the last century. A lake can appear here and no longer hold the fish, and a lake can hold it and never have been surveyed. Every lake page prints the year behind its own list, which is the honest version of this page's count.
The weights are reported figures, from guidebooks, from the Province and from anglers, gathered as each lake was researched. They are not official records and we do not claim they are.
Open the map: 1,843 BC lakes, each with a seven day forecast
Where to go next
- Every species in the atlas, with the lake count behind each.
- The trout and char of BC lakes, which tells all of them apart in one read.
- The licence and the rules, before you keep anything.