Nanton Lake

Region

Lower Mainland

Management unit

MU 2-12

Species

Coastal Cutthroat Trout (last recorded 1994), Cutthroat Trout (last recorded 1993), Kokanee (last recorded 1993), Dolly Varden (last recorded 1993), Sculpin (General) (last recorded 1993)The newest of these fish records is from 1994.Species from the province's fish observation records.

Lake size

Medium Lake (50 - 500 ha)

Ice fishing

Open to ice fishing, confirmed

Coordinates

49.9153, -124.3247

A year is when the Province last recorded the fish here, not a statement that it is caught today.

Best times of year at Nanton Lake

• May - June
• September - October

18.7 km of traced road to the campground by way of Goat Lake Mainline, Sunshine Coast Trail and Dixon Rd. The road at the end is a loose surface. It stops 140 m short of the campground.

Coordinates: 49.9153, -124.3247

Camping and rec sites at Nanton Lake

• Nanton Lake

  Campsites

  19 designated

  To the shore

  41 m

  
  Access: Heading south from Powell River, turn left onto Dixon Road where it intersects with Highway 101/Sunshine Coast Highway. Set your odometer to zero. At 1.6 km Dixon Road turns into a gravel road. At 3.8 km turn left onto Goat Main Hook Up and stay right onto the Goat Main FSR. Keep left at 11.8 km at the Tin Hat Junction and at 18.8 km on the Goat Main FSR you will arrive at the Nanton Lake Recreation Site. NOTE: Odometer reading may vary from one vehicle to another and for up to date Western Forest Products industrial road information go to www.wfproadinfo.com
  Coordinates: 49.911642, -124.334118

  The site on Recreation Sites and Trails BC

28 mdeepest

Nanton Lake runs to 28 m (92 ft) at its deepest.

The Province sounded Nanton Lake and published the depth chart surveyed in 1972.

• Depth chart (PDF)

Modelled from air temperature, not an ice report. It says nothing about whether ice will hold you.

In the model Nanton Lake froze in 55 of the 65 winters since 1960. Freeze-up falls most years between 15 December and 16 January, and ice-off between 19 January and 11 March. The median winter freezes on 31 December and opens on 10 February.

the middle half of modelled winters the median ice cover in the median winter

Winter 2024-25 in the model: frozen from 1 February 2025 to 25 February 2025, 24 days.

Nanton Lake is open to ice fishing under the regulations on file.

Whether a lake is open to ice fishing says nothing about whether its ice will hold you. Ice conditions vary year to year and across a single lake. Check locally before going out, every time.

Averaged over a year, the air above Nanton Lake is 0.8 C warmer than it was in the 1960s. That is 66 years of daily readings, not a forecast.

• +0.8 Csince the 1960s
• 5.7 Caverage year now
• 4.9 Caverage year then
• -7 daysbelow freezing, change

Open Nanton Lake in the app

• Ireland Lake 3 km away
• Horseshoe Lake 3 km away
• Tony Lake 4 km away
• Little Horseshoe Lake 4 km away
• Beaver Lake 4 km away

All 133 lakes in the Lower Mainland, with today's conditions on each.

• How the score works
• Depth, and where the trout are
• A year on a trout lake
• Fishing chironomids
• Reading a depth chart
• Trout and char of BC lakes
• Camping at rec site lakes
• Winterkill explained
• When the ice goes off