Windermere Lake

Region

Kootenays

Management unit

MU 4-25

Species

Rainbow Trout, Burbot, Largemouth Bass, White Sturgeon, Mountain Whitefish, Westslope Cutthroat Trout (last recorded 1995), Bull Trout (last recorded 1993), Kokanee (last recorded 1994), Dolly Varden (last recorded 1977), Walleye (last recorded 1975), Brook Trout (last recorded 1925), Northern Pikeminnow, Prickly Sculpin, Pumpkinseed, Redside Shiner, Peamouth Chub, Largescale Sucker, Longnose Sucker, Floater Mussel (General), Winged Floater Mussel, Ninespine Stickleback (last recorded 1993), Sturgeon (General) (last recorded 1993), Sucker (General) (last recorded 1993), Torrent Sculpin (last recorded 1977), Chiselmouth (formerly Chiselmouth Chub) (last recorded 1977), Longnose Dace (last recorded 1977), Tidepool Sculpin (last recorded 1975)The newest of these fish records is from 2021.Species from the province's fish observation records.

Lake size

Large Water (> 500 ha)

Ice fishing

Open to ice fishing, confirmed

Coordinates

50.4497, -115.9889

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

Best times of year at Windermere Lake

• May - June
• September - October

1.6 km of traced road to the shore by way of Ash St, Victoria Ave and Windermere Rd. The road at the end is a rough surface. It stops 580 m short of the shore.

Coordinates: 50.4497, -115.9889

6.4 mdeepest3.4 mmean

Windermere Lake runs to 6.4 m (21 ft) at its deepest, by the Province survey, 1980.

The mean of 3.4 m (11 ft) is read off the same chart, surveyed in February 1980.

The Province sounded Windermere Lake and published the depth chart surveyed in 1980. It runs to 3 sheets.

• Depth chart 1 OF 1 (PDF)
• Depth chart 1 OF 2 (PDF)
• Depth chart 2 OF 2 (PDF)

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

In the model Windermere Lake froze in 65 of the 65 winters since 1960. Freeze-up falls most years between 4 November and 20 November, and ice-off between 1 April and 18 April. The median winter freezes on 12 November and opens on 9 April.

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

Winter 2024-25 in the model: frozen from 23 November 2024 to 29 March 2025, 126 days.

Windermere 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 Windermere Lake is 0.7 C warmer than it was in the 1960s. That is 66 years of daily readings, not a forecast.

• +0.7 Csince the 1960s
• 6.0 Caverage year now
• 5.3 Caverage year then
• -5 daysbelow freezing, change

Open Windermere Lake in the app

• Dorothy Lake 6 km away
• Lillian Lake 10 km away
• Wilmer Lake 13 km away
• Lake Enid 15 km away
• Whitetail Lake 25 km away

All 162 lakes in the Kootenays, 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