Small Lakes Recreational Stocking
Over the spring and fall of 2022, our hatcheries raised and released 6.1 million rainbow trout, coastal cutthroat trout, westslope cutthroat trout, eastern brook trout, and kokanee into 655 lakes across British Columbia. The fish are stocked from fry to catchable size to support the provincial recreational fishing program. Click on the links below to see the annual stocking summary report for each region of the province.
Region 1: Vancouver Island
56 lakes stocked with 146,931 rainbow trout and 10,595 coastal cutthroat trout.
Region 2: Lower Mainland
39 lakes stocked with 96,395 rainbow trout and 4,000 coastal cutthroat trout.
Region 3: Thompson-Nicola
163 lakes stocked with 805,000 rainbow trout, 124,800 kokanee, and 92,500 brook trout.
Region 4: Kootenay
108 lakes stocked with 242,154 rainbow trout, 137,075 kokanee, 14,775 brook trout, and 57,038 westslope cutthroat. Note – we also stocked 115,000 kokanee fry into Meadow Creek for the Kootenay Lake recovery initiative.
Region 5: Cariboo
97 lakes stocked with 1,976,533 rainbow trout, 1,254,410 kokanee, and 62,500 brook trout.
Region 6: Skeena
18 lakes with 54,000 rainbow trout, 4,300 kokanee, and 18,350 brook trout.
Region 7A: Omineca
55 lakes with 240,600 rainbow trout, 85,800 kokanee, and 60,000 brook trout.
Region 7B: Peace
11 lakes with 30,200 rainbow trout and 12,000 brook trout.
Region 8: Okanagan
108 lakes with 482,235 rainbow trout, 32,000 kokanee, and 18,400 brook trout.
Coastal Rivers Anadromous Stocking
In partnership with the provincial and federal governments, we raised 218,460 steelhead smolts for release into five rivers in the Lower Mainland, and 60,700 for release into the Somass River on Vancouver Island. Our Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery also released 10,135 anadromous coastal cutthroat trout into the Oyster River.
If you’re interested in learning more about the species and strains of fish we stock, check out the Stocked Strains section of our website.
The Freshwater Fisheries Society thanks the dedicated anglers of British Columbia who supported us, and the stocking program, through the purchase of their freshwater fishing licences this year.
Author: staff, Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC