Small Lakes Recreational Stocking
Over the spring and fall of 2025, our hatcheries raised and released 4.94 million rainbow trout, coastal cutthroat trout, westslope cutthroat trout, eastern brook trout, and kokanee into 673 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 145,721 rainbow trout, 6,948 kokanee and 10,780 coastal cutthroat trout.
Region 2: Lower Mainland
39 lakes stocked with 87,352 rainbow trout and 4,400 coastal cutthroat trout.
Region 3: Thompson-Nicola
167 lakes stocked with 742,950 rainbow trout, 194,700 kokanee, and 104,750 brook trout.
Region 4: Kootenay
106 lakes stocked with 228,134 rainbow trout, 137,700 kokanee, 14,250 brook trout, and 71,781 westslope cutthroat.
Region 5: Cariboo
97 lakes stocked with 1,210,875 rainbow trout, 1,007,639 kokanee, and 50,500 brook trout.
Region 6: Skeena
16 lakes with 51,000 rainbow trout, 4,300 kokanee, and 19,000 brook trout.
Region 7A: Omineca
48 lakes with 201,500 rainbow trout, 85,800 kokanee, and 53,250 brook trout.
Region 7B: Peace
12 lakes with 24,700 rainbow trout and 12,000 brook trout.
Region 8: Okanagan
120 lakes with 437,974 rainbow trout, 12,800 kokanee, and 26,950 brook trout.
Coastal Rivers Anadromous Stocking
In partnership with the provincial and federal governments, we released 225,961 steelhead smolts into six rivers in the Lower Mainland, and 49,940 for release into the Somass River on Vancouver Island.
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