Small Lakes Recreational Stocking
Over the spring and fall of 2024, our hatcheries raised and released 6.14 million rainbow trout, coastal cutthroat trout, westslope cutthroat trout, eastern brook trout, and kokanee into 668 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 147,314 rainbow trout, 6,950 kokanee and 9,250 coastal cutthroat trout.
Region 2: Lower Mainland
40 lakes stocked with 90,116 rainbow trout and 4,000 coastal cutthroat trout.
Region 3: Thompson-Nicola
171 lakes stocked with 794,500 rainbow trout, 189,200 kokanee, and 128,780 brook trout.
Region 4: Kootenay
102 lakes stocked with 225,341 rainbow trout, 127,200 kokanee, 14,750 brook trout, and 4,650 westslope cutthroat.
Region 5: Cariboo
98 lakes stocked with 1,683,674 rainbow trout, 1,264,730 kokanee, and 62,500 brook trout.
Region 6: Skeena
12 lakes with 40,000 rainbow trout, 4,300 kokanee, and 11,000 brook trout.
Region 7A: Omineca
54 lakes with 221,000 rainbow trout, 85,800 kokanee, and 62,500 brook trout.
Region 7B: Peace
15 lakes with 31,150 rainbow trout and 12,000 brook trout.
Region 8: Okanagan
120 lakes with 875,059 rainbow trout, 13,800 kokanee, and 29,450 brook trout.
Coastal Rivers Anadromous Stocking
In partnership with the provincial and federal governments, we released 261,139 steelhead smolts into six rivers in the Lower Mainland, and 58,152 for release into the Somass River on Vancouver Island. Our Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery also released 6,539 anadromous coastal cutthroat smolts 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