Susan Lake sits near the south end of the Columbia Reach of Kinbasket Lake, a 45.9-hectare stillwater in the upper Columbia River drainage of the East Kootenay. It has carried brook trout almost every year since 1967, stocked with the same Aylmer strain that seeds much of the region's put-grow water.
The water
A 1973 Province of BC reconnaissance survey put Susan Lake at 45.9 hectares, with a maximum depth of 31 m and a mean depth of 11.8 m, a genuinely deep basin for a lake this size. Water clarity was recorded at 3.4 m (Secchi disk) and the surface ran a neutral pH of 7.2. That 31-metre hole is the defining feature: it holds cool, oxygenated water through the warmest weeks of summer long after a shallow pond would have pushed its fish into thermal stress.
Stocking
Susan Lake's brook trout program is one of the longer, steadier records in the region: 56 recorded releases of brook trout between 1967 and 2026, all but the earliest few years carrying the Aylmer strain, for roughly 372,000 fish stocked in total. The pattern has been remarkably consistent, fingerlings released almost every June, dropping from a typical 8,000-10,000 fish a year through the 1970s-90s to a steady 4,000 fish annually from 2005 onward, most recently 4,000 Aylmer fingerlings on June 10, 2026. A single, much older release also went in: 20,000 Beaver-strain rainbow trout fry in 1962, five years before the brook trout program began and never repeated. Treat any rainbow trout here as a historical footnote rather than a targetable population; brook trout are the lake's ongoing fishery.
Susan Lake — 392,417 fish stocked, 1962–2026
Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Brook Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | · | 4,000 |
| 2025 | · | 4,000 |
| 2024 | · | 4,000 |
| 2023 | · | 4,000 |
| 2022 | · | 4,025 |
| 2021 | · | 4,000 |
| 2020 | · | 4,000 |
| 2019 | · | 4,000 |
| 2018 | · | 4,000 |
| 2017 | · | 4,042 |
| 2016 | · | 4,000 |
| 2015 | · | 4,000 |
| 2014 | · | 4,000 |
| 2013 | · | 4,000 |
| 2012 | · | 4,000 |
| 2011 | · | 4,000 |
| 2010 | · | 4,000 |
| 2009 | · | 4,000 |
| 2008 | · | 4,000 |
| 2007 | · | 4,000 |
| 2006 | · | 4,000 |
| 2005 | · | 4,000 |
| 2004 | · | 8,000 |
| 2003 | · | 8,000 |
| 2002 | · | 8,000 |
| 2001 | · | 8,000 |
| 2000 | · | 8,000 |
| 1999 | · | 8,000 |
| 1998 | · | 8,000 |
| 1997 | · | 8,000 |
| 1996 | · | 8,000 |
| 1995 | · | 8,000 |
| 1994 | · | 8,000 |
| 1993 | · | 8,000 |
| 1992 | · | 8,000 |
| 1991 | · | 8,000 |
| 1990 | · | 8,000 |
| 1989 | · | 8,000 |
| 1988 | · | 8,000 |
| 1987 | · | 8,000 |
| 1986 | · | 8,000 |
| 1985 | · | 4,250 |
| 1984 | · | 10,000 |
| 1983 | · | 10,000 |
| 1982 | · | 10,000 |
| 1981 | · | 7,100 |
| 1979 | · | 10,000 |
| 1978 | · | 10,000 |
| 1976 | · | 10,000 |
| 1975 | · | 10,000 |
| 1974 | · | 6,000 |
| 1972 | · | 10,000 |
| 1970 | · | 10,000 |
| 1969 | · | 10,000 |
| 1968 | · | 10,000 |
| 1967 | · | 5,000 |
| 1962 | 20,000 | · |
That near-unbroken run, June after June for close to sixty years, is the honest fishing report: Susan Lake is a working put-grow fishery, not a legacy stock left to fend for itself, and the freshest fish in any given season are the fingerlings that went in that June.
The fishing
With no confirmed local angling reports on file, fish Susan Lake on the standard deep-lake program for stocked brook trout: work a chironomid under an indicator over the shoals and shallow bays early in the season, then follow the fish toward the drop-off and into deeper water as the shallows warm through summer. A Woolly Bugger or balanced leech fished slow on a full-sink line, or trolled, covers the same water column a fish would use to escape the heat in a basin this deep. Confirm forage and hatch timing locally before building a fly box around it; nothing has been surveyed on Susan Lake's insect life or baitfish specifically.
A deep basin needs depth, not just distance
Conditions
- Depth: max 31 m, mean 11.8 m, surface area 45.9 ha (Province of BC lake survey, "A Reconnaissance Survey of Susan Lake," 1973-05-31).
- Water clarity: Secchi depth 3.4 m.
- Water chemistry: surface pH 7.2, neutral.
Access & the rules
Susan Lake lies near the south end of Kinbasket Lake's Columbia Reach in the upper Columbia drainage. Exact launch, parking and any seasonal or private-land restrictions have not been confirmed and should be checked locally before a trip.
