Suzanne Lake sits off the Jaffray-Baynes Lake Road east of the Kootenay River, a short drive from North Star Lake near Jaffray. It is a lake with two identities: a long-running put-and-take program of stocked rainbow trout, and a wild population of largemouth bass uncommon enough in the East Kootenay that it carries its own regulation exception.
The water
Provincial lake surveys put Suzanne at roughly 57 hectares, most recently 56.8 ha in a 1985 survey, with a maximum depth of 12 m and a mean of 5.8 m (secchi 5.9 m, pH 8.3). Go Fish BC describes it as roughly twice the size of nearby North Star Lake, which checks out against North Star's own 21-hectare footprint. The lake sits at the head of Suzanne Creek, part of the Bull River watershed.
The fishing
For rainbow trout, fish it like any small-lake stillwater: chironomids and Leeches worked over the deeper basin cover the stocked fish through spring and early summer, with the newest cohort of Blackwater yearlings usually going in every fall, so an early-season opener can find fish already a year into growing. Go Fish BC calls Suzanne "a great early-season opener" on the strength of that program.
The largemouth bass fishery runs on warmer-water tactics: floating lines to strip surface poppers and foam frog imitations along weed edges, or a Woolly Bugger or other large streamer fished sub-surface in the pockets between weed beds, the same hot-weather approach that works Suzanne's bass as the shallows warm through summer.
A regulation built around the bass
Access and the rules
Reach Suzanne Lake off the Jaffray-Baynes Lake Road near Jaffray, a short distance from North Star Lake. Go Fish BC describes it as a popular recreation lake, though the exact turnoff, launch and parking have not been pinned down beyond that; check current road conditions and access locally before heading out.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the rainbow side of the lake is worth the drive, the release record backs it up: 126 recorded stockings totalling roughly 1,030,000 fish since 1929. The modern program is Blackwater-strain rainbow trout only, typically 6,000 to 10,000 yearlings released every fall between September and November, sourced from the Kootenay Trout Hatchery near Premier Lake and the Dragon Lake Hatchery. The most recent release, on 2025-10-24, put in 10,408 rainbow averaging about 50 g. Brook trout were part of the historical program too, three releases totalling 36,000 fish, but none since 1970: the lake today is a rainbow-and-bass fishery, not a brook trout one. The full year-by-year release history is below.
Suzanne Lake — 1,025,330 fish stocked, 1929–2025
Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Brook Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10,408 | · |
| 2024 | 10,210 | · |
| 2023 | 10,263 | · |
| 2022 | 10,388 | · |
| 2021 | 10,000 | · |
| 2020 | 6,000 | · |
| 2019 | 6,000 | · |
| 2018 | 6,006 | · |
| 2017 | 10,000 | · |
| 2016 | 10,000 | · |
| 2015 | 15,000 | · |
| 2014 | 10,000 | · |
| 2013 | 10,000 | · |
| 2012 | 10,000 | · |
| 2011 | 10,000 | · |
| 2010 | 12,589 | · |
| 2009 | 11,000 | · |
| 2008 | 13,116 | · |
| 2007 | 2,000 | · |
| 2006 | 1,000 | · |
| 2005 | 1,000 | · |
| 2004 | 8,245 | · |
| 2003 | 25,000 | · |
| 2002 | 52,250 | · |
| 2001 | 5,100 | · |
| 2000 | 6,000 | · |
| 1999 | 9,437 | · |
| 1998 | 5,700 | · |
| 1997 | 5,000 | · |
| 1996 | 5,700 | · |
| 1995 | 5,175 | · |
| 1994 | 11,125 | · |
| 1993 | 42,100 | · |
| 1992 | 26,725 | · |
| 1991 | 5,125 | · |
| 1990 | 5,000 | · |
| 1989 | 5,000 | · |
| 1988 | 5,000 | · |
| 1987 | 5,000 | · |
| 1986 | 5,000 | · |
| 1985 | 5,000 | · |
| 1984 | 5,000 | · |
| 1983 | 3,500 | · |
| 1982 | 5,050 | · |
| 1981 | 8,800 | · |
| 1980 | 5,000 | · |
| 1979 | 5,000 | · |
| 1978 | 5,000 | · |
| 1977 | 5,000 | · |
| 1976 | 1,000 | · |
| 1975 | 8,000 | · |
| 1974 | 5,000 | · |
| 1973 | 10,000 | · |
| 1972 | 10,000 | · |
| 1971 | 6,000 | · |
| 1970 | 5,000 | 16,000 |
| 1969 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 1968 | 6,000 | 10,000 |
| 1966 | 17,600 | · |
| 1965 | 10,000 | · |
| 1964 | 20,130 | · |
| 1963 | 20,130 | · |
| 1962 | 20,020 | · |
| 1961 | 15,190 | · |
| 1960 | 4,250 | · |
| 1959 | 4,250 | · |
| 1958 | 41,400 | · |
| 1957 | 36,873 | · |
| 1955 | 35,800 | · |
| 1953 | 15,000 | · |
| 1952 | 15,000 | · |
| 1951 | 15,000 | · |
| 1950 | 10,000 | · |
| 1949 | 10,460 | · |
| 1948 | 10,000 | · |
| 1947 | 10,000 | · |
| 1946 | 14,000 | · |
| 1945 | 24,000 | · |
| 1944 | 10,000 | · |
| 1943 | 10,000 | · |
| 1942 | 10,000 | · |
| 1941 | 10,000 | · |
| 1940 | 9,465 | · |
| 1939 | 10,000 | · |
| 1938 | 9,500 | · |
| 1932 | 9,000 | · |
| 1931 | 12,000 | · |
| 1930 | 4,750 | · |
| 1929 | 14,500 | · |
Conditions
- Depth: max 12 m, mean 5.8 m, secchi 5.9 m, pH 8.3 (1985 provincial lake survey, 56.8 ha). Deep enough to hold rainbow through summer heat once they drop off the shallows.
- Stocking: 126 recorded releases and roughly 1,030,000 fish since 1929; today a Blackwater rainbow trout program only, 6,000-10,000 yearlings most falls, with brook trout stocking discontinued after 1970.
- Bass: a wild, unstocked largemouth bass population, unusual enough in Region 4 that Suzanne Lake is a named exception to the general closed bass season.
