Whitetail Lake sits at the head of Whitetail Creek, on the east side of the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy south of Invermere, in BC's upper Columbia Valley. The nearest town is Canal Flats. Kootenay Region fisheries biologist Heather Lamson calls it a trophy lake in her regional round-up for Go Fish BC, and the stocking record backs that up: this is one of the heaviest annual rainbow trout plants of any small lake in the East Kootenay.
The water
The lake covers roughly 162 hectares by the 1959 provincial survey, running to a maximum depth of 19.2 m with a mean of 9.8 m. That is real depth for a stillwater this size, with a defined basin rather than a shallow bowl, so expect a shoal-and-drop-off structure: skinny water for the spring bite, then a deep core to fall back on once the shallows warm. Whitetail Creek drains the lake north into the Columbia system through the Radium-Invermere-Fairmont corridor, the same stretch of country that carries Dutch Creek and its tributary family.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the drive is worth it, the release record is the fishing report. Whitetail has been stocked since 1961, 103 recorded releases and roughly 866,000 fish, and it has run almost entirely on rainbow trout since: brook trout appear only in three plants between 1967 and 1969, long enough ago that no current population is confirmed. The modern program stacks two rainbow strains every spring, most recently on April 29, 2026: 10,000 Blackwater-strain yearlings from the Dragon Lake hatchery alongside 2,000 Pennask-strain yearlings from Beaver. That combined ~12,000-fish spring plant, on top of decades of Gerrard, Duncan River and Fraser Valley-strain releases in earlier years, is what earns the "trophy lake" description.
Whitetail Lake — 858,000 fish stocked, 1961–2026
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 | 12,000 | · |
| 2025 | 12,000 | · |
| 2024 | 12,000 | · |
| 2023 | 12,000 | · |
| 2022 | 12,000 | · |
| 2021 | 12,000 | · |
| 2020 | 12,000 | · |
| 2019 | 12,000 | · |
| 2018 | 12,000 | · |
| 2017 | 12,000 | · |
| 2016 | 16,780 | · |
| 2015 | 12,000 | · |
| 2014 | 12,000 | · |
| 2013 | 12,000 | · |
| 2012 | 12,000 | · |
| 2011 | 10,000 | · |
| 2010 | 10,000 | · |
| 2009 | 10,000 | · |
| 2008 | 3,996 | · |
| 2007 | 12,181 | · |
| 2006 | 10,000 | · |
| 2005 | 12,000 | · |
| 2004 | 22,000 | · |
| 2003 | 12,000 | · |
| 2002 | 12,000 | · |
| 2001 | 12,000 | · |
| 2000 | 22,000 | · |
| 1999 | 12,000 | · |
| 1998 | 22,000 | · |
| 1997 | 18,473 | · |
| 1996 | 10,000 | · |
| 1995 | 10,000 | · |
| 1994 | 10,000 | · |
| 1993 | 10,000 | · |
| 1992 | 10,000 | · |
| 1991 | 10,000 | · |
| 1990 | 10,000 | · |
| 1989 | 10,000 | · |
| 1988 | 10,000 | · |
| 1987 | 15,000 | · |
| 1986 | 15,000 | · |
| 1985 | 23,500 | · |
| 1984 | 10,000 | · |
| 1983 | 15,000 | · |
| 1982 | 15,000 | · |
| 1981 | 8,835 | · |
| 1980 | 29,855 | · |
| 1979 | 6,800 | · |
| 1974 | 40,000 | · |
| 1973 | 55,000 | · |
| 1972 | 50,000 | · |
| 1971 | 35,000 | · |
| 1969 | · | 4,000 |
| 1968 | · | 10,000 |
| 1967 | · | 3,600 |
| 1964 | 10,010 | · |
| 1963 | 10,450 | · |
| 1962 | 10,020 | · |
| 1961 | 15,500 | · |
Two strains, one spring drop
The fishing
Whitetail turns over and ices off in April, and reports from the region's stillwater rotation put it fishing well through that early window: balanced leeches carry the lake before the hatch gets going, then chironomid and Callibaetis mayfly hatches pick up by mid-May as fish move onto the shoals. Work a chironomid under an indicator over the shoal margins early, switch to a Balanced Leech or bead-head nymph as the turnover settles, and use the depth the 1959 survey shows, out to 19 m, to find fish once the shallows warm and the shoal bite fades. Whitetail is named alongside Premier, Whiteswan, Moose, Echo and Lazy lakes as one of the East Kootenay's go-to early-season small stillwaters.
Access and the rules
Whitetail Lake has a boat launch and dock, confirmed by a Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC photo from the lake. The nearest town is Canal Flats, at the height of land between the Columbia and Kootenay valleys; confirm the exact access road and any seasonal restrictions before you commit a day, since no detailed route description is on file for this lake.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Depth: max 19.2 m, mean 9.8 m (BC lake survey, 1959-06-17). Deep enough for a real drop-off program once the shoals warm past the spring bite.
- Stocking: an active, heavy rainbow program, roughly 12,000 Blackwater and Pennask-strain yearlings stocked together each spring; 103 releases and about 866,000 fish total since 1961. Brook trout were stocked only in 1967-1969 and are not part of the current program.
- Season: part of the region's early-season stillwater rotation, turning over and coming alive through April, with chironomid and Callibaetis hatches building by mid-May.
