Wilimena Lake is a small stillwater in the Elk River watershed in the East Kootenay, close to Line Creek. It carries a long but intermittent provincial stocking record, five documented releases of westslope cutthroat trout between 1985 and 2022, all Connor strain, which reads as a put-grow lake that gets topped up every decade or so rather than every spring.
The water
The lake's watershed code places it in the same drainage family as Line Creek, a tributary system that in turn feeds the Elk River. Little else about Wilimena is confirmed: surface area, depth, shoreline and any launch or trail are not documented, and the mapped coordinate is the provincial fish-presence point rather than a surveyed centroid, so treat the pin as approximate until a local report narrows it down.
The fishing
With no current report to draw on, fish Wilimena on general stillwater lines until local information says otherwise: chironomids under an indicator over the shoals, and leech patterns or attractor retrieves along any drop-off. The stocking mix, all westslope cutthroat trout of Connor strain, is typical of a Kootenay-Columbia put-grow lake, but with releases this spread out, current fish size, density, and whether a self-sustaining population persists between plantings are all open questions.
An intermittent stocking record
Access and the rules
Confirm access, launch options and parking for Wilimena Lake locally before you go. No lake-specific closure or reduced limit applies, so the general Region 4 (Kootenay) rules govern.
