The water
Brady Lake is a small stillwater in the Columbia River watershed, sitting in the uplands west of Columbia Lake near the Marion Creek and Major Creek drainages. A 1992 provincial survey put it at 4.9 hectares, with a maximum depth of 9.5 m and an average of 4.8 m: a small but genuinely two-tier basin, shallow shoal water ringing a deeper hole. Water clarity measured 6 m on a Secchi disk and pH ran a touch alkaline at 8.3, both unremarkable for the region's interior stillwaters.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the lake is worth a stop, the release record is the fishing report. Provincial hatchery records run from 1958 to 2026 and log 44 release events, all of them rainbow trout, totalling roughly 61,000 fish. The largest historical volume came from the Premier strain, about 29,000 fish stocked between 1971 and 2001, a program that ended more than two decades ago. The Beaver strain opened the record in 1958 and ran through 1993; Blackwater-strain fish went in periodically between 2002 and 2015.
Brady — 58,650 fish stocked, 1958–2026
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 750 |
| 2025 | 750 |
| 2024 | 750 |
| 2023 | 750 |
| 2022 | 750 |
| 2021 | 750 |
| 2020 | 750 |
| 2019 | 750 |
| 2018 | 750 |
| 2017 | 750 |
| 2016 | 750 |
| 2015 | 1,500 |
| 2014 | 500 |
| 2013 | 500 |
| 2012 | 500 |
| 2010 | 500 |
| 2008 | 500 |
| 2006 | 500 |
| 2004 | 400 |
| 2003 | 100 |
| 2002 | 400 |
| 2001 | 1,000 |
| 1999 | 1,000 |
| 1997 | 1,000 |
| 1995 | 1,000 |
| 1993 | 1,000 |
| 1992 | 1,000 |
| 1991 | 1,000 |
| 1990 | 1,000 |
| 1989 | 1,000 |
| 1988 | 1,000 |
| 1987 | 1,000 |
| 1986 | 1,000 |
| 1984 | 2,000 |
| 1982 | 4,000 |
| 1979 | 3,000 |
| 1977 | 3,000 |
| 1971 | 10,000 |
| 1970 | 3,000 |
| 1968 | 2,000 |
| 1962 | 4,000 |
| 1959 | 1,000 |
| 1958 | 1,000 |
The Pennask strain has both the longest run and the current program: stocked on and off since 1968, and every spring since at least 2021 without a gap, most recently 750 yearlings released in April 2026. That makes Pennask the lake's active, renewing cohort. Any rainbow you catch that trace back to the Premier, Beaver or Blackwater plantings would be legacy or self-sustaining fish rather than fresh stock, if any remain at all.
The fishing
Brady Lake fishes as a small, single-species stillwater: work the shoal-and-drop-off structure rather than searching open water. Early in the season, hang a Chironomid under an indicator over the shoals (Chironomid Under Indicator is the standard rig); as the shallows warm through summer, follow the drop toward the 9.5 m basin with a Woolly Bugger or a small leech pattern on a sinking line. Chironomids, Leeches and scuds are the general stillwater forage base to expect in a lake this size.
Before you fish
Access and the rules
No confirmed boat launch, parking area or shoreline access point has been found for Brady Lake. It sits in the uplands west of Columbia Lake, in the general vicinity of the Marion Creek and Major Creek drainages; treat this as an access-check water and confirm a route in, and any private-land or seasonal restrictions, before committing a day to it.
Conditions
- Depth: the 1992 provincial survey put Brady Lake at 9.5 m at its deepest, averaging 4.8 m across the basin, a small but two-tier stillwater with real shoal-to-drop-off structure.
- Clarity: a 6 m Secchi reading and a pH of 8.3 point to clear, slightly alkaline water typical of interior BC stillwaters.
