Canuck Lake is one of five small stillwaters tucked inside Premier Lake Provincial Park, in the St. Mary River watershed of the East Kootenay. At 8.8 hectares it is a modest walk-in lake with no road or boat launch of its own: a hiking trail of one to four hours links it to Yankee Lake and Turtle Lake inside the park, with Rockbluff (Quartz) Lake and Cats Eye Lake nearby.
The water
Canuck shares its park and its watershed code with Premier Lake, the much larger stocked lake at the north end of the same provincial park. Unlike Premier, Canuck carries no gazetted depth survey, so there is no confirmed max or mean depth on file, only its surface area. The province's aggregate water-health read for the lake is good, drawn from roughly 80 recorded fish observations across its three stocked species; no mollusc bioindicator survey has been run here.
The fishing
No dedicated fishing report for Canuck itself has turned up. The honest read is that it fishes like the rest of the Premier Lake Park cluster: a small, shoal-and-drop-off stillwater best worked with chironomid under an indicator in spring and early summer, then leech and attractor patterns as the water warms through the season. At neighbouring Rockbluff, the same park's other walk-in lake, anglers fish chironomid Brassie and bloodworm patterns at 4-7 m and strip dragonfly-nymph imitations to shore in summer; that's a reasonable starting point for Canuck too, not a confirmed local pattern.
A long-running fry program
Access and the rules
There is no vehicle or boat access at Canuck itself. Reach it on foot from within Premier Lake Provincial Park, on the trail network connecting Yankee, Canuck and Turtle lakes (a one- to four-hour hike depending on route). The park's campground and boat launch, at Premier Lake's north end roughly 72 km NE of Cranbrook via Highway 93/95, is the usual base.
Before you fish
Stocking
The full year-by-year release history, coloured by species, is below: rainbow, brook and westslope cutthroat trout released since 1929, from the Province of BC (FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases) via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
Canuck Lake — 298,388 fish stocked, 1929–2025
Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Brook Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Cutthroat Trout | Brook Trout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2024 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2023 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2022 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2021 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2020 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2019 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2018 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2017 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2016 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2014 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2013 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2012 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2011 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2010 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2009 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2008 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2007 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2006 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2005 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2004 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2003 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2002 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2001 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 2000 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1998 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1997 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1996 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1995 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1994 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1993 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1992 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1991 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1990 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1989 | 500 | · | · |
| 1988 | 500 | · | · |
| 1987 | 3,000 | · | · |
| 1986 | 1,000 | · | · |
| 1985 | 2,000 | · | · |
| 1984 | 2,000 | · | · |
| 1983 | 2,000 | · | · |
| 1982 | 1,500 | · | · |
| 1979 | 3,000 | · | · |
| 1978 | 3,000 | · | · |
| 1977 | 3,000 | · | · |
| 1975 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1970 | 10,000 | · | · |
| 1969 | 10,000 | · | · |
| 1968 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1957 | · | 8,968 | · |
| 1955 | · | 9,000 | · |
| 1954 | 16,160 | 15,000 | · |
| 1953 | 11,585 | · | · |
| 1952 | 18,000 | · | · |
| 1951 | 6,000 | · | · |
| 1950 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1949 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1948 | 6,000 | · | · |
| 1947 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1946 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1945 | 5,000 | · | 10,000 |
| 1944 | 3,000 | · | · |
| 1943 | 3,500 | · | · |
| 1942 | 5,000 | · | 20,000 |
| 1941 | 3,175 | · | 20,000 |
| 1940 | 3,500 | · | 15,000 |
| 1939 | 5,000 | · | · |
| 1938 | 4,000 | · | · |
| 1933 | · | 3,000 | · |
| 1929 | 2,000 | · | · |
