The water
Cherry Lake sits at 1,227 m elevation in the McGillivray Range, between Cranbrook and Lake Koocanusa. It covers roughly 38.4 hectares, running to a maximum depth of about 13 m and a mean depth of about 6.6 m, deep enough to hold fish through the heat of summer without a full shoal-to-shoal warm-up. The country around it is rugged and lightly travelled, and the lake doubles as a favourite fall base camp for local hunters.
The fishing
There is no hatchery truck behind this fishery: Cherry Lake carries a wild, self-sustaining population of rainbow trout and westslope cutthroat trout, numerous but small at 20 to 30 cm, and eager surface feeders once the shoals warm. Pale Morning Duns, Blue-Winged Olives and Tom Thumbs in sizes 12 to 16 all take fish confidently on top. If the rise slows, work the southwest end near the drop-off with a Prince Nymph or Hare's Ear in sizes 10 to 14, fished from the shallows down into deeper water. It is textbook small-lake stillwater fishing, close in spirit to the dry-fly approach anglers use on small East Kootenay cutthroat streams.
Access and the rules
Cherry Lake is remote. From Jaffray, follow the Jaffray/Baynes Lake Road south 16.3 km to the Kikomun Road junction (Four Corners), then west on Kikomun Road 5.7 km across the single-lane Bailey bridge, then onto the signed Caven Creek Forest Service Road for 23.2 km to the signed Cherry Lake FSR junction (just past the 38 km marker), then 3.8 km to the Cherry Lake Forest Recreation Site. The road can be rough; a high-clearance vehicle is recommended. The site itself has a small cleared tent area and a small cartop boat launch, with no other facilities.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Depth: max about 13 m, mean about 6.6 m: a small, moderately deep stillwater with the southwest drop-off as the key structural feature to fish.
- Stocking: no stocking record. Cherry Lake holds a self-sustaining wild population of rainbow and westslope cutthroat trout rather than a hatchery-supported fishery.
