Edwards Lakes is a small put-grow rainbow trout stillwater in the East Kootenay, sitting in the Kootenay River valley near the community of Grasmere, close to the Canada-U.S. border. It has carried a stocking program in one form or another since 1930, and today runs on an annual Blackwater R strain yearling plant, the same broodstock pipeline that also seeds Premier Lake further up the valley.
The water
Provincial survey crews measured Edwards Lakes at 33.2 hectares in 1958, a shallow bowl reaching just 7.9 m at its deepest point and averaging only 3 m across the basin. The survey's water-clarity reading that year, a secchi depth of 3 m, reached nearly to the average bottom, a sign of a clear, well-lit stillwater rather than a deep, stratified one. No public survey since 1958 has been found, so treat those numbers as historical rather than current.
Stocking
For a lake with no local fishing report on file, the stocking record is most of the fishing report available. Provincial hatchery records run from 1930 to 2026 and log 97 releases, all rainbow trout, totalling just over 1.14 million fish. The earliest plants were eyed eggs straight from wild broodstock, Pennask and Cottonwood strain through the 1930s, then Gerrard strain eggs, the same Kootenay Lake giant-rainbow lineage, in 1939 and 1940.
Edwards Lakes — 1,142,679 fish stocked, 1930–2026
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 8,000 |
| 2025 | 8,000 |
| 2024 | 8,000 |
| 2023 | 10,000 |
| 2022 | 10,000 |
| 2021 | 10,000 |
| 2020 | 10,000 |
| 2019 | 6,700 |
| 2018 | 10,000 |
| 2017 | 10,000 |
| 2016 | 10,003 |
| 2015 | 10,000 |
| 2014 | 15,000 |
| 2013 | 10,000 |
| 2012 | 10,000 |
| 2011 | 10,000 |
| 2010 | 10,000 |
| 2009 | 14,941 |
| 2008 | 35,000 |
| 2007 | 5,000 |
| 2006 | 5,000 |
| 2005 | 5,000 |
| 2004 | 13,600 |
| 2003 | 15,700 |
| 2002 | 10,000 |
| 2001 | 10,000 |
| 2000 | 10,000 |
| 1999 | 10,000 |
| 1998 | 10,000 |
| 1997 | 10,000 |
| 1996 | 9,000 |
| 1995 | 10,000 |
| 1994 | 9,000 |
| 1993 | 10,000 |
| 1992 | 10,000 |
| 1991 | 10,000 |
| 1990 | 10,000 |
| 1989 | 10,000 |
| 1988 | 10,000 |
| 1987 | 10,000 |
| 1986 | 10,000 |
| 1985 | 12,000 |
| 1984 | 15,000 |
| 1983 | 15,000 |
| 1981 | 15,000 |
| 1980 | 15,000 |
| 1979 | 15,000 |
| 1978 | 15,000 |
| 1977 | 20,000 |
| 1976 | 15,000 |
| 1975 | 15,000 |
| 1974 | 15,000 |
| 1973 | 12,000 |
| 1972 | 10,000 |
| 1971 | 10,000 |
| 1970 | 20,000 |
| 1969 | 10,000 |
| 1968 | 8,000 |
| 1964 | 21,000 |
| 1963 | 9,060 |
| 1962 | 10,000 |
| 1961 | 9,660 |
| 1960 | 10,050 |
| 1959 | 7,500 |
| 1956 | 7,200 |
| 1955 | 12,650 |
| 1954 | 5,040 |
| 1953 | 20,000 |
| 1952 | 20,000 |
| 1951 | 25,275 |
| 1950 | 26,400 |
| 1949 | 25,000 |
| 1947 | 30,000 |
| 1946 | 24,500 |
| 1945 | 20,000 |
| 1944 | 24,000 |
| 1943 | 28,000 |
| 1942 | 30,000 |
| 1941 | 24,000 |
| 1940 | 23,400 |
| 1939 | 25,000 |
| 1938 | 20,000 |
| 1931 | 8,000 |
| 1930 | 12,000 |
The modern program is steadier and smaller in scale: a Blackwater R strain yearling plant every spring since at least 2016, 8,000 to 10,000 fish a year, most recently 8,000 yearlings in April 2026. Release records credit both the Dragon Lake and Premier hatchery pipelines as the source, the same Blackwater R broodstock program that also seeds Premier Lake and other East Kootenay put-grow stillwaters. That makes Edwards Lakes a classic put-grow fishery: this year's yearlings are next season's catch, growing on the lake's natural forage rather than being caught the week they go in.
The fishing
Edwards Lakes doesn't carry a public angling report or guide write-up beyond its stocking record, so treat it as an honest put-grow stillwater rather than a proven destination. The standard play on a shallow (7.9 m max, 3 m average), rainbow-only stillwater like this is a chironomid pattern fished under an indicator over the shoal water in spring and early summer, the Chironomid Under Indicator rig is the usual starting point, then leech and scud imitations worked along whatever drop-off structure the basin holds as the shallows warm. Match tactics to the season and confirm against a local report before you commit a trip.
A Kootenay hatchery lineage
Access and the rules
No confirmed boat launch, parking area or public access point is on record for Edwards Lakes. The lake sits in the Kootenay River valley near Grasmere, close to the Canada-U.S. border. Treat this as an access-check water: confirm a put-in and any private-land or seasonal restrictions locally before committing a day to it.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Depth: the province's 1958 survey put Edwards Lakes at 7.9 m at its deepest, averaging just 3 m across a 33.2-hectare basin, a shallow stillwater with no deep refuge, so expect the whole water column to warm through summer.
- Stocking: a Blackwater R strain rainbow trout yearling program every spring since at least 2016 (8,000 to 10,000 fish), part of the same broodstock pipeline that supplies Premier Lake; historical eyed-egg plantings date back to 1930, including Gerrard strain eggs in 1939 and 1940.
