The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stocked Stillwater

Eimar Lake

A small stillwater in the St. Mary River watershed, stocked on and off for nearly three decades with brook trout, cutthroat trout and finally rainbow trout, but with no releases logged since 2013.

The water

Eimar Lake is a small stillwater in the St. Mary River watershed of BC's East Kootenay. No survey giving its surface area, depth or clarity is on file, so treat it as an unconfirmed small lake until a local report or field check fills that in.

The fishing

Eimar Lake's whole recorded history is a stocking record, and it tells three distinct chapters. From 1986 to 2000, the province planted brook trout fingerlings and fry almost every year, 14 releases totalling 14,000 fish, all wild-origin Aylmer-strain stock, the kind of repeated small transplant used to try to build a self-sustaining population rather than a put-and-take put-and-pull fishery. In 2003 and 2005 that shifted to wild-origin Connor-strain cutthroat trout yearlings, 500 fish each release. Then, from 2009 to 2013, the program switched again to standard hatchery rainbow trout (Fraser Valley strain, spring catchable size), five releases totalling 1,275 fish, the last of them 200 fish on June 5, 2013. Nothing has been stocked since.

That leaves an honest question mark over what Eimar Lake fishes like today. Thirteen years without a release means any of the three species could persist as a residual, self-sustaining population, or the lake could have gone quiet. Until a current report confirms which, fish it with standard small-lake stillwater tactics: a chironomid under an indicator over the shoals in spring, a Woolly Bugger or other leech pattern worked along any drop-offs as the water warms, and a switch to attractor dries if you find fish rising in the evening.

waves
Stocked stillwater
St. Mary River watershed
history
1986–2013
21 recorded releases, 16,275 fish
set_meal
Brook, cutthroat, rainbow
three stocking eras, no overlap
schedule
Dormant since 2013
no release on record after that
egg

Read the stocking record as the fishing report

Eimar Lake has no fish-count survey on file, so this history is the best evidence of what has been in it: Aylmer-strain brook trout through the 1990s, Connor-strain cutthroat trout in the mid-2000s, and finally catchable Fraser Valley rainbow trout through 2013. Confirm locally what, if anything, is still holding on.

Stocking

Stocking record

Eimar — 16,275 fish stocked, 1986–2013

Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Brook Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.

YearRainbow TroutCutthroat TroutBrook Trout
2013200··
2012200··
2011125··
2010500··
2009250··
2005·500·
2003·500·
2000··1,000
1999··1,000
1998··1,000
1996··1,000
1995··1,000
1994··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

Conditions

  • Species held: brook trout, cutthroat trout and rainbow trout, all stocked at different times; no wild-population survey on file.
  • Program: wild-transfer brook and cutthroat trout stocking through the 1990s and 2000s, followed by standard put-and-take rainbow trout, 2009–2013; no releases since.
  • Water-quality/health signal: no bathymetry or mollusc survey on file for this lake.

Access and the rules

Access, launch and parking details for Eimar Lake have not been confirmed and still need a field or source check; the coordinate above marks the fish-presence point recorded in the provincial stocking data, not a verified access point. Confirm both the route in and the current regulations before you commit a day to it.

gavel

Before you fish

Eimar Lake is not individually listed in the Region 4 synopsis, so the regional defaults apply: trout/char daily quota 5 (no more than 1 rainbow or cutthroat over 50 cm), possession 2× the daily limit. Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4, Kootenay): gov.bc.ca fishing regulations.