The water
Fussee Lake is a small stillwater on the east side of Lake Koocanusa, the Kootenay River reservoir, just east of the Baynes Lake community and a short distance above where the Elk River meets it, southeast of Cranbrook. The province's 1969 survey puts it at 3.64 hectares, a small, shallow basin bottoming out at 5.5 m and averaging just 2.4 m, shallow enough that it never builds the cool, stratified summer layer a deeper Kootenay lake would.
Stocking
Provincial hatchery records run from 1957 to 2025 and log 67 releases into Fussee Lake, totalling around 184,500 fish. Brook trout carried the program for nearly six decades: 58 releases and about 175,000 fish between 1957 and 2016, before the plants stopped. Rainbow trout filled a short gap in the same stretch, six releases and 6,750 fish between 2012 and 2016.
Fussee Lake — 184,578 fish stocked, 1957–2025
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 | · |
| 2023 | · | 546 | · |
| 2022 | · | 1,000 | · |
| 2016 | 500 | · | 1,000 |
| 2015 | 1,500 | · | 1,500 |
| 2014 | 1,500 | · | 1,500 |
| 2013 | 2,500 | · | 1,500 |
| 2012 | 750 | · | 1,500 |
| 2011 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2010 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2009 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2008 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2007 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2006 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2005 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2004 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2003 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2002 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2001 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 2000 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1999 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1998 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1997 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1996 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1995 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1994 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1993 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1992 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1991 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1990 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1989 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1988 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1987 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1986 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1985 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1984 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1983 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1982 | · | · | 2,000 |
| 1981 | · | · | 4,000 |
| 1980 | · | · | 4,000 |
| 1979 | · | · | 4,000 |
| 1978 | · | · | 4,000 |
| 1977 | · | · | 5,000 |
| 1976 | · | · | 5,000 |
| 1975 | · | · | 5,000 |
| 1974 | · | · | 3,700 |
| 1972 | · | · | 5,000 |
| 1970 | · | · | 10,000 |
| 1969 | · | · | 5,000 |
| 1968 | · | · | 5,000 |
| 1967 | · | · | 3,000 |
| 1966 | · | · | 3,000 |
| 1965 | · | · | 3,000 |
| 1964 | · | · | 3,200 |
| 1963 | · | · | 3,300 |
| 1962 | · | · | 3,562 |
| 1961 | · | · | 3,220 |
| 1960 | · | · | 3,200 |
| 1959 | · | · | 3,100 |
| 1958 | · | · | 10,000 |
| 1957 | · | · | 10,000 |
Since 2022 the lake has run on a periodic Connor-strain westslope cutthroat trout program: three releases so far, most recently 1,000 yearlings in June 2025. That makes cutthroat the freshest, most reliable cohort in the lake today, while any brook trout you catch are holdovers from a program that has not been topped up since 2016, and any rainbow are older still.
The fishing
Fussee's basin is shallow and largely uniform, so there is no deep drop-off to chase the way there is at nearby Baynes Lake; work the weed edges and shoal margins all season instead. Chironomids fished under an indicator (Chironomid Under Indicator) are the standard small-stillwater approach in the East Kootenay, with Leeches and scuds rounding out the general forage base; a Woolly Bugger or Balanced Leech worked slowly along the margins covers the same water. No lake-specific hatch chart or forage survey exists for Fussee, so treat this as a starting point and adjust to what is showing on the day.
Before you fish
Access and the rules
No confirmed boat launch, parking area or shoreline access point has been found for Fussee Lake. The Baynes Lake community sits immediately to the west on Lake Koocanusa's east side; treat this as an access-check water and confirm a put-in, and any private-land or seasonal restrictions, locally before committing a day to it.
Conditions
- Depth: the province's 1969 survey put Fussee Lake at 5.5 m at its deepest, averaging 2.4 m, a shallow stillwater with no true deep-water refuge, so the whole basin fishes similarly through the season rather than concentrating around a drop-off.
