The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stillwater

Johnianne Lake

A small stillwater east of Passmore in BC's West Kootenay, about 1.4 hectares, carrying brook trout from thirteen recorded plantings between 1969 and 1999. Nothing has been stocked in it since, and access, size on the water and current tactics still need a field check.

The water

Johnianne Lake is a small stillwater east of Passmore, in BC's West Kootenay. The provincial gazetteer puts it at roughly 1.4 hectares, small enough to fish from shore or a float tube in an afternoon. Its stocking record places it in the Kootenay Lake FWA watershed group, alongside the many small tributary lakes and creeks that feed Kootenay Lake rather than the nearby Slocan River system. No lake survey (depth, clarity) is on file, and the road, launch and parking situation has not been confirmed; treat it as a walk-in or rough-access lake until that is checked locally.

The fishing

Johnianne Lake is a lapsed put-and-take fishery. Thirteen recorded plantings of brook trout went in between 1969 and 1999, all Aylmer-strain fish, most as 1,000-fish fingerling releases with a single larger 5,000-fish planting in 1969. The last recorded release was 1,000 fingerlings on 1999-06-23. Nothing has gone in since, which means any fish caught today is either a long-lived holdover or evidence of natural reproduction in the lake, not a fresh hatchery cohort.

Fish it with standard small-lake stillwater tactics until a local report says otherwise: a chironomid under an indicator worked over the shoals, or a small Woolly Bugger or balanced leech along any drop-off. Brook trout in small Kootenay stillwaters like this one tend to run modest but can surprise in a lake this lightly fished; confirm current conditions before planning a trip around it.

waves
Stillwater
~1.4 ha, east of Passmore
set_meal
Brook trout
sole recorded species
history
1969-1999
13 recorded releases
block
No plant since 1999
lapsed put-and-take program
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Read the stocking record as the fishing report

Johnianne Lake has no fish-count survey on file, so the stocking history below is the best evidence of what has ever swum in it: brook trout only, planted regularly from 1969 through 1999 and not since. Whether the lake still holds a fishable population is unconfirmed.

Stocking

Stocking record

Johnianne Lake — 17,000 fish stocked, 1969–1999

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

YearBrook Trout
19991,000
19981,000
19971,000
19961,000
19951,000
19941,000
19931,000
19921,000
19911,000
19901,000
19891,000
19871,000
19695,000

Conditions

  • Species held: brook trout only, all of it historically stocked; no other species on record.
  • Program: put-and-take angling, lapsed since the 1999 planting; not currently a broodstock or kokanee-forage water.
  • Water-quality/health signal: no bathymetry or mollusc survey on file for this lake.

Access and the rules

Access, launch and parking details for Johnianne 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.

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Before you fish

Johnianne Lake is not individually listed in the Region 4 synopsis, so the regional defaults apply: trout/char daily quota 5, possession 2× the daily limit. Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4, Kootenay): gov.bc.ca fishing regulations.