The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stocked Stillwater

Johnson Creek

A stocked stillwater in the Lower Arrow Lake watershed, ~13.3 ha surface area, carrying Brook Trout and topped up by the provincial stocking program.

Johnson Creek is a stocked stillwater in the Lower Arrow Lake watershed. ~13.3 ha surface area.

The water

Johnson Creek sits in the Lower Arrow Lake watershed, covering ~13.3 ha surface area.

Stocking

For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Johnson Creek is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 2 recorded releases totalling 30,000 fish (Brook Trout), last stocked 1957-01-01.

Stocking record

Johnson Creek — 30,000 fish stocked, 1956–1957

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

YearBrook Trout
195720,000
195610,000

Stocking appears to have wound down after 1957. Confirm whether it is still topped up or now fishes as a residual, wild population. The chart below shows the full release history.

The fishing

Johnson Creek fishes as a put-grow stillwater: work chironomids under an indicator over the shoals in spring, then leech and attractor retrieves along the drop-offs as the shallows warm. The stocking record below is the truest read on the size and cohort of fish you will find.

waves
Stocked Stillwater
Lower Arrow Lake watershed
straighten
13.3 ha
surface area
egg
Stocked
put-and-take

Conditions

  • Navigability: wade / technical: steep gradient, pocket water (median channel width ~5.5 m, moderate width; median gradient ~12.28%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.428 m³/s, very low flow).

Access & the rules

Confirm the launch, parking and any motor/float or seasonal restrictions for Johnson Creek locally before you commit a day; the map shows where the lake sits in its drainage.

gavel

Before you fish

Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4 – Kootenay) before you go. Official synopsis: gov.bc.ca fishing regulations.