Lazy Lake is a stocked rainbow trout stillwater in the St. Mary River drainage, northeast of Wasa in BC's East Kootenay, in the same small-lakes country as Premier Lake and Diamond Lake a little further north.
The water
Lazy Lake covers roughly 31.4 hectares, surveyed at a maximum depth of 10.7 m and a mean depth of 5.4 m. It shares the "SMAR" waterbody identifier suffix with Premier Lake and Diamond Lake, placing it in the same St. Mary River watershed cluster of stocked East Kootenay stillwaters. Water quality by the province's biodiversity-based health read comes back good, drawn from a hundred recorded species observations on the lake.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Lazy Lake has been stocked since 1925, with 96 recorded releases totalling almost 600,000 fish. The early decades mixed rainbow trout and westslope cutthroat trout fry and eggs from wild sources, including a 1929 drop of 25,000 cutthroat fry from Peavine Creek stock, but cutthroat stocking stopped in 1931. Every release since has been rainbow trout, and the modern program has settled into a reliable annual top-up: 4,000 Pennask-strain yearlings, dropped from the Beaver hatchery each April, with the most recent release on April 14, 2026.
Lazy Lake — 594,287 fish stocked, 1925–2026
Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Cutthroat Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 4,000 | · |
| 2025 | 4,000 | · |
| 2024 | 4,000 | · |
| 2023 | 4,000 | · |
| 2022 | 4,000 | · |
| 2021 | 4,000 | · |
| 2020 | 4,000 | · |
| 2019 | 4,000 | · |
| 2018 | 4,000 | · |
| 2017 | 4,500 | · |
| 2016 | 4,500 | · |
| 2015 | 4,500 | · |
| 2014 | 4,500 | · |
| 2013 | 5,250 | · |
| 2012 | 4,000 | · |
| 2011 | 4,000 | · |
| 2010 | 2,000 | · |
| 2009 | 5,000 | · |
| 2008 | 4,000 | · |
| 2007 | 4,000 | · |
| 2006 | 4,000 | · |
| 2005 | 3,000 | · |
| 2004 | 4,000 | · |
| 2003 | 4,000 | · |
| 2002 | 4,000 | · |
| 2001 | 4,000 | · |
| 2000 | 4,000 | · |
| 1999 | 4,000 | · |
| 1998 | 4,000 | · |
| 1997 | 4,000 | · |
| 1996 | 4,000 | · |
| 1995 | 4,000 | · |
| 1994 | 4,000 | · |
| 1993 | 4,000 | · |
| 1992 | 4,000 | · |
| 1991 | 4,000 | · |
| 1990 | 4,000 | · |
| 1989 | 4,000 | · |
| 1988 | 4,000 | · |
| 1987 | 4,000 | · |
| 1986 | 4,000 | · |
| 1985 | 4,000 | · |
| 1984 | 4,000 | · |
| 1983 | 4,000 | · |
| 1982 | 4,000 | · |
| 1981 | 4,000 | · |
| 1980 | 4,000 | · |
| 1979 | 4,000 | · |
| 1978 | 4,000 | · |
| 1977 | 4,000 | · |
| 1976 | 5,000 | · |
| 1975 | 5,000 | · |
| 1974 | 5,000 | · |
| 1973 | 2,500 | · |
| 1972 | 5,000 | · |
| 1971 | 5,000 | · |
| 1970 | 12,000 | · |
| 1969 | 5,000 | · |
| 1968 | 3,000 | · |
| 1966 | 8,800 | · |
| 1964 | 8,000 | · |
| 1961 | 7,520 | · |
| 1958 | 21,400 | · |
| 1957 | 7,220 | · |
| 1954 | 7,200 | · |
| 1953 | 8,000 | · |
| 1951 | 7,500 | · |
| 1950 | 8,000 | · |
| 1949 | 9,825 | · |
| 1948 | 6,976 | · |
| 1947 | 10,000 | · |
| 1946 | 9,000 | · |
| 1945 | 7,444 | · |
| 1944 | 3,500 | · |
| 1943 | 5,000 | · |
| 1942 | 15,000 | · |
| 1941 | 12,000 | · |
| 1940 | 11,377 | · |
| 1939 | 21,500 | · |
| 1938 | 22,275 | · |
| 1933 | 10,000 | · |
| 1932 | 5,000 | · |
| 1931 | 25,000 | 25,000 |
| 1930 | 5,000 | 20,000 |
| 1929 | 8,000 | 25,000 |
| 1925 | 5,000 | · |
That steady spring plant makes Lazy Lake a put-grow fishery: this year's yearlings are next season's fish, growing on the lake's natural forage between the annual drops rather than being caught the week they go in.
The fishing
No water-specific report is on file for Lazy Lake, so fish it on the standard small-lake stillwater program until a local account says otherwise: a chironomid under an indicator over the shoals in spring, then leech and attractor patterns worked along any drop-off as the water warms through summer, with an evening rise worth matching the hatch for. At 10.7 m deep, the lake has real drop-off structure to fish along rather than a shallow bowl, so treat depth as the variable to search once the top-water bite slows.
Before you fish
Access and the rules
No boat launch, trailhead or parking location is on file for Lazy Lake itself. Confirm the approach, parking and any motor or float restrictions locally before you commit a day to it; the map shows where it sits relative to Wasa and Premier Lake in the wider St. Mary River drainage.
