Lillian Lake is a stocked stillwater in the East Kootenay, sitting just west of the north end of Windermere Lake in the Columbia River drainage. It carries rainbow trout only, and the release ledger runs back to 1929, one of the longer stocking histories on record in the valley.
The water
The lake covers about 26.7 hectares on the province's 1960 reconnaissance survey, which put it at a maximum depth of 11.6 m and an average of 5.1 m: a modest, shallow-leaning basin rather than a deep lake. It sits in the Columbia River watershed under waterbody identifier 00633COLR, the same drainage as Lake Enid a few kilometres northwest, near where the Columbia widens into Windermere Lake.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the drive is worth it, the release record is the honest fishing report here. Provincial hatchery records run from 1929 to 2026 and log 98 releases into Lillian Lake, all rainbow trout, totalling roughly 900,000 fish across a long list of hatchery strains: Beaver, Premier, Pennask, Gerrard Creek, Blackwater R, Fraser Valley and others, alongside the founding 1929 batch of wild-sourced Cottonwood eyed eggs.
Lillian Lake — 901,814 fish stocked, 1929–2026
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2,000 |
| 2025 | 2,000 |
| 2024 | 2,000 |
| 2023 | 2,000 |
| 2022 | 2,000 |
| 2021 | 2,000 |
| 2020 | 2,000 |
| 2019 | 2,000 |
| 2018 | 2,000 |
| 2017 | 2,000 |
| 2016 | 2,010 |
| 2015 | 8,000 |
| 2014 | 6,000 |
| 2013 | 6,000 |
| 2012 | 6,000 |
| 2011 | 6,000 |
| 2010 | 6,000 |
| 2009 | 6,000 |
| 2008 | 6,000 |
| 2007 | 6,000 |
| 2006 | 6,000 |
| 2005 | 6,000 |
| 2004 | 6,000 |
| 2003 | 6,000 |
| 2002 | 6,000 |
| 2001 | 6,000 |
| 2000 | 20,000 |
| 1999 | 6,000 |
| 1998 | 6,000 |
| 1997 | 6,000 |
| 1996 | 6,000 |
| 1995 | 6,000 |
| 1994 | 6,000 |
| 1993 | 6,000 |
| 1992 | 6,000 |
| 1991 | 3,000 |
| 1990 | 3,000 |
| 1989 | 3,000 |
| 1988 | 3,000 |
| 1987 | 3,000 |
| 1986 | 3,000 |
| 1985 | 3,000 |
| 1984 | 1,500 |
| 1983 | 1,500 |
| 1982 | 3,000 |
| 1981 | 10,000 |
| 1980 | 10,000 |
| 1979 | 10,000 |
| 1978 | 10,000 |
| 1977 | 10,000 |
| 1976 | 10,000 |
| 1975 | 10,000 |
| 1974 | 15,000 |
| 1973 | 23,000 |
| 1972 | 10,000 |
| 1971 | 27,000 |
| 1970 | 10,000 |
| 1969 | 16,000 |
| 1968 | 9,000 |
| 1966 | 7,920 |
| 1965 | 9,000 |
| 1964 | 9,787 |
| 1963 | 5,125 |
| 1962 | 10,150 |
| 1961 | 8,000 |
| 1960 | 7,000 |
| 1959 | 7,000 |
| 1958 | 63,700 |
| 1957 | 12,718 |
| 1955 | 51,800 |
| 1954 | 20,104 |
| 1953 | 15,000 |
| 1952 | 15,000 |
| 1951 | 15,000 |
| 1950 | 12,000 |
| 1949 | 10,000 |
| 1948 | 10,000 |
| 1947 | 15,000 |
| 1946 | 15,000 |
| 1945 | 26,000 |
| 1944 | 15,000 |
| 1943 | 21,000 |
| 1942 | 17,000 |
| 1941 | 13,000 |
| 1940 | 15,000 |
| 1939 | 12,000 |
| 1938 | 14,500 |
| 1932 | 13,500 |
| 1931 | 9,000 |
| 1930 | 25,000 |
| 1929 | 12,500 |
The program has settled twice in recent decades. From 2008 to 2015 it ran as a put-grow fishery, 6,000 Blackwater R yearlings a spring. Since 2015 it has run as a put-and-take fishery instead: 2,000 Fraser Valley-strain spring catchables, stocked every April at an average weight around 225 g, sized to be caught the same season rather than grown on. The most recent plant, on 2026-04-21, followed that same pattern.
Put-grow gave way to put-and-take
The fishing
No local fishing report has turned up for Lillian Lake, so treat the following as a general read on a small put-and-take stillwater rather than a confirmed local pattern. With a shallow average depth of 5.1 m and a max of only 11.6 m, chironomids under an indicator should be productive over most of the lake through spring and into summer, since there is little truly deep water to push fish off the shoals. Standard small-lake stillwater tactics, working the shoreline and any drop-off, are the reasonable starting approach until a local report confirms otherwise.
Access and the rules
No confirmed boat launch, road or parking details have been found for Lillian Lake. Treat it as an access-check water: confirm the road in, any private-land or seasonal restrictions, and the exact Region 4 rules that apply before committing a day to it.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Depth: the province's 1960 survey put Lillian Lake at 11.6 m at its deepest, averaging 5.1 m across the basin, a shallow-to-moderate stillwater.
- Stocking: actively stocked with rainbow trout every year, run as a put-and-take fishery (2,000 Fraser Valley catchables a spring) since 2015, after a 2008-2015 stretch of put-grow Blackwater R yearlings.
