Mitten Lake is a stocked rainbow stillwater in the upper Columbia Valley near Parson, the largest of a trio of small lakes there alongside Little Mitten Lake and Bittern Lake. A provincial reconnaissance survey put it at 64.78 hectares, more than three times the size of its Bittern neighbour, with a modest 10 m maximum depth.
The water
The lake covers 64.78 hectares. A provincial reconnaissance survey on 1982-07-07 found a maximum depth of 10 m, a mean depth of 5 m, and clear water (5.5 m Secchi visibility). It sits between the Columbia River and Spillimacheen River drainages near Parson; exactly which system it drains into has not been confirmed.
The fishing
Mitten fishes as a put-grow stillwater: rainbow trout go in as yearlings and grow on the lake's natural forage before anglers catch them, so the fish in the net any given summer are one or more seasons removed from the truck. With a modest 10 m maximum depth and 5 m average, the whole lake is workable water rather than a deep-hole grind: fish a chironomid slow under an indicator over the shoals, and swing a balanced leech or Woolly Bugger along the drop toward the deeper 10 m basin. The stocking record below is the closest thing to a fishing report this lake has.
A strain history that runs from Gerrard to Blackwater
Stocking
Mitten carries 62 recorded releases of rainbow trout between 1968 and 2026, totalling roughly 500,000 fish, one of the longer stocking records among the small Columbia Valley lakes. The modern program is consistent: 7,500 to 8,000 Blackwater R yearlings dropped every spring since 2014, averaging 7 to 18 grams at release; 2026's release was 7,500 yearlings averaging 9.3 g. Before that, the lake ran two decades of Gerrard-strain yearlings (1985-2013), and before that, fry and fingerling plantings across several strains through the 1970s and early 1980s. The full year-by-year history is below.
Mitten Lake — 485,382 fish stocked, 1968–2026
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 7,500 |
| 2025 | 7,500 |
| 2024 | 7,500 |
| 2023 | 8,000 |
| 2022 | 8,000 |
| 2021 | 8,000 |
| 2020 | 8,000 |
| 2019 | 8,000 |
| 2018 | 8,000 |
| 2017 | 8,000 |
| 2016 | 8,000 |
| 2015 | 8,000 |
| 2014 | 8,000 |
| 2013 | 10,000 |
| 2012 | 10,000 |
| 2011 | 10,000 |
| 2010 | 10,000 |
| 2009 | 10,000 |
| 2008 | 10,000 |
| 2007 | 10,000 |
| 2006 | 8,000 |
| 2005 | 8,000 |
| 2004 | 16,000 |
| 2003 | 8,000 |
| 2002 | 10,000 |
| 2001 | 10,000 |
| 2000 | 36,389 |
| 1999 | 8,000 |
| 1998 | 8,393 |
| 1997 | 5,000 |
| 1996 | 5,000 |
| 1995 | 5,000 |
| 1994 | 8,000 |
| 1993 | 8,000 |
| 1992 | 8,000 |
| 1991 | 5,000 |
| 1990 | 6,600 |
| 1989 | 3,000 |
| 1988 | 3,000 |
| 1987 | 3,000 |
| 1986 | 3,000 |
| 1985 | 3,500 |
| 1984 | 5,000 |
| 1983 | 5,000 |
| 1982 | 5,000 |
| 1981 | 9,000 |
| 1980 | 8,000 |
| 1979 | 8,000 |
| 1978 | 8,000 |
| 1977 | 10,000 |
| 1973 | 18,000 |
| 1971 | 22,000 |
| 1970 | 12,000 |
| 1969 | 12,000 |
| 1968 | 12,000 |
Access and the rules
No confirmed public launch, trailhead or parking area has turned up for Mitten Lake; the only located reference places it near the community of Parson in the upper Columbia Valley, close to Little Mitten and Bittern lakes. Confirm the access road and any seasonal restrictions locally before planning a trip.
