Nine Bay Lake is a stocked rainbow stillwater in the upper Columbia Valley near Parson, a few kilometres northeast of Mitten Lake, Little Mitten Lake and Bittern Lake. A provincial reconnaissance survey put it at 38.02 hectares with an 11 m maximum depth, and Go Fish BC lists it among the region's small-lake gems, noting it is "still fishing well compared to many lakes in the region," with big Pennask-strain rainbow the norm.
The water
The lake covers 38.02 hectares, northeast of the Spillimacheen River near the community of Parson. A provincial reconnaissance survey on 1982-07-12 found a maximum depth of 11 m, a mean depth of 3.5 m, and clear water (5.7 m Secchi visibility). It sits between the Columbia River and Spillimacheen River drainages, the same stretch of the upper Columbia Valley as the nearby Mitten Lake cluster; exactly which system it drains into has not been confirmed.
The fishing
Nine Bay fishes as a put-grow stillwater: rainbow trout go in as fry or 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 11 m maximum depth and 3.5 m average, the lake fishes shallow overall: work a chironomid slow under an indicator over the shoals, and swing a balanced leech or Woolly Bugger along the drop toward the deeper basin. Go Fish BC's "trophy lake" billing lines up with the stocking record below, a decade of oversized Gerrard-strain rainbow grown alongside the standard Pennask program.
A decade of Gerrard rainbow behind the trophy billing
Stocking
Nine Bay carries 70 recorded releases of rainbow trout between 1971 and 2026, totalling roughly 227,500 fish. The early decades ran fry and fingerling plantings across several strains, Premier, Beaver, Pennask, Spahomin Lake, Badger, Duncan River and Tunkwa, through the 1970s and 1980s. From 1991 the lake settled onto Pennask-strain yearlings, supplemented for a decade (2001-2011) by heavier Gerrard-strain fish. The modern program has held steady at 1,000 to 1,500 Pennask yearlings a spring since 2012, narrowing to 1,000 a year since 2019; 2026's release was 1,000 yearlings averaging 5.1 g. The full year-by-year history is below.
Nine Bay Lake — 222,500 fish stocked, 1971–2026
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,000 |
| 2025 | 1,000 |
| 2024 | 1,000 |
| 2023 | 1,000 |
| 2022 | 1,000 |
| 2021 | 1,000 |
| 2020 | 1,000 |
| 2019 | 1,000 |
| 2018 | 1,500 |
| 2017 | 1,500 |
| 2016 | 1,500 |
| 2015 | 1,500 |
| 2014 | 1,500 |
| 2013 | 1,500 |
| 2012 | 1,500 |
| 2011 | 500 |
| 2010 | 1,500 |
| 2009 | 1,500 |
| 2008 | 1,500 |
| 2007 | 1,500 |
| 2006 | 1,500 |
| 2005 | 2,000 |
| 2004 | 2,000 |
| 2003 | 2,000 |
| 2002 | 2,000 |
| 2001 | 2,000 |
| 2000 | 3,000 |
| 1999 | 3,000 |
| 1998 | 3,000 |
| 1997 | 3,000 |
| 1996 | 3,000 |
| 1995 | 3,000 |
| 1994 | 3,000 |
| 1993 | 3,000 |
| 1992 | 3,000 |
| 1991 | 3,000 |
| 1990 | 1,500 |
| 1989 | 1,500 |
| 1988 | 1,500 |
| 1987 | 8,000 |
| 1986 | 11,000 |
| 1985 | 8,000 |
| 1984 | 10,000 |
| 1983 | 8,000 |
| 1982 | 8,000 |
| 1981 | 9,000 |
| 1980 | 8,000 |
| 1979 | 8,000 |
| 1978 | 8,000 |
| 1977 | 8,000 |
| 1976 | 10,000 |
| 1975 | 10,000 |
| 1973 | 18,000 |
| 1972 | 4,500 |
| 1971 | 15,000 |
Access and the rules
No confirmed public launch, trailhead or parking area has turned up for Nine Bay Lake; the only located reference places it northeast of the Spillimacheen River near the community of Parson, close to the Mitten Lake cluster. Confirm the access road and any seasonal restrictions locally before planning a trip.
