Noakes Lakes are a pair of small stillwaters in the Kootenay Lake watershed of the West Kootenay, roughly 12 hectares and 3.2 hectares. Both basins are tracked under a single provincial fish record: ten stocking releases between 1935 and 2004, first rainbow trout eggs, later wild westslope cutthroat trout fry, and nothing since.
The water
Noakes Lakes lie in the Kootenay Lake drainage of the West Kootenay. The name covers two linked basins, one of roughly 12 hectares and a smaller one of about 3.2 hectares, carried in provincial records as a single water. Neither basin has a depth or clarity survey on file, so treat the coordinate here, the point registered against the lakes' stocking releases, as approximate until confirmed on the ground.
The fishing
Every recorded release into Noakes Lakes falls into two distinct eras. The province put in 20,000 rainbow trout eyed eggs across two plantings, 10,000 apiece in 1935 and 1939, the large-volume egg stocking typical of early-20th-century fisheries management. Then, after a five-decade gap, wild-origin Connor-strain westslope cutthroat trout fall fry went in eight times between 1990 and 2004, 1,000 to 1,500 fish a release, roughly 9,000 fry in total. Nothing has gone in since the last release on 6 October 2004, so whatever is holding in the lakes today is either a long-lived holdover or a self-sustaining population; neither has been confirmed. The province's fish inventory records two species and 19 observations here, consistent with both stocked species persisting, and rates the water's combined fish-and-health index as good.
Fish it on standard small-lake lines until a local report says otherwise: chironomids under an indicator over any shoal structure, balanced leech or Woolly Bugger retrieves along the drop-offs, and a searching dry like an Adams on a calm evening.
Stocking
The release record is effectively the whole fishing report for Noakes Lakes: a large one-off egg plant in the 1930s, then a steady, small biennial fry program from 1990 to 2004, then nothing.
Noakes Lakes — 29,000 fish stocked, 1935–2004
Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Cutthroat Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | · | 1,000 |
| 2002 | · | 1,000 |
| 2000 | · | 1,000 |
| 1998 | · | 1,000 |
| 1996 | · | 1,000 |
| 1994 | · | 1,000 |
| 1992 | · | 1,500 |
| 1990 | · | 1,500 |
| 1939 | 10,000 | · |
| 1935 | 10,000 | · |
Two eras, one lapsed program
Access and the rules
No road, launch, trailhead or parking information has turned up for Noakes Lakes. Confirm access locally, and check the current rainbow trout and westslope cutthroat trout limits and any bait, motor or ice-fishing restrictions for this water before you fish.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Water-health signal: good (health index 15), 2 species over 19 observations.
- Stocking: lapsed program, 10 releases 1935-2004 (20,000 rainbow trout eyed eggs, ~9,000 wild westslope cutthroat trout fry); none since.
