The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stocked Stillwater

Powder

A stocked stillwater in the Kootenay Lake watershed, surface area not recorded, carrying Rainbow Trout and topped up by the provincial stocking program.

Powder is a stocked stillwater in the Kootenay Lake watershed. Surface area not recorded.

The water

Powder sits in the Kootenay Lake watershed, covering surface area not recorded.

Stocking

For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Powder is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 5 recorded releases totalling 23,120 fish (Rainbow Trout), last stocked 1986-09-01.

Stocking record

Powder — 23,120 fish stocked, 1981–1986

Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.

YearRainbow Trout
19863,000
19845,000
19835,000
19825,120
19815,000

Stocking appears to have wound down after 1986. Confirm whether it is still topped up or now fishes as a residual, wild population. The chart below shows the full release history.

The fishing

Powder fishes as a put-grow stillwater: work chironomids under an indicator over the shoals in spring, then leech and attractor retrieves along the drop-offs as the shallows warm. The stocking record below is the truest read on the size and cohort of fish you will find.

waves
Stocked Stillwater
Kootenay Lake watershed
egg
Stocked
put-and-take

Access & the rules

Confirm the launch, parking and any motor/float or seasonal restrictions for Powder locally before you commit a day; the map shows where the lake sits in its drainage.

gavel

Before you fish

Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4 – Kootenay) before you go. Official synopsis: gov.bc.ca fishing regulations.