The water
Redcliff Lake lies on the north side of the Spillimacheen River, south of Golden, within the Columbia River system. No lake survey, boat launch, trail or size record is on file for it: the only documented history is a run of rainbow trout fry releases logged in the Province's fish stocking records.
The fishing
Every recorded release into Redcliff Lake was fall fry, juvenile rainbow rather than adult catchables, drawn from Tunkwa, Badger, Genier and Premier hatchery broodstock. That is a rebuild-and-establish program, not an annual put-and-take top-up: the fry were meant to grow out and recruit to a self-sustaining population rather than deliver catchable fish the same season. The program ran eleven releases between 1987 and 2000 and nothing has been logged since, so any rainbow trout caught here today would be wild-reared, several generations removed from a hatchery fish. Fish it on general stillwater lines until a local report says otherwise: chironomids worked over the shoals, leech and attractor patterns along any drop-off structure.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether Redcliff Lake still fishes, the stocking record is the only fishing report on file. Eleven releases between 1987 and 2000 put 21,000 rainbow trout fall fry into the lake, drawn from Tunkwa, Badger, Genier and Premier hatchery stock. Nothing has been recorded since.
Redcliff Lake — 21,000 fish stocked, 1987–2000
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,000 |
| 1998 | 2,000 |
| 1997 | 2,000 |
| 1996 | 2,000 |
| 1995 | 2,000 |
| 1994 | 2,000 |
| 1993 | 2,000 |
| 1992 | 2,000 |
| 1990 | 2,000 |
| 1989 | 2,000 |
| 1987 | 2,000 |
That gap matters. This was never a put-and-take program topping up catchable fish every spring; it was a fry plant meant to establish or supplement a population that would then sustain itself. Whether that population persists, and at what size, is unconfirmed: treat any fish caught here as wild-reared rather than a fresh hatchery release.
What's not on record
Access and the rules
No boat launch, trailhead or road access is documented for Redcliff Lake. Confirm the route in, parking and any private-land or seasonal limits locally before you commit a day to it.
Before you fish
Conditions
- No FISS lake survey, depth or water-health record is on file for Redcliff Lake.
- Stocking record: 11 releases, 21,000 rainbow trout fall fry, 1987-2000, none since.
