Solar Lake is a small stillwater in the St. Mary River watershed group of BC's East Kootenay, known almost entirely through one long, steady record: an almost unbroken run of rainbow trout stockings every spring since 1986. No confirmed size, depth or access details exist for it yet, but the stocking history alone marks it as an active, maintained put-grow fishery rather than a forgotten backwater.
The water
Solar Lake sits within the St. Mary River watershed group, the FWA drainage grouping the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC uses to track its East Kootenay stocking program (waterbody ID 190427). Its surface area, depth and shoreline character are not yet confirmed against a lake survey or gazetteer, so treat any tactical read as a starting hypothesis rather than a settled fact.
The fishing
No confirmed forage notes, fly reports or on-the-water accounts exist for Solar Lake. What the stocking record does establish is the fishery's basic shape: it is a put-grow rainbow water, restocked as small yearlings (typically 4-10 g at release) in most years, so the fish present in any season are usually one to a few years removed from release rather than long-lived holdovers. Until a field report says otherwise, the same small-lake stillwater tactics that carry most East Kootenay put-grow rainbow lakes apply here: chironomids under an indicator worked off the shoals and drop-offs, moving to leech and nymph patterns as the water warms through summer.
A one-time brook trout release
Access and the rules
No boat launch, trail or parking information is on record for Solar Lake. The coordinate above comes from the fish-presence point in the FIDQ waterbody catalog rather than a surveyed gazetteer entry, so treat it as approximate until confirmed locally.
Before you fish
Stocking
For an angler judging whether Solar Lake is worth a stop, the release record is most of the available fishing report: 47 recorded stockings totalling roughly 39,500 fish since 1984, with Pennask-strain rainbow trout yearlings going in almost every spring from 1986 through 2026 (2026's release was 750 yearlings, averaging 5.1 g). Two recent years, 2020 and 2025, also saw a supplemental release of larger, catchable-size Fraser Valley-strain rainbow alongside the usual yearlings. The full year-by-year release history is below.
Solar — 39,500 fish stocked, 1984–2026
Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Brook Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 750 | · |
| 2025 | 1,250 | · |
| 2024 | 750 | · |
| 2023 | 750 | · |
| 2022 | 750 | · |
| 2021 | 750 | · |
| 2020 | 1,000 | · |
| 2019 | 750 | · |
| 2018 | 750 | · |
| 2017 | 750 | · |
| 2016 | 750 | · |
| 2015 | 750 | · |
| 2014 | 500 | · |
| 2013 | 500 | · |
| 2012 | 500 | · |
| 2011 | 500 | · |
| 2010 | 1,000 | · |
| 2009 | 500 | · |
| 2008 | 500 | · |
| 2007 | 500 | · |
| 2006 | 500 | · |
| 2005 | 500 | · |
| 2004 | 1,250 | · |
| 2003 | 1,000 | · |
| 2002 | 1,000 | · |
| 2001 | 1,000 | · |
| 2000 | 1,000 | · |
| 1999 | 1,000 | · |
| 1998 | 1,000 | · |
| 1997 | 1,000 | · |
| 1996 | 1,000 | · |
| 1995 | 1,000 | · |
| 1994 | 1,000 | · |
| 1993 | 1,000 | · |
| 1992 | 1,000 | · |
| 1991 | 1,000 | · |
| 1990 | 1,000 | · |
| 1989 | 1,000 | · |
| 1988 | 1,000 | · |
| 1987 | 1,000 | · |
| 1986 | 1,000 | · |
| 1984 | · | 5,000 |
Conditions
- Stocking: an active put-grow rainbow program, roughly 500-1,000 Pennask yearlings a year via the Beaver hatchery, all but unbroken from 1986 to 2026; 47 releases and about 39,500 fish total since 1984.
- Depth and water health: no lake survey, bathymetry record or mollusc/health-index signal is on file for Solar Lake.
