The water
South Caribou Lake sits in BC's West Kootenay, paired with North Caribou Lake a few hundred metres to the north. A 1970 provincial reconnaissance survey measured it at roughly 16 hectares, with a mean depth of 7.2 m and a maximum of 17 m; a follow-up check in 1988 recorded 6.5 m of water clarity (secchi). Access, launch and parking details haven't been confirmed; treat it as an unconfirmed-access lake until that's checked locally.
The fishing
South Caribou Lake is a working put-grow fishery, and one with an unusually long paper trail: 60 recorded releases stretching back to 1923. The modern program is rainbow trout only, Blackwater-strain yearlings delivered most springs since 2013, most recently 1,000 fish released in June 2026. Brook trout also went into the lake in the 1930s and 40s (the last plant was 1946), but nothing has been stocked since; any that remain would be a holdover from that era, not part of the current fishery.
Fish it with standard small-lake stillwater tactics until a local report says otherwise: a chironomid under an indicator worked over the shoals in spring, and leech or attractor patterns like a Woolly Bugger fished along the drop-offs, deeper here than at North Caribou, as the water warms through summer. Switch to dry-fly and emerger patterns if you find fish rising in the evening.
Read the stocking record as the fishing report
Stocking
South Caribou Lake — 279,638 fish stocked, 1923–2026
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 | 1,000 | · |
| 2025 | 1,000 | · |
| 2024 | 1,000 | · |
| 2023 | 2,000 | · |
| 2022 | 2,000 | · |
| 2021 | 2,000 | · |
| 2020 | 2,000 | · |
| 2019 | 2,000 | · |
| 2018 | 2,137 | · |
| 2017 | 2,000 | · |
| 2016 | 2,000 | · |
| 2015 | 2,000 | · |
| 2014 | 2,000 | · |
| 2013 | 2,000 | · |
| 2012 | 2,000 | · |
| 2011 | 2,000 | · |
| 2010 | 2,000 | · |
| 2009 | 1,500 | · |
| 2008 | 1,500 | · |
| 2007 | 1,500 | · |
| 2006 | 1,500 | · |
| 2005 | 1,500 | · |
| 2004 | 1,501 | · |
| 2003 | 1,500 | · |
| 2002 | 1,500 | · |
| 2001 | 1,500 | · |
| 2000 | 1,500 | · |
| 1999 | 1,500 | · |
| 1997 | 2,000 | · |
| 1996 | 2,000 | · |
| 1995 | 2,000 | · |
| 1994 | 2,000 | · |
| 1993 | 2,000 | · |
| 1992 | 2,000 | · |
| 1991 | 2,000 | · |
| 1990 | 2,000 | · |
| 1989 | 2,000 | · |
| 1987 | 2,000 | · |
| 1986 | 2,000 | · |
| 1985 | 2,000 | · |
| 1984 | 2,000 | · |
| 1983 | 2,000 | · |
| 1982 | 2,000 | · |
| 1981 | 2,000 | · |
| 1980 | 2,000 | · |
| 1979 | 2,000 | · |
| 1978 | 2,000 | · |
| 1977 | 2,000 | · |
| 1976 | 2,000 | · |
| 1969 | 3,000 | · |
| 1968 | 4,000 | · |
| 1946 | · | 10,000 |
| 1942 | · | 20,000 |
| 1941 | · | 20,000 |
| 1940 | · | 20,000 |
| 1939 | · | 30,000 |
| 1938 | 10,000 | · |
| 1937 | 3,000 | · |
| 1934 | 50,000 | · |
| 1923 | 20,000 | · |
Conditions
- Species held: rainbow trout (Blackwater strain), the sole species in the active program; brook trout were stocked historically (1939-1946) but haven't been renewed since.
- Program: put-grow, restocked most springs since 2013, most recently 1,000 yearling rainbow trout in June 2026.
- Depth & clarity: max depth 17 m, mean depth 7.2 m, surface area ~16 ha (1970 survey); 6.5 m secchi clarity (1988 survey).
- Water-quality/health signal: no mollusc bioindicator records are on file for this lake.
Access and the rules
Access, launch and parking details for South Caribou Lake have not been confirmed and still need a field or source check; the coordinate above marks the fish-presence point recorded in the provincial stocking data, not a verified access point. Confirm both the route in and the current regulations before you commit a day to it.
