Sowerby Lake is a small stillwater in the East Kootenay, tucked southeast of Wasa Lake in the St. Mary River watershed. At 6.4 hectares it is one of the region's smaller stocked lakes, held entirely by rainbow trout on a put-grow program that dates back to 1951.
The water
Sowerby covers 6.4 hectares, sitting southeast of the much larger Wasa Lake in the East Kootenay. Its waterbody identifier ties it to the St. Mary River drainage, though no bathymetry survey is on record, so depth, structure and clarity are unconfirmed. What is on record is the fish: rainbow trout only, stocked continuously since 1951, with no other species ever released here.
The fishing
A 6.4-hectare put-grow lake fishes small: work the shoals and any drop-off you can find with a chironomid under an indicator early in the season, when the chironomid and Bloodworm (Cranberry Larvae) patterns that carry most small East Kootenay stillwaters are the standard opener. As the water warms, switch to a stripped leech or a balanced leech along any structure, and try an Adams or another general attractor dry for an evening rise. No lake-specific fishing report is on file for Sowerby, so treat this as the standard small-lake stillwater playbook and confirm against a current local report before you go.
A century-long, quietly consistent program
Access and the rules
No boat launch or access route is on file for Sowerby; confirm the road in locally before you commit a day, using Wasa Lake to the northwest as the nearest landmark.
Before you fish
Stocking
Sowerby is carried entirely by its rainbow trout program: 83 recorded releases since 1951, totalling roughly 205,000 fish. Volumes have fallen from the 3,000-yearling years of the 1980s and 1990s to today's steadier, smaller program: 500 Pennask-strain yearlings released via the Beaver hatchery every spring for eight straight years, 2019 through 2026. The full year-by-year release history, coloured by strain, is below.
Sowerby Lake — 201,757 fish stocked, 1951–2026
Rainbow Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 500 |
| 2025 | 500 |
| 2024 | 500 |
| 2023 | 500 |
| 2022 | 500 |
| 2021 | 500 |
| 2020 | 500 |
| 2019 | 500 |
| 2017 | 500 |
| 2016 | 1,000 |
| 2015 | 500 |
| 2014 | 500 |
| 2013 | 1,000 |
| 2012 | 500 |
| 2011 | 500 |
| 2010 | 500 |
| 2009 | 1,500 |
| 2008 | 1,500 |
| 2007 | 1,500 |
| 2006 | 1,500 |
| 2005 | 2,500 |
| 2004 | 3,000 |
| 2003 | 3,000 |
| 2002 | 3,000 |
| 2001 | 3,000 |
| 2000 | 3,000 |
| 1999 | 3,000 |
| 1998 | 3,000 |
| 1997 | 3,000 |
| 1996 | 3,000 |
| 1995 | 3,000 |
| 1994 | 3,000 |
| 1993 | 3,000 |
| 1992 | 3,000 |
| 1991 | 3,000 |
| 1990 | 3,000 |
| 1989 | 3,000 |
| 1988 | 3,000 |
| 1987 | 3,000 |
| 1986 | 3,000 |
| 1985 | 3,000 |
| 1984 | 3,150 |
| 1983 | 3,150 |
| 1982 | 3,000 |
| 1981 | 3,000 |
| 1980 | 3,000 |
| 1979 | 3,000 |
| 1978 | 3,000 |
| 1977 | 3,000 |
| 1976 | 5,000 |
| 1975 | 5,000 |
| 1974 | 5,000 |
| 1973 | 15,000 |
| 1972 | 5,000 |
| 1971 | 2,000 |
| 1970 | 10,000 |
| 1969 | 4,000 |
| 1968 | 1,000 |
| 1966 | 1,760 |
| 1965 | 2,000 |
| 1964 | 2,900 |
| 1963 | 2,255 |
| 1962 | 3,500 |
| 1960 | 1,800 |
| 1959 | 1,750 |
| 1958 | 1,600 |
| 1957 | 9,216 |
| 1954 | 10,176 |
| 1953 | 5,000 |
| 1951 | 6,000 |
Conditions
- Stocking: put-grow rainbow only, 500 Pennask-strain yearlings every spring since 2019 (Beaver hatchery); 83 releases and roughly 205,000 fish since 1951.
- Depth and structure: no bathymetry survey is on record for Sowerby; treat depth and drop-off structure as unconfirmed until a lake survey or local report fills the gap.
