By Ian Holmes

Thousands of trout dumped into Nanaimo lakes

Oct 23, 2016 | 2:39 PM

NANAIMO — Now is a good time to go fishing in one of several mid-island lakes that have been restocked with thousands of trout.

The Freswater Fisheries Society of B.C. reports a total of 6,500 rainbow trout have recently been put into seven Nanaimo lakes — Westwood, Long, Diver, Green Lakes and all three Colliery Dams. Society Hatchery Manager Triston Robbins says a big focus they have is consistently putting more fish in urban lakes.

“The natural reproduction can’t support the amount of fishing pressure that they (urban lakes) get,” said Robbins. “Without stocking these lakes, there wouldn’t be very much trout to catch. We stock the lakes with catchable sized trout. Those fish are ready to be caught within a few hours.”

Robbins says busy urban lakes in Nanaimo, such as Westwood Lake, get stocked up to six times a year with 8,000 new trout being released for recreational anglers. 2,000 trout were also stocked recently in Spider Lake west of Qualicum Beach and more than 1,200 in Loon Lake just east of Port Alberni. Robbins points out that 100 per cent of the money raised when people buy freshwater fishing licenses in the province is reinvested back into B.C.’s freshwater fishery.

The society’s efforts don’t appear to be lost on people who take advantage of the program.

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“When we’re driving to the lakes, we get lots of thumbs up on the Island Highway…local anglers are always calling the hatchery and thanking us for the hard work that we put in. People really appreciate it,” said Robbins.

Robbins says their organization stocks 60 to 70 Vancouver Island lakes with 250,000 trout every year.