1,000 rainbow trout were piped into Nanaimo's Brannen Lake on Tuesday, March 11. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

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Thousands of catchable trout piped into Nanaimo area lakes

Mar 12, 2025 | 5:31 AM

NANAIMO — Prime lake fishing season has arrived.

Thousands of rainbow trout are being delivered into urban lakes across mid Vancouver Island this week, part of an annual Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. campaign throughout the province.

All three Colliery dams, Diver, Green and Brannen lakes received a combined 4,000 rainbow trout this month, while nearly 5,500 combined will be added to Long and Westwood lakes in the days ahead, according to Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.

In the Oceanside area, 1’800 trout were dumped into Spider Lake earlier this month.

Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery (VITH) assistant manager Tony Andrychuk said this is the best time of year for lake fishing, stating daytime temperatures between 10 and 14 degrees provide an ideal setting for trout.

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“They’re cruising the shorelines looking for food, we’ve got all of the insects hatching. Summer months once the lake warms up though they’ll escape to the deepest part of the lake to get that cooler water,” Andrychuk told NanaimoNewsNOW, who pointed out trout are most active and easily caught in the spring season.

Brannen Lake is one of eight Nanaimo lakes consistently topped up with trout. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

This spring, nearly 100,000 fish (mostly Fraser Valley Rainbow Trout) will be delivered by Duncan-based VITH staff to roughly 60 urban and rural lakes across Vancouver Island.

The process with approximately the same amount of fish is repeated in the fall, Andrychuk noted.

He said they’re aiming to have lakes between Nanaimo and Campbell River re-stocked by Spring Break, then turn their attention to south Island lakes.

Catchable sized trout, weighing 220 to 250 grams, are sterile and won’t disrupt local ecosystems, Andrychuk pointed out.

“If there is a natural population in the lake they won’t compete with those fish, they won’t obstruct them in any ways when it comes to their natural cycle.”

While rainbow trout are predominately used by VITH, cutthroat trout are also deployed, while steelhead trout are placed into the Stamp/Somass River system near Port Alberni.

A freshwater fishing license is required to legally fish in the province.

“Everyone that purchases a fishing license that directly goes to support what we do, that’s how we get all our revenue to keep it going,” Andrychuk said.

More information on the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, including updated lake stocking reports, can be found on their website linked here.

Trout were temporarily disoriented after being piped from a holding tank on the back of a truck to Brannen Lake on Tuesday, March 11. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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