Fishing for Fun hosts an interactive trout release event at Colliery Dam Park on Friday, Oct. 24. (Mike Lawrence)

By Ian Holmes

Lake fishing

Lake fishing advocacy group hosts Nanaimo trout release event

Oct 23, 2025 | 4:18 PM

NANAIMO — Fishing in one of the mid-Island’s many stocked lakes provide much more than the thrill of reeling in a rainbow trout.

Mike Lawrence, founder of Vancouver Island Fishing for Fun Society (VIFFS) looks forward to sharing the many ways angling can improve anybody’s well-being.

His organization and Vancouver Island Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC are hosting a public engagement event at Colliery Dam Park on Friday, Oct. 24 at noon.

People will have the opportunity to release a rainbow trout into Colliery Dam #1 off Sixth St.

A fall release has seen thousands of catchable-sized rainbow trout piped into Nanaimo area lakes courtesy of Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC. (file photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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“It gives you that opportunity to be able to see it up close, ask questions of the Freshwater Fisheries Society or myself,” Lawrence told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Following that, 500 catchable-sized rainbow trout will be piped into the lake.

School-aged children and senior care homes residents are among those slated to attend the free public event.

VIFFS will have a limited number of fishing rods available for people to use free of charge, with Lawrence noting anglers 16-years-old and up will require a non-tidal fishing license.

“We teach everywhere from preschool up to senior homes. Quite a few of the kids that we’ve helped over the last 10 years are now starting to mentor some of the younger kids,” Lawrence said.

So far this month 500 rainbow trout have each been placed in all three Colliery dams, Green, Long, Diver and Brannen lakes, while 1,500 trout were recently inserted in Westwood Lake.

Lawrence said now is a great time to go lake fishing, noting fish are more free-moving since the hot summer temperatures take a toll on trout.

“With the summer they tend to stay quite a bit deeper, now they’re starting to rise up, you’ll see them start to surface on the water, they’ll be chasing bugs, and you’ll actually be able to catch them now, they’re not quite so sedentary.”

Lawrence said Nanaimo is a fantastic place for lake fishing, with many urban stocked lakes to choose from, including three lakes accessible for wheel-chair users.

This is just beautiful
Nanaimo’s Grebor Vastagh was on a hot streak on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct 21 at Colliery Dam #1.

Sitting on the shoreline on the dam’s north-end, Vastagh caught a trout within seconds of a site visit from NanaimoNewsNOW.

“I got here 20 minutes ago and I’m on my fourth fish,” Vastagh said with a wide grin.

Harewood resident Grebor Vastagh holds a rainbow trout which he promptly placed back in the dam. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Vastagh, a local area resident, has fished at the park for the past 15 years.

He uses a unique Japanese-style reel-less rod and carries a net to scoop up fish from the dam’s edge before releasing them.

“You can’t really complain about this, this is just beautiful and very accessible…Even if you don’t catch any fish it’s just so beneficial, you’re outside detached from screens, enjoying mother nature.”

Grebor Vastagh is a regular at Colliery Dam Park. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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