From the highway south of Merritt, Courtney looks more like a slough than a trout lake, flat water so close to the road that most traffic never slows for it.
The lake sits on the east side of the road just past Corbett Lake, more than twice the size of its neighbour, with a deep hole at each end and shallow benches between them. Read it as three pieces of water: the benches, the north hole and the south hole, each ringed by the ledges and drop-offs where the bigger fish feed.
The shallow benches are spring water. Chironomids hatch off them once the ice is gone, and rainbows move up from the holes to feed over them. Start here in May and June, with a pupa fished slowly just off the bottom, and you’ll find most of the lake’s fish.
The two holes are where the size lives. Their edges fall away in ledges, and that is where the big fish sit, close to deep water and close to the bench above. These are the fish the lake is known for, deep in the body and heavy. Anchor off a drop-off and work it with a leech, or strip a streamer along the ledge; the lake carries red-sided shiners, put there illegally, and the trout here eat them.
Which hole fishes better changes from day to day. Fish one edge until it goes quiet, then cross the lake and try the other.
Bring a small boat, a pontoon or a float tube, because the ledges are out of reach from shore. When you’ve had your fill, Corbett Lake sits a few minutes north, a lodge water with its own big rainbows, and Lundbom and Marquart wait in the grassland east of Merritt.
Fish in this water
Each fish is rated by its strongest evidence. A rating says how sure we are a fish is here, not how many there are, whether it is worth fishing for or whether you may keep it.
Likely
Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
Fish and forage
Fish of several pounds turn up, and the strain is said to reach trophy size here. The shiners compete with the trout for insects, and they are the reason a minnow pattern earns a place in the box. Beyond the shiners, the lake has hatches through the season: chironomids over the benches in spring, caddis, and leeches all year.
Carry chironomid pupae in black, brown and green, sizes 12 to 16; micro-leeches and full-size leeches; a caddis pupa; and a Muddler Minnow or a slim silver streamer for the ledges.
When to fish it
The rules list no closure for Courtney Lake; check in-season changes before you go. The lake is at its best from ice-off, usually some time in late April or May on these plateau lakes, through June, while the chironomids come off the benches. July and August are slower: fish early and late, and keep to the drop-offs. September brings fish back up onto the benches and is one of the best months on these lakes, and October fishes until the lake turns over and the cold comes on.
Ice fishing is not allowed on Courtney, so once the lake freezes its season is over for you until the ice goes.
How to fish it
A 6-weight with a floating line and an intermediate or full sinking line covers the lake. BC allows one fly on the line, so fish one at a time and change it rather than adding another.
On the benches in spring, anchor in casting range of the drop and fish a chironomid pupa under an indicator, set so it hangs just off the bottom. Without an indicator, let the fly sink, then inch the line back with a slow hand-twist. If nothing takes, change depth first, then size, then colour.
On the ledges around the holes, go to a leech, retrieved slowly on a sinking line along the drop-off. When the fish are on shiners, swap to a Muddler or streamer and strip it faster, parallel to the ledge, so the fly stays in the strike zone longer. If a ledge gives you nothing in half an hour, move to the other hole.