The map shows both lakes. A short section of the Moyie River separates them; it is not part of the lake outline. The area shown combines the two mapped lake surfaces.

The provincial dataset contains 218 matched historical fish records from 1918 to 2025. Reported taxa include Black Catfish (formerly Black Bullhead), Brook Trout, Bull Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Cutthroat/Rainbow cross, Dolly Varden, Kokanee, Largescale Sucker, Longnose Dace, Longnose Sucker, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout, White Sucker. These are source records, not fish counts, and do not establish current presence.

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

The Moyie Lake entry covers the two lakes bearing that official name. The river between the basins and the inlet and outlet streams have separate stream rules; the lake rules do not authorise fishing those streams.

A deep East Kootenay stillwater in the Moyie River watershed, stocked with rainbow trout, kokanee and westslope cutthroat since 1901, and still topped up every year by the kokanee program that carries the fishery today.

Fish the water that holds the fish, not the deep middle. Chironomids and leeches over the shoals and drop-offs early in the season, then push deeper as the lake warms and stratifies through summer. Rainbow and cutthroat here now run mostly on residual and naturally recruiting fish; kokanee are the cohort still renewed every spring, so match your fly box to the most recent plant, not old memory of the lake.

Release bull trout caught in Moyie Lake throughout the year.

Release burbot in Moyie Lake from 14 through 28 February. Outside those dates, the regional daily limit is 2, with a possession limit of 4.

Moyie Lake retains the regional daily trout-and-char limit of 5 in total, with at most 1 rainbow or cutthroat trout over 50 cm. Its water-specific rule requires all bull trout to be released. Possession is twice the applicable daily quota.

The regional daily limits are 15 kokanee, with at most 5 longer than 30 cm, and 15 whitefish of all species combined. Possession is twice the applicable daily quota. Species-specific water rules override these defaults.

The Region 4 spring closure applies to streams. The lake has no whole-lake seasonal fishing closure listed in the reviewed synopsis and in-season amendments. Species, areas, methods and retention limits still apply; check for new changes before fishing.

Do not target bass, yellow perch, northern pike or walleye on this water. Region 4 permits fishing for these species only on specifically listed waters; this water has no listed exception.

Normally use only one line when angling. A person alone in a boat on a lake may use two lines. Any water-specific exception must be checked separately. Unattended set lines are not permitted in Region 4.

A BC freshwater angling licence is generally required from age 16. Licence, accompaniment and catch-quota rules for younger anglers depend on residency. Check the provincial licensing page for exemptions, required identification and proof of licence. Additional stamps or a Classified Waters Licence may be needed.

An angling licence does not grant access across land. Obtain the appropriate permission before entering or crossing private, cultivated, posted or reserve land.

Fishing is prohibited within 23 metres downstream of the lower entrance to a fishway, canal, obstacle or leap, and within 100 metres of a government fish-counting, passage or rearing facility unless otherwise designated. Ecological reserves are closed to fishing.

Do not fish for white sturgeon in Region 4. Release any caught accidentally; a zero retention quota here is also a prohibition on targeting them.

Bait includes foodstuffs and natural substances used to attract fish, including roe, worms, and scents or flavourings containing natural substances or nutrients. Wood, cotton, wool, hair, fur and feathers are excluded from that definition. Freshwater invertebrates must not be used or possessed as bait at a lake; their use in streams depends on any local bait ban.

Chumming is prohibited. Do not use live fish, or fin fish or their parts other than roe, as bait in these Region 4 waters.

Each angling line may have only one hook, one artificial lure or one artificial fly attached. Do not fish with multiple artificial flies on a line, including a dropper fly.

Before transporting a boat or other watercraft, remove drain plugs and drain its compartments on dry land. Clean, drain and dry boats and equipment before moving between waters.

Program: angling. Latest reported year: 2025.

Moyie Lake is a stocked stillwater on the Moyie River, the Kootenay River tributary that runs south through Yahk into Idaho. The lake covers roughly 598 hectares and drops to a surveyed maximum depth of 57 m, averaging 32 m across the basin, making it one of the deeper stocked lakes in the East Kootenay.

For an angler judging whether the drive is worth it, the release record is the fishing report. Provincial hatchery records run from 1901 to 2025 and log 227 releases into Moyie Lake, totalling roughly 6.8 million fish. Rainbow trout carry the bulk of it (157 releases, about 3.2 million fish), kokanee add close to 2.9 million fish across 49 releases, and westslope cutthroat trout round it out at about 710,000 fish over 17 releases. The oldest record on file, from 1901, is a small experimental planting of Bay of Quinte bass and sunfish, long gone from the lake today.

The three species now age at different rates. Cutthroat trout were last stocked in 2005 (Connor-strain yearlings) and rainbow trout in 2021 (Fraser Valley-strain fingerlings), so both fisheries now run on residual and naturally recruiting fish rather than fresh annual plants. Kokanee are the one program still active every year: the most recent releases, in June 2025, put 85,000 fry (Lussier River strain) into the lake, following similar plants in 2022 and 2024.

Moyie Lake fishes as a two-tier stillwater: a shallow shoal-and-drop-off program that suits rainbow trout and westslope cutthroat trout, and a deep, cold basin that holds kokanee once the surface warms. Work a chironomid or balanced leech under an indicator over the shoals and drop-offs early in the season (chironomid under indicator is the standard rig), then follow the hot weather stillwater playbook once summer sets up a thermocline (the warm-water layer that pushes trout deep): push a full-sink line and a woolly bugger along the drop-offs, or troll for the kokanee suspended over the main basin. Chironomids, leeches and scuds are the general stillwater forage base here, and an evening rise is worth covering with match-the-hatch dries once the surface cools.