Imagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics

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Nixon Lake

Stillwater

Species listed

Nixon Lake is a small stillwater in BC's upper Columbia country, about five hectares of water carrying a modest, long-running rainbow trout stocking program. It sits close to Redcliff Lake, another small stocked lake about 1.7 km to the northwest, and both are grouped with the province's East Kootenay stocking records.

Species

Historical records and regulatory mentions. They do not establish current abundance, a suitable angling target or permission to fish.

Rainbow Trout

Stocking history 1927–2025

Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout

Stocking history 1940

Westslope Cutthroat Trout

No live gauge

No gauge readings are available for this water.

Season

Driving directions

Region 4 Regulations — guide reviewed 2026-07-08

Nixon Lake is not individually listed in the Region 4 synopsis, so the general provincial and Region 4 (Kootenay) rules apply: trout/char daily quota 5, with no more than 1 rainbow or cutthroat over 50 cm. Confirm the current synopsis before you fish.

The water

A 1982 provincial lake survey recorded Nixon Lake at 16 m maximum depth and 8.7 m mean depth across its roughly 5-hectare surface, moderately deep for a lake this size. No mollusc bioindicator survey or aggregate water-health read is on file for it. Rainbow trout are the modern stocked species; a single wild-origin transplant of 5,000 westslope cutthroat trout fry went in back in 1940 and has not been repeated since.

The fishing

No dedicated fishing report for Nixon Lake has turned up. The honest starting point is its depth: with a 16 m hole, it fishes like other moderately deep, small East Kootenay put-and-take lakes, a chironomid under an indicator worked deep over the drop-off from ice-off through early summer, then leech and attractor patterns worked shallower as the water warms. Confirm the pattern on the water; it is a reasonable read from the depth data, not a confirmed local report.

A light, steady program

Nixon Lake has taken 46 recorded releases since 1927. The modern rhythm, in place since the 2000s, is simple: about 1,000 Pennask-strain rainbow trout fry, released roughly every second year (recent drops in 2025, 2023, 2019, 2017, 2013, 2011 and 2009). It is a light put-and-take fishery, not a heavily stocked destination lake like nearby Premier Lake.

Access and the rules

No confirmed public access point, boat launch or trailhead is on file for Nixon Lake, only its provincial fish-inventory coordinate. Confirm road status and any private-land or seasonal restrictions locally before heading in.

Before you fish

Nixon Lake is not individually listed in the Region 4 synopsis, so the general provincial and Region 4 (Kootenay) rules apply: trout/char daily quota 5, with no more than 1 rainbow or cutthroat trout over 50 cm. Confirm the current regulations at the official synopsis before you go.

Stocking

The full year-by-year release history, coloured by species, is below: rainbow trout stocked most years since 1927, plus the single 1940 westslope cutthroat trout transplant, from the Province of BC (FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases) via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.