A put-grow rainbow stillwater at the head of Tamarack Creek in BC's East Kootenay, topped up most springs since 1925 with Blackwater-strain rainbow trout, alongside a smaller historic record of stocked brook trout.

Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4, Kootenay), including any bait, motor or ice-fishing limits for this lake, before you fish.

Tamarack Lake sits at the head of Tamarack Creek in BC's East Kootenay, within the St. Mary River watershed (St. Mary River to Kootenay River). It is a small stillwater, roughly 13.7 hectares, and a shallow one: a 1960 provincial lake survey measured a maximum depth of 3.7 m and a mean of just 2 m, numbers that mark it as a shallow, weedy put-grow lake rather than a deep chironomid water.

For an angler judging whether the drive is worth it, the stocking record is the fishing report. Tamarack Lake has been planted since 1925, with 98 recorded releases on file through 2026, overwhelmingly rainbow trout, with brook trout also stocked at times over that century. The most recent release, in spring 2026, put 2,000 yearling Blackwater-strain rainbow trout into the lake, the same Blackwater program that supplies stocked lakes across the region.

That long record, not a modern fish-count survey, is the clearest evidence of what is actually swimming in Tamarack Lake today: freshly stocked Blackwater rainbow, backed by whatever residual brook trout remain from earlier plants.

Fish Tamarack Lake as a put-grow stillwater. Its shallow profile (mean depth 2 m) sets the read: work a chironomid under an indicator over the flats and any drop-offs early in the season, then switch to leech and attractor patterns like a Woolly Bugger as the shallow water warms through summer. In a lake this shallow, expect weed growth by mid-season and warmer surface water to push fish deeper or later in the day; early morning and evening are the better windows once summer sets in.

Access, launch and parking for Tamarack Lake have not been confirmed and still need a field or source check; the coordinate above marks the fish-release point recorded in the provincial stocking data, not a verified access point. Confirm both the route in and the current regulations before you commit a day to it.