Not individually listed in the Region 4 synopsis, so the general provincial and Region 4 (Kootenay) rules apply. Confirm the current synopsis before you fish.

A 1969 provincial lake survey measured Upper Halgrave at 6.48 hectares, with a maximum depth of 10.7 m and a mean depth of 3.3 m. A Secchi disc held visibility to 5.8 m, a little over halfway to the bottom of the deepest water, and the surface ran a mildly alkaline pH of 8.5, consistent with the limestone-influenced geology common through the Rocky Mountain Trench. That combination of moderate depth and decent clarity, rather than the shallow, uniform basin of some neighboring East Kootenay lakes, gives the fish a real thermocline to retreat to once the shallows warm.

For an angler weighing whether it's worth the drive, the release record is most of what there is to go on. The province has logged 36 stockings into Upper Halgrave Lake since 1938, for a documented total of roughly 253,000 fish. The earliest plants, through 1940, were unstrained cutthroat eyed eggs; from 1941 the program shifted to Kiakho-strain westslope cutthroat trout eggs and fry, and by 1972 it had settled onto the Connor strain that still carries the lake today. Through the 1990s and 2000s the pattern was 2,000 Connor-strain fall fry every other year; since 2016 the province has shifted to larger, less frequent drops of Connor-strain fry and yearlings, most recently 2,000 yearlings released 4 June 2025, the fourth 2,000-yearling plant since 2019.

That shift from small annual fry drops to periodic yearling plants is typical of a lake moving from establishing a population to maintaining one: fewer fish go in per release, but each is a larger, better-conditioned yearling with a stronger chance of reaching catchable size.

With no dedicated local report on file for Upper Halgrave Lake, fish it as a standard small-lake stillwater: a chironomid fished under an indicator over the shoals early in the day, switching to a balanced leech or Woolly Bugger worked along the thermocline as the shallows warm through summer. A basin this small, at just 6.48 hectares, fishes close to shore-to-shore, so covering different depths with a countdown or clear intermediate line matters more than covering distance. If fish are showing on the surface toward evening, a hatch-matched dry such as the Adams is a reasonable starting point. Any westslope cutthroat trout caught this long after a given release should be sized against the 2,000-fish yearling plants from 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2025, so expect a mix of year-classes rather than a single uniform cohort.

No confirmed public launch, trailhead or parking information is on record for Upper Halgrave Lake. It sits in backcountry between Frances Creek and Steamboat Mountain, in the same general country as the Frances Creek Forest Service Road network west of Radium Hot Springs; confirm the current route and any private-land or seasonal restrictions locally before planning a trip.