Imagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics

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Wilmer Lake

Stillwater

Species listed

1.6 m

Reported mean depth

Wilmer Lake is a small, shallow stillwater in the Columbia Valley, sitting northwest of Windermere Lake and close to Wilmer Creek, both part of the Columbia River drainage in the East Kootenay. Two provincial survey reports from the 1960s and 1970s list it under an older name, Munn Lake, and put it at 14.49 hectares. It has carried a stocked fishery for well over sixty years, first as a brook trout put-and-take water and, since the 1980s, as a rainbow trout program.

Species

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

Rainbow Trout

Stocking history 1982–2026

Brook Trout

Stocking history 1961–2001

No live gauge

No gauge readings are available for this water.

Season

Driving directions

Region 4 Regulations — guide reviewed 2026-07-08

Wilmer Lake carries no individually listed exception in the checked Region 4 extraction, so general provincial and Region 4 (Kootenay) stillwater rules apply. Confirm the current synopsis before you fish.

The water

The one detailed provincial survey on record, from June 1970, found a mean depth of only 1.6 m with no maximum depth recorded, and alkaline water at pH 8.5. An earlier 1967 pass measured 3.4 m of water clarity. Nothing in the record points to a deep basin or a defined drop-off; a lake this shallow and this alkaline is a productive, weed-rich water where forage and structure likely run through most of the lake bottom rather than concentrating at the edges.

The fishing

Wilmer Lake's stocking record tells its own story of a fishery that changed character. From 1961 to 2001, the lake ran as a brook trout put-and-take water, including a single large fry release of over 19,000 fish in 1961. Rainbow trout releases began in 1982 and ran alongside the brook trout program for two decades before it wound down; since 2001 the lake has fished as a rainbow-only put-grow water, with Pennask-strain rainbow trout yearlings out of the Beaver hatchery going in every spring, most recently 2,000 fish on 2026-04-23.

No dedicated hatch or forage report has turned up for Wilmer Lake specifically. Fished as the shallow, alkaline stillwater the survey record describes, the standard Kootenay approach applies: chironomid patterns worked near bottom under an indicator and slow-stripped balanced leech imitations cover a lake with no deep basin to chase fish into. Confirm current conditions and any local reports before you go.

From brook trout to rainbow trout

Wilmer Lake was stocked with brook trout for four decades, ending in 2001, and carries a mix of both species in its historical release record. The lake now runs as a Pennask rainbow trout program only; if you're after brook trout, look elsewhere in the Columbia Valley.

Access and the rules

No boat launch, parking area or trailhead has been confirmed for Wilmer Lake. Its location is northwest of Windermere Lake in the Columbia Valley; confirm the road access, any private-land boundaries and launch conditions locally before committing a day to it.

Before you fish

Wilmer Lake is not individually listed in the Region 4 synopsis, so general provincial and Region 4 (Kootenay) stillwater rules apply. Confirm the current Region 4 synopsis before you go.

Stocking

For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the release record is the clearest read on Wilmer Lake: 60 recorded stockings since 1961, totalling roughly 223,700 fish. Brook trout accounted for 21 releases and about 127,175 fish, all between 1961 and 2001. Rainbow trout have gone in every spring since, 39 releases and about 96,500 fish from 1982 to 2026, currently 2,000 Pennask-strain yearlings a year from the Beaver hatchery. The full year-by-year release history is below.

Conditions

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Depth: mean 1.6 m, no maximum depth on record (provincial survey, 1970-06-23); an earlier 1967 pass measured 3.4 m of water clarity. A shallow lake with no recorded deep basin.

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Water chemistry: pH 8.5, alkaline and productive.

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Stocking: a rainbow trout put-grow program since 2001, roughly 2,000 Pennask-strain yearlings a spring from the Beaver hatchery; brook trout were stocked from 1961 to 2001 but no longer appear in the program. 60 releases and about 223,700 fish total since 1961.