iN NUMBERS: Stocking lakes in Okanagan, Kamloops for spring fishing

Are you excited to go catch some fish this spring? Or are you more excited to drink a beer near a lake while holding a fishing rod? Either way, the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC is topping off the fish population in lakes all around Kamloops and the Okanagan to make sure there are some nice catches out there waiting for you.

Here are the numbers:

• 1,500: Spring catchable-size trout were stocked into Swan Lake near Vernon last week.
• 800: Lakes are stocked for recreational fishing in B.C.
• 230: Grams. That’s the average weight for the rainbow trout released into Shannon Lake in the fall.
• 10,000: Rainbow trout yearlings went into Yellow Lake near Penticton in 2025.
• 3: Food sources are most available to trout in April, including shrimp, leeches and chironomids, making them good bait patterns.
• 28: Lakes within 25 kilometres of Kamloops are stocked for fishing.
• 500: Rainbow trout yearlings were stocked into Morgan Lake near Kamloops this year.
• 8: Types of fish are in season in the Okanagan: trout, char, burbot, kokanee, whitefish, crappie, bass and perch.
• 3: Lakes in the Kootenays began stocking last week: Campbell, Stoney and Wapiti.
• 28,800: Fish have been stocked in East Kootenay in 2026 so far, according to the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
• 120: Lakes in the Okanagan were stocked in 2025.
• 437,974: Rainbow trout were stocked in the Okanagan in 2025.
• 12,800: Kokanee were stocked in the Okanagan in 2025.
• 26,950: Brook trout were stocked in the Okanagan in 2025.