Rainbow trout
Good
Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Kootenay Lake Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
Kootenay Lake: the giant Gerrard rainbow trout, kokanee and bull trout in a long mountain lake, with a live level gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
531.33 m
Air / High
13 °C / 16 °C
Wind
SSW 4 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 08NH064, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Kootenay Lake rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 531.33 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 3 km/h, rising pressure near 1002 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Water sits around 15 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Tie on: Float and roe · Swung fly through the tailout · Jerkbait, long pauses · Hair jig on the rock. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 16 °C with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
British Columbia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$11.43. British Columbia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with BC Freshwater Fishing before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Kootenay Lake today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:39), sunset (18:38), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Water Survey of Canada station 08NH064 (KOOTENAY LAKE AT QUEENS BAY).
Lake level, last 30 days
Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 08NH064. Latest reading 2026-09-25 04:45.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low16 °C / 11 °C
WindSSW 4 km/h, gusts 4 km/h
Pressure100.20 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 68%
Sunrise / Sunset06:39 / 18:38
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~15 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Kootenay Lake
The best day on Kootenay Lake this week looks like Saturday Sep 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Saturday, Sep 26 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Sep 25 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:39 to 18:38
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 35 km/h
- Rain chance
- 68%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Kootenay Lake: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Lakes: ice-off to June and September to freeze-up; rivers through the open season
Canada’s most stocked sport fish, in thousands of BC, Alberta and prairie lakes and in the famous rivers, the Bow first among them. Wild rainbows in the rivers; stocked fish in most small lakes. Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Kokanee
Late spring and summer
Landlocked sockeye of the BC interior lakes: Okanagan, Kootenay, Shuswap and many smaller lakes. Schools in open water and feeds on plankton. Fish spawn in fall and leave the fishery.
Lake trout
Ice season, and spring after ice-off
The big char of cold, deep lakes: Lake Simcoe, the Kootenay and Shuswap systems, the northern lakes. A winter favourite through the ice, where the season allows. Fish come shallower after the lake turns over; cast or troll the shoals.
Bull trout
Summer and fall
A native char of the cold mountain rivers of BC and Alberta, a predator of other fish. Protected in Alberta, where every bull trout must be released; limits vary by water in BC. Pre-spawn fish move upstream; large streamers in the pools.
When to come: the Kootenay Lake calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Kokanee
Lake trout
Bull trout
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 15 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Kootenay Lake today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 17 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
BC freshwater fishing licence, from C$11.43 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by BC Freshwater Fishing and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the British Columbia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the Kootenay Lake rainbow trout surcharge to fish for them; the lake’s limits and rules are in the synopsis linked below..
About this water
Kootenay Lake is a lake in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Kootenay Lake: the full guide
Kootenay Lake
Kootenay Lake is a long, deep lake in the Selkirk and Purcell mountains of southeastern British Columbia, more than a hundred kilometres from end to end, with the West Arm running to the city of Nelson. It is home to the Gerrard rainbow trout, a strain that grows to a remarkable size by feeding on the lake’s kokanee. The Water Survey of Canada gauge at Queens Bay, on the West Arm, supplies the lake level and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Gerrard rainbows and bull trout are trolled for through much of the year, and kokanee are the lake’s food base and a fishery in their own right in summer. The lake has special rules, including a Kootenay Lake rainbow trout conservation surcharge, set out in the synopsis.
Where to fish it
The main lake is trolled with plugs and bucktails for the big rainbows, often near the surface in the cooler months; the West Arm near Nelson and the north end near the Lardeau are well-known areas. The lake is big and exposed to wind.
Planning a visit
Nelson, Kaslo and Balfour have marinas and launches, and a free ferry crosses the main lake between Balfour and Kootenay Bay. The lake is cold all year; dress for it. Kaslo, on the main lake, is a quiet base.
The water through the year
The lake level rises with the spring runoff and is regulated by dams downstream; fall, winter and spring are the prime trolling seasons for the big rainbows. Kokanee from the lake spawn in the Lardeau system in late summer, and the Meadow Creek spawning channel, near the north end, shows them in their red spawning colours.
Reading this report here
The gauge shows the lake level; the chart shows the last 30 days. The water temperature estimate, labelled as one, helps place the fish in the water column. Pressure and sky build the score.
Licence, access and rules
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the Kootenay Lake rainbow trout surcharge to fish for them; the lake’s limits and rules are in the synopsis linked below.
Common questions
What is a Gerrard rainbow trout?
A strain of rainbow trout native to Kootenay Lake that grows very large feeding on kokanee.
Do I need a special licence for Kootenay Lake?
You need the BC freshwater licence and the Kootenay Lake rainbow trout conservation surcharge.
When is the best time to troll Kootenay Lake?
Fall, winter and spring are the prime seasons for the big rainbows.
Is fishing good at Kootenay Lake right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Water level and flow readings
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 08NH064 — KOOTENAY LAKE AT QUEENS BAY
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.