VIDEO: 10,000 trout released into Hydraulic Lake near Kelowna

The moment 10,000 rainbow trout were released into Hydraulic Lake outside Kelowna was caught on video.

Urie Zamonsky, operator of the Hydraulic Lake Recreation camping site, was in the right place at the right time as the trout were released into the reservoir.

“That's the fisheries at work, this is what fishing licences pay for.”

Zamonsky says the fishing at Hydraulic Lake is good, but not everyone gets lucky.

“The fish are there, it's just whether the fisherman can catch them or not. We’ve had some pretty good fishers up here and they never get skunked.”

According to the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, most stocking is done by truck. Fish are loaded into the stocking vehicles’ big tanks, which are filled with oxygenated water. At the release site, large pipes are fitted to these tanks, and the fish are released into their new lake or river via gravity feed.

The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC is a non-profit organization with hatchery facilities in Summerland, Duncan, Abbotsford, Clearwater, Fort Steele, and Vanderhoof. Every year, the hatcheries raise and release over six million trout, char, and kokanee salmon into 800 lakes across British Columbia.

Zamonsky says the campground is open but the weather has delayed things by about a month, “even when it’s a beautiful sunny day it can be cool at our elevation, this time of year.”

Every year more than 300,000 licensed anglers spend about $500 million in BC. The Freshwater Fisheries Society says about 50% of all angling activity takes place on the over 800 lakes and streams they stock.

The society even goes so far as to hike a backpack container of fish to a few hard-to-reach locations.