Boulder Mill Creek

Boulder Mill Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Pend-d'Oreille River. Recorded fish: Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout.

The water

It flows into Pend-d'Oreille River within the Lower Arrow Lake watershed (Lower Arrow Lake → Columbia River). It runs stream order 4 (mid-range in the network; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 6 km. Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (2 records). The fish-passage model expects Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout here too, since the reach is reachable with no barrier between, though there is no direct record yet. Named tributaries: Wally Creek, Key Creek.

The fishing

As a small stream, a tributary of Pend-d'Oreille River, Boulder Mill Creek fishes the way creeks of its size do: short drifts with a buoyant attractor dry over a light dropper, working the pocket water and the heads of pools. Match the fly box to the season and confirm against a current local report.

Conditions

• Navigability: wade / technical: steep gradient, pocket water (median channel width ~5 m, moderate width; median gradient ~9.79%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.339 m³/s, very low flow).

Access & the rules

Access for Boulder Mill Creek, meaning the roads in, put-ins and any walk-in or seasonal limits, is worth confirming locally before you commit a day. The drainage map shows how the water sits in its valley.