Burton (Trout) Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Caribou Creek. Recorded fish: Bull Trout, Kokanee, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout.
The water
It flows into Caribou Creek within the Lower Arrow Lake watershed (Lower Arrow Lake → Columbia River). It runs stream order 6 (well down the network, toward river scale; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 22 km. Bull Trout, Kokanee, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (45 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: Snow Creek, Woden Creek.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Burton (Trout) Creek is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 7 recorded releases totalling 38,212 fish (Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout), last stocked 1999-10-18.
Burton (Trout) Creek — 38,212 fish stocked, 1991–1999
Rainbow Trout, Bull Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Bull Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | · | 2,395 |
| 1995 | 4,000 | · |
| 1994 | · | 1,000 |
| 1993 | · | 9,449 |
| 1992 | 8,267 | 4,101 |
| 1991 | · | 9,000 |
Stocking appears to have wound down after 1999. Confirm whether it is still topped up or now fishes as a residual, wild population. The chart below shows the full release history.
The fishing
As a small stream, a tributary of Caribou Creek, Burton (Trout) 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. The stocking record below is the truest read on what you will catch.
Conditions
- Navigability: wade / technical: steep gradient, pocket water (median channel width ~7.8 m, moderate width; median gradient ~5.35%, steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~8.427 m³/s, moderate flow; canyon-confined sections with ~98 m walls (DEM)).
Access & the rules
Access for Burton (Trout) 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.
