Charbonneau Creek

Charbonneau Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Pend-d'Oreille River. Recorded fish: Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Walleye.

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 4 km. Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Walleye, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (13 records). The fish-passage model expects Bull Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout here too, since the reach is reachable with no barrier between, though there is no direct record yet.

The fishing

As a small stream, a tributary of Pend-d'Oreille River, Charbonneau 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 water: narrow channel, fish on foot (median channel width ~3.6 m, narrow; median gradient ~17.5%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.091 m³/s, very low flow).

Access & the rules

Access for Charbonneau 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.