Lussier River is a river flowing into Kootenay River. Recorded fish: Brook Trout, Bull Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Dolly Varden, Kokanee, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout.
The water
It flows into Kootenay River within the St. Mary River watershed (St. Mary River → Kootenay 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 79 km. Brook Trout, Bull Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Dolly Varden, Kokanee, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (96 records). Named tributaries: Coyote Creek, Diorite Creek, Nicol Creek, Ram Creek, Mutton Creek, Fawn Creek, Roam Creek.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Lussier River is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 6 recorded releases totalling 57,000 fish (Rainbow Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout, Cutthroat Trout), last stocked 1953-01-01.
Lussier River — 57,000 fish stocked, 1940–1953
Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Cutthroat Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 10,000 | · |
| 1952 | 5,000 | · |
| 1947 | · | 8,000 |
| 1943 | · | 12,000 |
| 1942 | · | 12,000 |
| 1940 | · | 10,000 |
Stocking appears to have wound down after 1953. 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 moving water, a tributary of Kootenay River, Lussier River fishes the way rivers of its size do: read the runs and seams, fish a dry-dropper through the warm months, and swing streamers or nymph the deeper slots as flows drop. The stocking record below is the truest read on what you will catch.
Conditions
- Navigability: driftable with caution: wide, low-gradient sections suit a float/raft, but rated rapids or canyon-confined reaches interrupt them; check the drift map (median channel width ~19 m, wide; median gradient ~1.02%, gentle; peak mean-annual discharge ~7.405 m³/s, moderate flow; canyon-confined sections with ~197 m walls (DEM)).
Access & the rules
Access for Lussier River, 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.
