Norbury Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Kootenay River. Recorded fish: Brook Trout, Kokanee, 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 5 (well down the network, toward river scale; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 10 km. Brook Trout, Kokanee, Rainbow Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (360 records). The fish-passage model expects Bull Trout here too, since the reach is reachable with no barrier between, though there is no direct record yet. Named tributaries: Mause Creek.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Norbury Creek is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 35 recorded releases totalling 1,053,820 fish (Kokanee, Rainbow Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout, Brook Trout), last stocked 2021-11-08.
Norbury Creek — 1,053,820 fish stocked, 1929–2021
Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Kokanee, Brook Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Cutthroat Trout | Kokanee | Brook Trout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | · | · | 774,245 | · |
| 2020 | · | · | 148,559 | · |
| 2019 | · | · | 50,410 | · |
| 1999 | 68 | · | · | · |
| 1997 | 21 | · | · | · |
| 1996 | 35 | · | · | · |
| 1995 | 40 | · | · | · |
| 1994 | 62 | · | · | · |
| 1993 | 134 | · | · | · |
| 1992 | 50 | · | · | · |
| 1991 | 50 | · | · | · |
| 1990 | 18 | · | · | · |
| 1989 | 38 | · | · | · |
| 1988 | 50 | · | · | · |
| 1987 | 40 | 2,000 | · | · |
| 1965 | · | · | · | 50,000 |
| 1963 | · | 10,500 | · | · |
| 1962 | · | 10,000 | · | · |
| 1929 | · | 7,500 | · | · |
Stocking appears to have wound down after 2021. 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 Kootenay River, Norbury 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: driftable: wide, low-gradient sections suit a float/raft (median channel width ~9.7 m, moderate width; median gradient ~0.21%, very gentle; peak mean-annual discharge ~1.278 m³/s, low flow).
Access & the rules
Access for Norbury 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.
