Tillicum Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Pend-d'Oreille River. Recorded fish: Brown Trout, Bull Trout, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch.
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 8 km. Brown Trout, Bull Trout, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (33 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.
The fishing
As a small stream, a tributary of Pend-d'Oreille River, Tillicum 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 ~5.6 m, moderate width; median gradient ~9.26%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.325 m³/s, very low flow).
Access & the rules
Access for Tillicum 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.
