Windermere Creek feeds Windermere Lake on the west side of the Columbia River valley. Local fish-inventory records confirm wild Westslope Cutthroat Trout through the accessible reaches, while an older provincial habitat survey documents a wider lower-reach population and an active kokanee spawning run. It is a creek that earns its keep as nursery water for the lake and the Columbia system rather than as a heavily fished destination in its own right.
The water
The creek's headwaters gather in Tegart and Pedley pass meltwater, then run roughly 27 km through the community of Windermere before entering Windermere Lake, with a local reference point near 50.47707, -115.85406. It runs up to stream order 6 (the top of a 1-to-6+ scale where 1 is a headwater trickle and 6+ is a full river), and the channel itself stays modest throughout: median width ~4.2 m (narrow), gradient ~3.29% (moderate), peak mean-annual discharge ~0.812 m³/s (low to moderate flow). That geometry reads as a small, wade-only creek rather than anything driftable.
A 1997 fish-habitat assessment for the creek flags real pressure on that lower reach: forestry activity, gypsum mining, road crossings, siltation at the alluvial fan near the mouth, a 1 m falls-and-logjam barrier, and a Highway 93 culvert that can block or limit upstream fish movement. That history is part of why the mouth and lower creek deserve careful handling today.
The fishing
Local beat data currently documents five direct fish records on Windermere Creek, all westslope cutthroat trout. The 1997 habitat survey paints a broader picture for the lower reach: rainbow, bull trout, brook and cutthroat trout, plus Kokanee spawning between Windermere Lake and the Highway 93 crossing. Read the two records together rather than picking one: the modern beat sample is thin, and the older survey is the best evidence available for what the lower creek supports beyond cutthroat.
No dedicated hatch survey exists for Windermere Creek. The working freestone box shared across the nearby Windermere/Sinclair tributary group covers it reasonably: a Stimulator or Royal Wulff as an attractor, Adams and Elk Hair Caddis for Mayflies and Caddisflies (Sedges), a Hare's Ear, Prince or Pheasant Tail as a dropper, and a small Woolly Bugger or sparse sculpin/fry streamer near the lower kokanee and Sculpin water. Expect small Stoneflies, summer Terrestrials (Hoppers, Ants, Beetles), resident Sculpin and baitfish and fry through the season, plus kokanee eggs and fry in the lower spawning reach, a reasonable regional expectation rather than a documented local calendar.
Spawning water: give the gravel room
Access and the rules
The lower creek runs through the community of Windermere, bordered by private land and a campground, and no confirmed public trailhead or put-in exists near the mouth. The Highway 93 crossing is the one reliable landmark, and it doubles as a documented fish-passage constraint from the 1 m falls-and-logjam barrier and culvert noted in the 1997 habitat survey. Kootenay Troutfitters is the nearest Columbia Valley guide operation for current on-the-ground conditions, though no guide has been confirmed to run dedicated Windermere Creek trips.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Navigability: median width ~4.2 m (narrow), gradient ~3.29% (moderate), peak mean-annual discharge ~0.812 m³/s (low to moderate flow), stream order to 6 (a headwater-to-river scale where 1 is a trickle and 6+ is a full river). A small, wade-only creek throughout its length.
- Stocking: no stocking record. Any fish present are wild or moving up from Windermere Lake and the Columbia system.
