The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Headwater Scout Water

Badshot Creek

A short, steep tributary of Marsh Adams Creek in the Westfall River system above Duncan Lake. Provincial records carry no direct fish observations here, and the creek sits inside a bull trout-sensitive drainage documented on its neighbouring waters, so it reads as habitat and access context rather than a fishing destination.

Badshot Creek is a short, steep headwater tributary in the Westfall River system, feeding Marsh Adams Creek above the Westfall's own confluence with the Duncan River. Provincial fish-inventory data carries no direct observations here, and no fishing-guide coverage exists for the creek, so it stays a habitat and access-context water rather than a destination.

The water

Badshot carries an official name in the Kootenay Land District, its mouth sitting at 50.750833, -117.348889. It runs stream order 3 (a small tributary, on a scale that runs from 1 for a headwater trickle up to 6 or more for a full river), stretches roughly 3 km, and holds zero fish records in the named-line extraction covering the Westfall system. It feeds Marsh Adams Creek, which in turn joins the Westfall River on its way to the Upper Duncan River above Duncan Lake.

The fishing

With zero direct fish records and no guide coverage or fishing reports, there is nothing here to plan a trip around. Badshot sits inside the same bull trout drainage that BC Hydro's Upper Duncan monitoring program names directly: fish passing Duncan Lake dam are known to spawn throughout the system, including the neighbouring Westfall River and Marsh Adams Creek. Badshot itself has not been surveyed to the same standard, so treat that as drainage-level context rather than a confirmed local run, and avoid redds, staging fish and low, warm flows if you do walk the creek.

water_drop
Headwater tributary
Into Marsh Adams Creek
straighten
Stream order 3
~3 km
block
No fish records
Zero named-line observations
footprint
Wade, steep
Narrow pocket water

No creek-specific hatch survey exists for Badshot, so there is no forage list to cite for the water itself. If it does hold fish, the small-stream basics documented on the mainstem Westfall River would apply: Stoneflies, Mayflies, Caddisflies (Sedges) and summer Terrestrials (Hoppers, Ants, Beetles), with Sculpin and juvenile Kokanee as forage lower in the system.

phishing

A bull trout drainage, not a proven fishery

Badshot sits inside the Upper Duncan bull trout system documented on Westfall River and Marsh Adams Creek, but it has no confirmed population of its own. If you're scouting the drainage, stay off redds and fall staging fish and give the system the same conservation-first treatment as its neighbours.

Conditions

  • Navigability: wade and technical, steep gradient and pocket water (median width ~2.9 m, narrow; gradient ~21.81%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.371 m³/s, very low flow), consistent with a small, unconfirmed headwater tributary.
  • Stocking: no stocking record. Any fish present would be wild.

Access and the rules

No named trailhead, road or put-in for Badshot Creek has been confirmed. Historic forestry access into the upper Westfall watershed exists, but monitoring reports note partial road deactivation to reduce traffic and protect caribou habitat, so treat any route in as unconfirmed until checked against current tenure and road status.

gavel

Before you fish

No individual Badshot Creek exception appears in the current Region 4 table. It falls under the Duncan Lake tributary rule, bull trout catch-and-release, plus the regional stream defaults: closed April 1 to June 14, single barbless hook year-round, and winter release for trout and char November 1 to March 31. Confirm the current Region 4 synopsis before fishing the drainage.