Boulder Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Kootenay River. Recorded fish: Westslope cutthroat, bull trout, rainbow, cutthroat, dolly varden, kokanee.
The water
It flows into Kootenay River within the Kootenay Lake watershed (Kootenay Lake → Kootenay 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 10 km. Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, cutthroat, dolly varden, Kokanee, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (26 records).
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Boulder Creek is a kokanee program, a mix of forage stocking and a put-and-take sport fishery: 6 recorded releases totalling 2,266,460 fish (Kokanee), last stocked 2010-10-22.
Boulder Creek — 2,266,460 fish stocked, 1958–2010
Kokanee. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Kokanee |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,220,639 |
| 2008 | 300,000 |
| 2007 | 149,792 |
| 2006 | 206,029 |
| 2005 | 300,000 |
| 1958 | 90,000 |
Stocking appears to have wound down after 2010. 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, Boulder 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: wade / technical: steep gradient, pocket water (median channel width ~5.7 m, moderate width; median gradient ~10.63%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.703 m³/s, very low flow).
Access & the rules
Access for Boulder 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.
