The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Tributary Creek

Boulder Creek

A stocked creek in the St. Mary River watershed, a tributary of Wild Horse River, carrying Westslope Cutthroat and Bull Trout and topped up by the provincial stocking program.

Boulder Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Wild Horse River. Fish presence expected but not yet confirmed by direct records.

The water

It flows into Wild Horse River within the St. Mary River watershed (St. Mary River → 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 8 km. Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout expected, since this water connects to recorded fish habitat with no barrier between, though it has no direct records of its own yet.

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.

Stocking record

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.

YearKokanee
20101,220,639
2008300,000
2007149,792
2006206,029
2005300,000
195890,000

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 Wild Horse 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.

water_drop
Tributary Creek
St. Mary River watershed
straighten
Stream order 4
~8 km
set_meal
Fish expected
no direct records yet
egg
Stocked
kokanee program

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.

gavel

Before you fish

Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4 – Kootenay) before you go This water is part of the Wild Horse River system.. Official synopsis: gov.bc.ca fishing regulations.