The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stocked Stillwater

Burton (Trout) Creek

A stocked stillwater in the Slocan River watershed, surface area not recorded, carrying Bull Trout and Rainbow Trout and topped up by the provincial stocking program.

Burton (Trout) Creek is a stocked stillwater in the Slocan River watershed. Surface area not recorded.

The water

Burton (Trout) Creek sits in the Slocan River watershed, covering surface area not recorded.

Stocking

For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Burton (Trout) Creek is a conservation / recovery stocking program, not a put-grow sport fishery: 7 recorded releases totalling 38,212 fish (Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout), last stocked 1999-10-18.

Stocking record

Burton (Trout) Creek — 38,212 fish stocked, 1991–1999

Rainbow Trout, Bull Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.

YearRainbow TroutBull Trout
1999·2,395
19954,000·
1994·1,000
1993·9,449
19928,2674,101
1991·9,000

These releases support the population rather than create a stocked fishery, so read the chart as recovery effort, not a fishing forecast.

The fishing

Burton (Trout) Creek fishes as a put-grow stillwater: work chironomids under an indicator over the shoals in spring, then leech and attractor retrieves along the drop-offs as the shallows warm. The stocking record below is the truest read on the size and cohort of fish you will find.

waves
Stocked Stillwater
Slocan River watershed
egg
Stocked
conservation stocking

Conditions

  • Navigability: wade / technical: steep gradient, pocket water (median channel width ~7.8 m, moderate width; median gradient ~5.35%, steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~8.427 m³/s, moderate flow; canyon-confined sections with ~98 m walls (DEM)).

Access & the rules

Confirm the launch, parking and any motor/float or seasonal restrictions for Burton (Trout) Creek locally before you commit a day; the map shows where the lake sits in its drainage.

gavel

Before you fish

Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4 – Kootenay) before you go. Official synopsis: gov.bc.ca fishing regulations.