Cataract Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Columbia River. Fish presence expected but not yet confirmed by direct records.
The water
It flows into Columbia River within the Upper Arrow Lake watershed (Upper Arrow Lake → Columbia River). It runs stream order 3 (mid-range in the network; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 1 km. Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, cutthroat, dolly varden, Kokanee expected, since this water connects to recorded fish habitat with no barrier between, though it has no direct records of its own yet.
The fishing
As a small stream, a tributary of Columbia River, Cataract 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. Match the fly box to the season and confirm against a current local report.
Conditions
- Navigability: driftable in sections only, this river carries verified Class IV+ whitewater; never float beyond water you have scouted, and expect mandatory portages (median channel width ~4.9 m, narrow; median gradient ~8.88%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.072 m³/s, very low flow; verified whitewater up to Class V on this river (American Whitewater)).
Access & the rules
Access for Cataract 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.
