Forster Creek joins the Columbia River west of Radium Hot Springs, draining Purcell Range country fed by glaciers and alpine lakes. It carries a mixed resident population of brook trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, rainbow trout and Kokanee, with Bull Trout treated as part of the known or suspected system mix. The useful fishing story here is not the whole creek: it is the lower connected water and the resident reaches above the falls, found with careful scouting around flow and access.
The water
The creek's mouth sits at 50.62255, -116.24066. It runs stream order 6 (the top of a 1-to-6+ scale where 1 is a headwater trickle and 6 or more marks a substantial stream by the time it reaches its confluence), with a median channel width around 11.5 m (narrow to moderate) and a gentle median gradient near 1.08%. Peak mean-annual discharge runs about 6.769 m³/s, a moderate flow for this size of system. Frances Creek is the major child creek feeding Forster, and Akenside Creek in turn feeds Frances; Irish Creek and Welsh Creek are smaller inferred child creeks in the same drainage.
A cascade and roughly 3 m falls in reach 3 blocks fish movement from the Columbia into Frances Creek and upper Forster, so fish holding above that barrier are resident or lake-connected populations, not fresh mainstem migrants. Reach 6 stands out in the Steamboat Mountain fish habitat inventory as an important staging area, where bars and logjam scour create calm side water and deeper pools. Many of the smaller headwater tributaries in this drainage, including reaches of Akenside, Forster, Bugaboo and Horsethief creeks, ran dry or low during late-summer sampling, a reminder to avoid pushing fish in warm, thin, disconnected water and to expect the system to fish smaller as summer wears on.
The fishing
Local beat data carries 8 fish records on Forster itself: brook trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, rainbow trout and Kokanee. The broader Forster and Frances system inventory also treats Bull Trout as part of the known or suspected mix, though individual reaches vary in how well that's confirmed. Fish the connected lower water and the resident reaches above the falls rather than treating the whole creek as one continuous fishery.
Fish it with a cold mountain-creek box: a Stimulator or Royal Wulff as an attractor dry, an Adams and Elk Hair Caddis to cover mayflies and caddis, and a Hare's Ear, Prince Nymph or Pheasant Tail under the surface. Carry small Woolly Buggers for the connected lower water, where Sculpin, other Baitfish & Fry and kokanee-linked eggs and fry are on the menu alongside the resident stonefly, caddis, mayfly and summer terrestrial hatches typical of this Columbia Valley country.
Fish the barrier honestly
Access and the rules
The Steamboat Mountain habitat inventory names the Radium Hot Springs crossing and the Brisco crossing as the two ways into this drainage, with Forster Main, Westside Main and Redrock Road forming the core road network. Expect tertiary logging roads in variable, sometimes complex condition rather than an easy roadside fishery. Kootenay Troutfitters is the nearest Columbia Valley guide operation, though no source found dedicated Forster Creek guiding.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Navigability: median channel width ~11.5 m (narrow to moderate), median gradient ~1.08% (gentle), peak mean-annual discharge ~6.769 m³/s (moderate flow). The geometry reads as manageable water, but the falls barrier and dry-season low flow in upper reaches matter more than the raw numbers.
- Stocking: no stocking record. Forster runs on wild, resident and Columbia-connected fish.
