Halfway River is a river flowing into Columbia River. Recorded fish: Westslope cutthroat, bull trout, rainbow, cutthroat, dolly varden, kokanee.
The water
It flows into Columbia River within the Upper Arrow Lake watershed (Upper Arrow Lake → Columbia River). It runs stream order 5 (well down the network, toward river scale; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 42 km. Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, cutthroat, dolly varden, Kokanee, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (35 records).
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Halfway River is a conservation / recovery stocking program, not a put-grow sport fishery: 13 recorded releases totalling 83,547 fish (Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout), last stocked 2000-07-21.
Halfway River — 83,547 fish stocked, 1990–2000
Rainbow Trout, Bull Trout. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Bull Trout |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | · | 6,220 |
| 1999 | · | 398 |
| 1995 | 7,008 | · |
| 1994 | 5,644 | 2,067 |
| 1993 | 5,309 | 10,000 |
| 1992 | 6,184 | · |
| 1991 | · | 24,997 |
| 1990 | · | 15,720 |
These releases support the population rather than create a stocked fishery, so read the chart as recovery effort, not a fishing forecast.
The fishing
As moving water, a tributary of Columbia River, Halfway River fishes the way rivers of its size do: read the runs and seams, fish a dry-dropper through the warm months, and swing streamers or nymph the deeper slots as flows drop. The stocking record below is the truest read on what you will catch.
Conditions
- Navigability: not a casual float: whitewater or canyon evidence on this water; treat as wade unless a guide says otherwise (median channel width ~18.9 m, wide; median gradient ~2.47%, moderate; peak mean-annual discharge ~11.691 m³/s, moderate flow; canyon-confined sections with ~127 m walls (DEM)).
Access & the rules
Access for Halfway River, 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.
