The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stocked Stillwater

Hartley Creek

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

Hartley Creek is a stocked stillwater in the Bull River watershed. Surface area not recorded.

The water

Hartley Creek sits in the Bull 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. Hartley Creek is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 2 recorded releases totalling 35,000 fish (Brook Trout), last stocked 1928-01-01.

Stocking record

Hartley Creek — 35,000 fish stocked, 1927–1928

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

YearBrook Trout
192810,000
192725,000

Stocking appears to have wound down after 1928. 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

Hartley 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
Bull River watershed
egg
Stocked
put-and-take

Access & the rules

Confirm the launch, parking and any motor/float or seasonal restrictions for Hartley 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.