Meadow Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Duncan River. Recorded fish: Westslope cutthroat, bull trout, rainbow, cutthroat, kokanee, mtn whitefish.
The water
It flows into Duncan River within the Duncan Lake watershed (Duncan Lake → Kootenay 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 22 km. Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, cutthroat, Kokanee, Mountain Whitefish, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (189 records). Named tributaries in the index: John Creek, Mat Creek.
Stocking
For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Meadow Creek is a kokanee program, a mix of forage stocking and a put-and-take sport fishery: 105 recorded releases totalling 33,026,930 fish (Kokanee, Rainbow Trout), last stocked 2024-10-21.
Meadow Creek — 33,012,611 fish stocked, 1975–2024
Rainbow Trout, Kokanee. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.
| Year | Rainbow Trout | Kokanee |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | · | 1,657,172 |
| 2023 | · | 2,531,565 |
| 2022 | · | 1,491,219 |
| 2021 | · | 1,115,871 |
| 2020 | · | 344,489 |
| 2019 | · | 2,531,323 |
| 2018 | · | 4,350,196 |
| 2017 | · | 8,551,893 |
| 2016 | · | 7,365,152 |
| 2015 | · | 477,398 |
| 1989 | · | 418,646 |
| 1988 | · | 84,357 |
| 1987 | · | 747,090 |
| 1986 | · | 500,000 |
| 1984 | 55,000 | · |
| 1983 | 19,000 | 567,905 |
| 1982 | 10,000 | · |
| 1981 | 7,250 | · |
| 1980 | 12,450 | · |
| 1979 | 12,860 | · |
| 1978 | 25,500 | · |
| 1977 | 49,400 | · |
| 1976 | 76,875 | · |
| 1975 | 10,000 | · |
It is still stocked (most recent release 2024-10-21), so it fishes as a put-grow water: this season's fish come from the latest cohorts, topped up to keep it going. The chart below shows the release history by year and species.
The fishing
As a small stream, a tributary of Duncan River, Meadow 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. The stocking record below is the truest read on what you will catch.
Conditions
- Navigability: wade / technical: steep gradient, pocket water (median channel width ~7.1 m, moderate width; median gradient ~8.21%, very steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~3.509 m³/s, low flow).
Access & the rules
Access for Meadow 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.
