Meadow Creek is a tributary creek flowing into Kootenay River. Fish presence expected but not yet confirmed by direct records.
The water
It flows into Kootenay River within the Kootenay River watershed (Kootenay River → Columbia River). It runs stream order 4 (mid-range in the network; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 7 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.
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 Kootenay 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.
