Pend-d'Oreille 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 Lower Arrow Lake watershed (Lower Arrow Lake → Columbia River). It runs stream order 8 (well down the network, toward river scale; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 25 km. Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, cutthroat, dolly varden, Kokanee, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (334 records). Named tributaries in the index: Erie Creek, South Salmo River, Hidden Creek, Monk Creek, Clearwater Creek, Swift Creek, Waldie Creek, Tillicum Creek, Apex Creek, Curtis Creek, Wren Creek, Oscar Creek, Stewart Creek, Active Creek, Boulder Mill Creek, Halfway Creek, Hellroaring Creek, Nugget Creek, Huckleberry Creek, Church Creek, Charbonneau Creek, Panther Creek, Creggan Creek, Nun Creek, Woodchuck Creek, Bennett Creek, Harcourt Creek, Noman Creek, Annie Rooney Creek, McCormick Creek, Elise Creek, Billings Creek, Gamble Creek, Fraser Creek, Seven Mile Creek, Muskrat Creek, Hedgehog Creek, Bearskin Creek, Lime Creek, Pete Creek, Quartz Creek, Russian Creek, Slate Creek, Red Bird Creek, Avalanche Creek, Rumbling Creek, Twilight Creek, Keno Creek, Marion Brook, Grouse Creek, Hayward Creek.
The fishing
As moving water, a tributary of Columbia River, Pend-d'Oreille 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. Match the fly box to the season and confirm against a current local report.
Conditions
- Navigability: driftable with caution: wide, low-gradient sections suit a float/raft, but rated rapids or canyon-confined reaches interrupt them; check the drift map (median channel width ~182.8 m, broad; median gradient ~0%, very gentle; peak mean-annual discharge ~31.071 m³/s, strong flow; canyon-confined sections with ~120 m walls (DEM)).
Access & the rules
Access for Pend-d'Oreille 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.
