Spade Creek is a small, steep headwater tributary of White Creek, which in turn feeds Dewar Creek and the upper St. Mary River northeast of Kimberley. Provincial fish records confirm a wild mix of westslope cutthroat, rainbow trout, bull trout and Dolly Varden here, but no maintained road or trail access has been confirmed for the creek itself, so this reads as a stewardship and context water rather than a mapped destination.
The water
Spade Creek carries an official name in the Kootenay Land District (key JBKZI), recorded at 49.852222, -116.301111 on the 082F16 map sheet. It runs stream order 3 (a small tributary on a scale that runs from 1 for a headwater trickle up to 6 or more for a full river), stretches roughly 8 km, and drains into White Creek, itself a Dewar Creek tributary within the St. Mary River system. Provincial inventory data logs 13 direct fish observations here: 5 westslope cutthroat, 3 rainbow trout, 3 Dolly Varden and 2 bull trout, a mixed trout-and-char signal typical of a cold, intact upper-St. Mary side stream.
The fishing
White and Dewar creeks sit among the primary bull-trout spawning tributaries of the upper St. Mary system, and Spade's char records place it in that same conservative company. If a legal, appropriate reach is ever confirmed, expect tight, technical small-stream fishing: short drifts, fast hooksets and quick releases, staying off spawning gravel and out of low, warm water in high summer. Give the creek a wide berth once bull trout begin staging to spawn in September and October.
Direct hatch samples from Spade Creek itself have not turned up, so the best guide is the broader St. Mary / East Kootenay hatch spine: golden Stoneflies near the season opener, Western Green Drakes, PMDs and Light Cahills, Yellow Sallies, Caddisflies (Sedges) through summer, Terrestrials (Hoppers, Ants, Beetles) in the hot months, and fall Blue-Winged Olives and October caddis as things cool down. Working food families on small upper-St. Mary water like this generally run to stonefly nymphs and adults, caddis, mayflies, midges, terrestrials, fry and small Sculpin. If a legal, appropriate reach turns up, cover the water with small attractors on top, Adams, Royal Wulff and Stimulator, and Elk Hair Caddis, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail and Prince underneath.
Handle bull trout and Dolly Varden with care
Access and the rules
No confirmed trailhead, road or put-in exists for Spade Creek itself. The wider Dewar Creek drainage is reached by gravel forest roads off the St. Mary River valley, with the last stretch of the Dewar Creek road rough and best suited to high-clearance vehicles, but that route has not been confirmed to reach Spade specifically. No guide runs trips on Spade Creek itself; St. Mary River outfitters such as St. Mary Angler and Kimberley Fly Fishing cover the mainstem and can offer local condition context, not a Spade-specific plan. Treat any trip here as an access-and-legality check first.
Before you fish
Conditions
- Navigability: small and steep (median width ~7.1 m, narrow; gradient ~6.04%, steep; peak mean-annual discharge ~0.74 m³/s, very low flow), consistent with a technical headwater tributary rather than fishable float water.
- Stocking: no stocking record. Spade Creek runs entirely on wild fish.
