The Field Journal
Rivers & Lakes · Stocked Stillwater

Wilson Creek

A stocked stillwater in the Slocan River watershed, surface area not recorded, carrying Kokanee, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout and Rainbow Trout and topped up by the provincial stocking program.

Wilson Creek is a stocked stillwater in the Slocan River watershed. Surface area not recorded.

The water

Wilson Creek sits in the Slocan 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. Wilson Creek is a kokanee program, a mix of forage stocking and a put-and-take sport fishery: 8 recorded releases totalling 691,500 fish (Kokanee, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout), last stocked 1955-01-01.

Stocking record

Wilson Creek — 691,500 fish stocked, 1925–1955

Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Kokanee. Source: Province of BC — FIDQ / FISS Fish Releases via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.

YearRainbow TroutCutthroat TroutKokanee
1955··354,500
1947·10,000·
1942··200,000
1940··30,000
193220,000·50,000
193117,000··
192510,000··

Stocking appears to have wound down after 1955. 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

Wilson 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
Slocan River watershed
egg
Stocked
kokanee program

Conditions

  • Navigability: not a casual float: whitewater or canyon evidence on this water; treat as wade unless a guide says otherwise (median channel width ~11.7 m, moderate width; median gradient ~2.03%, moderate; peak mean-annual discharge ~17.331 m³/s, moderate flow; canyon-confined sections with ~120 m walls (DEM)).

Access & the rules

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