Spring (April to mid-June). The streams are closed and the freestones are full of snowmelt anyway, so spring belongs to the lakes, which the stream closure doesn’t cover; check each lake’s own row. Chironomids under an indicator after the ice goes are the core of it, and
Rosebud Lake, near Nelway, is one of the early ones. The moving water you can fish in spring is where a river’s own row lifts the closure: the
Columbia River where angling is permitted, apart from the spots its row closes, and the
upper Kootenay from the White River down to Lake Koocanusa.
Early summer (15 June to July). The Region 4 stream closure ends on 15 June, with most rivers still high. The
Elk and the
St. Mary come into shape as the melt drops, with golden stones first and evening caddis behind them. Higher creeks clear last, often into mid-July.
High summer (late July and August). The most dependable dry-fly weeks, on hoppers, ants and attractors. Heat is the thing to manage. Fish the mornings, carry a thermometer, and check in-season changes before you drive. The
Slocan River is closed from noon to midnight every day from 15 July to 31 August, apart from the tributary waters its row names.
Autumn (September and October). For many anglers the best of the year: low, clear water, terrestrials, blue-winged olives and October caddis, then streamers as the trout turn to fry and the bull trout follow the
kokanee. Some water closes for these two months. The Elk’s tributaries close from 1 September to 31 October, apart from the creeks with rows of their own; so does the
Wigwam above the recreation site at km 42 on the Bighorn (Ram) Forest Service Road, and the main stem of
Skookumchuck Creek between the point nearest km 38 on the Skookumchuck Forest Service Road and Buhl Creek.
Winter (November to March). Stream trout and char are catch and release, and most people change targets.
Mountain whitefish nymph well through the cold months in the big rivers (the daily quota is 15, all whitefish species combined, and you may possess two daily quotas).
Kootenay Lake is the classic winter troll for its big rainbows.