Barnes Creek has no individual line in the Region 4 synopsis. Its parent water, the Whatshan River, is closed to fishing upstream of Whatshan Lake, but Barnes Creek joins the river below the lake, on the open lower reach, so regional stream defaults apply: closed Apr 1–Jun 14, single barbless hook year-round, standard trout/char quotas. Confirm the current synopsis before you fish.

Barnes Creek runs roughly 36 km (stream order 5, well down the network toward river scale on a system that runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a full river) off the Monashee-range foothills west of Lower Arrow Lake. It's named for John Christopher Barnes, an early Kootenay-area settler, and joins the Whatshan River below Whatshan Lake, the reservoir BC Hydro's predecessor impounded with the Whatshan Dam in 1952. The Whatshan River's own regulation closes fishing on the reach above the lake, but Barnes Creek's confluence sits on the open lower river between the lake and Lower Arrow Lake, near Fauquier, so this water runs under normal Region 4 rules rather than that closure. Barnes Creek Falls, a short walk off the Barnes Creek Forest Service Road, is a known local landmark along the drainage.

Provincial fish and stream inventory data records direct catches of brook trout and rainbow trout in Barnes Creek. Bull trout show up in the barrier-connectivity model as reachable habitat from the wider Whatshan system, but there's no confirmed catch record for them here yet.

As a small tributary creek, Barnes Creek fishes the way Kootenay streams its size do: short drifts with a buoyant attractor dry over a light dropper, working the pocket water and the heads of pools for brook trout and rainbow trout. Start with a Stimulator or Royal Wulff, switch to an Adams or Elk Hair Caddis as fish get selective, and carry Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail and Prince nymphs for when nothing's rising. No direct hatch survey exists for Barnes Creek itself, so lean on the general West Kootenay stonefly, mayfly, caddis and August terrestrial calendar until a local report says otherwise.

Barnes Creek Forest Service Road is the access route into this drainage. From the Needles ferry landing on the Edgewood side of Lower Arrow Lake, Whatshan Lake Road branches off Highway 6 a few kilometres in, and Barnes Creek Road turns off it, crossing the Whatshan River near a power station around the 7 km mark. No named trailhead, parking area or guide coverage specific to Barnes Creek has surfaced beyond that road access.