Confirm the current BC freshwater fishing regulations (Region 4 – Kootenay) before you fish; this water is part of the Kootenay River system.

It flows into kootenay river within the Kootenay Lake watershed (Kootenay Lake → Kootenay River). It runs stream order 4 (mid-range in the network; the scale runs from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6+ for a river) and roughly 11 km. bull trout, kokanee, mountain whitefish, rainbow trout, recorded here in provincial fish-inventory data (149 records). The fish-passage model expects Cutthroat Trout, Westslope (Yellowstone) Cutthroat Trout here too, since the reach is reachable with no barrier between, though there is no direct record yet. Named tributaries: giveout creek, selous creek, Gold Creek.

For an angler judging whether the fishing is worth the drive, the stocking record is the fishing report. Cottonwood Creek is a put-and-take angling fishery, stocked with catchable game fish: 21 recorded releases totalling 1,004,810 fish (Rainbow Trout, Kokanee), last stocked 1958-01-01.

Stocking appears to have wound down after 1958. Confirm whether it is still topped up or now fishes as a residual, wild population. The chart below shows the full release history.

As a small stream, a tributary of Kootenay River, Cottonwood Creek fishes the way creeks of its size do: short drifts with a buoyant attractor dry over a light dropper, working the pocket water and the heads of pools. The stocking record below is the truest read on what you will catch.

Access for Cottonwood Creek, 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.