Crawford Creek

Stillwater
2
Species listed
11.3 m
Median channel width
2.58%
Median gradient
3.83 m³/s
Mean annual flow estimate
Crawford Creek is a small West Kootenay stream that drains into kootenay lake. Its stocking record is the fullest picture of the water on hand: 36 releases logged between 1926 and 2020, an early rainbow trout program that gave way entirely to kokanee enhancement from the 1950s on.

Species

Reported species; current abundance is unknown.
No live gauge
No gauge readings are available for this water.
Season
Driving directions

Region 4 Regulations — guide reviewed 2026-07-08

Crawford Creek isn't listed individually in the Region 4 synopsis, so the regional stream defaults apply: closed Apr 1 to June 14, trout and char catch-and-release Nov 1 to Mar 31, and a single barbless hook required year-round. Kokanee daily quota is 5 lake-wide, but none may be kept from any stream in Region 4. Confirm the current synopsis before you fish.

The water

The creek's mouth sits at 49.66566, -116.81283, the same coordinate the province uses for its own release records here. It runs stream order 4 (mid-range on a 1-to-6+ scale, where 1 is a headwater trickle and 6+ a full river), with a median channel width around 11 m, narrow to moderate for a Kootenay tributary, and a median gradient near 2.6%, gentle to moderate. No independent fish survey beyond the stocking ledger has turned up for this creek, so beyond the planted kokanee and the last of the historic rainbow trout, what else lives here is unconfirmed.

The fishing

Crawford Creek reads less like a fishing destination and more like a piece of Kootenay Lake's kokanee infrastructure. From 1926 to 1950, the province planted rainbow trout eyed eggs and fry here nearly every year, drawing on Gerrard, Cottonwood, Pennask, Pinantan and Beaver strains, a genuine put-grow program typical of the era. Kokanee releases began in 1931 and ran alongside the trout program through 1952, all Meadow Creek stock. Then the record goes quiet for half a century. When stocking resumed in 2005, it came back as kokanee only, egg plants and fry from the Meadow Creek spawning channel and the Hill Creek, Lussier River and Bridge broodstock lines, the same network that supports Kootenay Lake's kokanee run at Meadow Creek. The two largest single plants, 300,000 eyed eggs each in 2007 and 2008, and the most recent, 80,000 Hill Creek fry in May 2020, all point the same direction: this creek is spawning-habitat enhancement, not a catchable fishery. No guide, shop or trip report references Crawford Creek, and no rod-and-reel access point has been confirmed.

Not a keep-fish creek

Region 4's stream defaults already put a hard zero on kokanee kept from any stream, so even in years Crawford Creek carried a fresh plant, there was never a legal harvest here. Treat any kokanee in the creek as spawning fish bound for the gravel and leave them undisturbed.

Access and the rules

No named launch, trailhead, road or parking area has been confirmed for Crawford Creek, and nothing in the guide or shop record places a trip here. Until that gap is filled, use the coordinate above to locate the mouth on a map and treat the creek as a regulation-and-access check rather than a planned outing.

Before you fish

Crawford Creek isn't listed individually in the Region 4 synopsis, so the regional stream defaults govern it: closed Apr 1 to June 14, trout and char catch-and-release Nov 1 to Mar 31, and a single barbless hook required year-round. Kokanee cannot be kept from any Region 4 stream regardless of season. Confirm the current Region 4 synopsis before you go.

Stocking

The Province of BC, via the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, has logged 36 releases into Crawford Creek since 1926, roughly 2.18 million fish in total: about 1.83 million kokanee and 350,000 rainbow trout. The rainbow trout program ended in 1950. Every release since has been kokanee, planted as eyed eggs straight into the gravel or as fry, most recently 80,000 Hill Creek fry in May 2020.

Conditions

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Navigability: small-stream water throughout (median channel width ~11.3 m, narrow to moderate; median gradient ~2.58%, gentle to moderate; peak mean-annual discharge ~3.83 m³/s, low flow). Nothing here suggests anything but a wade-and-walk creek.
Page reviewed 2026-07-08