Through the Creston Valley the Kootenay is a trolling and paddling river — put in at the Old Ferry Landing, drift slow, fish deep. Treat the upper river as a glacial bull-trout streamer system: best before runoff (Mar–May) and again once it clears in fall. Know the closed water at the CPR Bridge before you launch.

Launch — Primary valley put-in.

Closed — No fishing from the bridge 2 km downstream to the navigation dolphin.

Permit — Reaches inside the wildlife management area need a CVWMA permit.

No fishing from the CPR Bridge near Creston downstream 2 km. Open reaches (Idaho border→CPR Bridge; Corra Linn Dam→Columbia) are exempt from the Apr 1–Jun 14 closure and winter trout/char release. Burbot catch-and-release Idaho border→Kootenay Lake. CVWMA reaches need a permit. Confirm per water.

Park reach is closed to angling until 2027-03-31 — flow context only

Weather reference: Creston (valley reach) (49.096, -116.513).

Weather reference: Fort Steele (mid-river) (49.612, -115.635).

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Through the valley floor the Kootenay is deep, slow and winding — more a kayak-and-troll water than a place to wade a run. Once through the dykes, the valley reach barely seems to move. The basin it crosses was, within living memory, something else entirely.

The basin once formed roughly 70 km of 8–10 km-wide wetland — rich fish and bird habitat, central to Ktunaxa territory. Most of it was dyked and drained for farming in the early 20th century. What's left of that wetland world survives in the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, and it shapes both the fishing and the rules: several reaches inside the CVWMA carry their own permit requirement.

Through the valley the Kootenay is a trolling and paddling river; the primary put-in is the Old Ferry Landing boat ramp. The two things that decide the day on slow water are flow and clarity — the live gauges above read both sides of that story, with the Porthill thermometer watching the third: temperature.

Upstream is a different river. East Kootenay guides treat the upper Kootenay as a glacial bull-trout and streamer system — best before runoff (March–May) and again once it clears from mid-September; big fish key on whitefish and kokanee fry around tributary mouths. Heavy streamers, baitfish patterns and stonefly nymphs tight to the bottom carry the program.

The Bull watershed group carries separate notes for the Kootenay feeder tail: Tepee and Caven in the Gold Creek family, Little Sand and McDermid off Sand Creek, Purcell's restoration water off Linklater, plus Phillipps, Red Canyon, Chipka, Rocky and Swamp creeks.