Provincial fish-inventory data lists 48 direct observations on White Creek: 23
westslope cutthroat trout, 13 Dolly Varden, 6
bull trout, 2
rainbow trout, 2
mountain whitefish, 1
burbot and 1 slimy sculpin. That is a genuine native trout-and-char signal, not proof of a developed fishery. The 2014-2019 Upper Kootenay westslope cutthroat hybridization report sampled White Creek and found a high WCT allele frequency with no first-generation hybrids in that sample, a good sign for the creek's native genetics even without a fuller survey.
Wildsight identifies White Creek as a wildlife-connectivity and grizzly-habitat drainage, and flags it, along with Westfork and Dewar, as a target of newly proposed logging in a valley Wildsight otherwise considers relatively intact. That is landscape context, not a regulation, but it argues for a light footprint on any visit. No White Creek-specific guide coverage has been found; St. Mary Angler, Elk River Guiding Company and Kimberley Fly Fishing all guide the St. Mary River mainstem and can speak to regional conditions, but that is not an endorsement to fish this particular tributary.
Use the upper St. Mary food base until direct White Creek samples exist: small
stoneflies,
mayflies,
caddisflies, midges,
terrestrials, fry and tiny sculpin. Where fishing is legal and well away from spawning fish, a small-stream kit built on
Stimulator,
Royal Wulff and
Adams dries,
Elk Hair Caddis, with
Hare's Ear,
Pheasant Tail,
Prince Nymph and a light
Pat's Rubber Legs underneath, covers the water. Leave streamers to water where char fishing is legal and clearly away from spawning gravel; this reads first as
small-stream dry-fly water for cutthroat, not streamer water for char.
Spawning water first, fishery second
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC names White Creek as one of three known primary bull trout spawning tributaries in the upper St. Mary system, alongside
Dewar Creek and Redding Creek. Treat cold tributary mouths, gravel and fall-staging fish as habitat to leave alone, not water to swing a streamer through.