Bull River

The Bull drops out of the Hughes Range of the Rockies and runs about 117 km southwest to the Kootenay arm of Lake Koocanusa near Wardner. It is glacier-tinted, a teal blue you can see from the road, and it is Class II classified water. Aberfeldie Dam, a small hydro dam first built in 1922, splits it in two. Above the dam and an impassable canyon, the upper Bull is a remote freestone of wild westslope cutthroat of 25 to 40 cm that eat dry flies with little hesitation. Below the dam, the lower Bull is a short, pushy reach where bull trout out of Koocanusa stack up in late summer.

The season is short. Runoff off the high country lasts into July, and the river usually drops into shape in the last week of July. Rafts float the upper river through about the third week of August, when it gets too low, and after that it is wading water into September. The gauge sits below the dam, near Wardner, and reads the whole river: it falls into fishing shape under about 25 m³/s and runs past 70 in a big June. Caddis and small mayflies hatch through the summer, but the cutthroat are rarely fussy, and attractor dries such as a Royal Wulff, a Purple Haze or a foam hopper work most days. Swing or strip streamers in the lower river for bull trout from late August into September.

The upper river is a long drive up the Bull River Forest Service Road, with logging traffic and no services, so go with a full tank and a spare tire. Two reaches are catch and release: Galbraith Creek up to Van Creek on the upper river, and Aberfeldie Dam to Tie Mill Dam. Few people fish the Bull compared with the Elk, and the drive keeps it that way. Cranbrook is the nearest town with a fly shop and guides.