Montana Fishing Closures

[ScottP]

It would appear the Hoot Owls have arrived in SW Montana

http://fwp.mt.gov/fishing/guide/waterClosure.html

Regards,
Scott

[sagefisher]

Scott,

I really hate to see that, but it is not unexpected. I love fishing the Clark Fork River between Superior and Paradise so I keep a close eye on the level of the river. It just keeps going down, at a steady rate, but it should have stopped and leveled off, so I am afraid that that river may be placed on restricted fishing soon. I really do hate to see that.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[ScottP]

Larry,

We could definitely use some rain but at least, for now, we're not seeing high temps so maybe things won't be as bad as last year, fishing and fire-wise. By the 4th in 2015, we had seen a string of days in the upper 90's with no rain for most of June; conditions were so bad they cancelled all fireworks in the Flathead Valley.

Regards,
Scott

[whatfly]

Thanks for posting this, Scott. Did not realize conditions got this bad this fast.

[sgallas2]

Hi Scott,
Any word on how much the poisoning of the Soda Butte has had on the fishing there this year ?
Thanks,
Steve

[Longs for Cutts]

The poisoning has had no effect whatsoever. The way they actually wound up doing it, shocking a bunch of the cutts and then applying the rotenone, then putting the cutts back in, made much more sense than the original plan.

[Gene]

Thanks for that info, LFC, appreciate it.

Gene

[herefishy]

Shocking brings up another question - years ago there was a fly shop owner I talked to who was incensed about the shocking they were doing on a river in Oregon, as he was positive it weakened the fish, killed some, and was a totally awful thing. I wonder how the shocking has proved out over time?

[Gene]

Here in Ct. they do it every August on the Farmington River. They remove the large holdover trout and take them back to the hatchery. They use these fish as spawners for next year's fish. They call it the Survivor Program. They feel there genetics are still strong and will pass these genetics along to there offspring. These fish have been in the river for several years, and the DEP has been following them for years. The river is fishing as well as it ever has, seems to be successful. My other point is the shocking to my knowledge has little effect on the fish only a momentary stunning.

Gene

[ScottP]

Been off the grid for a few days; just saw that more waters were added to the list:

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions/waterClosure.html

In addition, part of the Bitterroot River has been shut down due to the Roaring Lion fire outside Hamilton:

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/newsReleases/...s/nr_0100.html

Regards,
Scott