Anglers asked to take it easy on Flathead River fish — voluntarily fish mornings only

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is asking anglers to take it easy on the Flathead River system's fish, so it hopefully doesn’t have to implement “hoot owl” restrictions on the three forks and mainstem of the Flathead River through Columbia Falls.

Hoot owl restrictions limit angling on rivers and streams from 2 p.m. until midnight. Rivers south of here, like the Jefferson and Bitterroot, often see hoot owl restrictions in hot summer months, but FWP has never had to use them on the Flathead.

The term hoot owl comes from loggers, who would log early in the mornings to avoid starting wildfires. They would often hear owls — thus the term.

The Flathead basin is experiencing severe drought conditions due to below-average winter snowpack, early runoff, and above-average hot, dry summer conditions. Flows in the North, South, and Middle forks of the Flathead River are roughly one-third of average for this time of year. Water temperatures are already hitting stressful levels for trout, particularly westslope cutthroat and bull trout.

With the warmest days of summer ahead ,FWP biologists are closely monitoring rivers and streams and could propose measures to minimize impacts from fishing.

FWP has administrative rules that provide for angling adjustments during periods of drought that allows it implement fishing restrictions if need be.

They include:

• Species of interest that are present in significant numbers

• Temperature criterion has been met for three consecutive days

• Fishing pressure is high

• Stream flow conditions are deteriorating

FWP may request the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission restrict or close fishing based on the above criteria.

The temperature criterion for westslope cutthroat trout is met when water temperatures reach or exceed 66 degrees Fahrenheit for three consecutive days. The criterion for bull trout is 60 degrees, also for three consecutive days.

The North Fork of the Flathead has already reached the 66 degree threshold this week and as of Friday, it had reached it again near Columbia Falls.

Things aren't expected to get better, soon.

This weekend, temperatures could hit triple digit air temperatures in the Flathead. There is no significant precipitation expected in the next 10 days, either.

With the waters getting that warm, the hope is that anglers will voluntarily fish in the mornings and take steps to curb fish mortality.

Unlike the southwest Montana rivers, some of which have thousands of fish per mile, catchable fish in waters like the South Fork have much lower numbers, like 8 to 20 fish per mile, for example, Region 1 fisheries manager Mike Hensler said.

Those fish also see a lot of angling pressure.

The Hungry Horse Dam helps some to regulate flows in the mainstem, releasing about 3,250 cubic feet per second of water that’s cold enough to sustain trout.

But the lower Flathead — south of the old Steel Bridge in Kalispell, really isn’t a summer trout fishery — the water gets too warm.

In addition to fishing just mornings, anglers are also encouraged to:

• Land the fish quickly.

• Keep the fish in water as much as possible, limit or even avoid taking photos. Make sure your hands are wet when touching fish or, if you can, don't touch the fish at all. Just grab the hook and turn it out of the fish's mouth to let it go.

• Remove the hook gently. Using artificial lures with single barbless hooks can make hook removal faster and easier.

• Single-pointed hooks are required in the Flathead drainage upstream of Teakettle Fishing Access Site on the mainstem Flathead River.

• Letting the fish recover so it can swim away.

If high temperatures and extremely low flows persist, anglers may want to consider fishing areas with less stressful temperatures and conditions, such as larger lakes or reservoirs, or higher elevation waterbodies.

For further information and updates, visit https://fwp.mt.gov/news/current-closures-restrictions/waterbody-closures or contact the FWP Region 1 office at 406-752-5501.

This summer, FWP launched a new web portal to collect information from members of the public who see sick or dead fish. The new portal, sickfish.mt.gov, enables Montanans and visitors to our state to report a description of sick or dead fish, including details on the location.