An angler fishes the North Fork of the Flathead River on Sept. 15, 2024. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon
Stream gage information is already registering temperatures and flows that usually don’t bedevil Montana’s rivers and tributaries till mid-July, prompting state fisheries managers to challenge early warning indicators on Wednesday that anglers ought to anticipate restrictions and closures this summer time.
“What meaning to us so far as a prognosis is … if it’s like mid-July proper now, we’re presumably going to be speaking about hoot owl restrictions within the coming weeks. So It’s a bit alarming,” mentioned Patrick Saffel, the fisheries supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ (FWP) Area 2 workplace, which incorporates all the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers, the place flows are at the moment at about one-third of the quantity they had been on the identical time final 12 months.
Trending Merchandise
