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For example, on the Big Hole River this year, in one of the most popular areas, a census in May found 400 brown trout per mile, up from 1,800 in 2014. The Beaverhead River dropped from 2,000 brown trout to 1,000 per mile. And those counts were made early in the season, before the onset of this summer’s extreme conditions. The state is considering long-term restrictions on all these rivers, which could include releasing all brown trout or stopping fishing in some places.
What exactly caused the decline in such a large regional region of the Upper Missouri River Basin amazes experts, especially since brown trout is traditionally a hardy, resilient species that can handle higher temperatures. Many attribute it, at least in part, to declines in changing river conditions caused by climate change.
Strangely, an unintended benefit of the severe wildfires in the West has been the smoky skies, which reduced the amount of direct sunlight and kept the rivers from warming further.
Meanwhile, anglers in the Beaverhead and Bitterroot Rivers have reported seeing fish with large lesions, the cause of which is still unknown.
Beyond the hoarse owl boundaries, fishermen were required to land their prey quickly and release them carefully and quickly to minimize hunting stress and reduce the potential to kill them.
Other factors threatening Montana’s trout include agricultural changes.
The ranchers would first irrigate their fields, which would return about half of the water to the river system. Many now use pivot irrigation systems, which are much more efficient and use almost all of the water.
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