Starting Thursday at 2 p.m., hoot-owl restrictions will be enforced on sections of the Ruby, Jefferson, Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Smith rivers. These restrictio ...

Montana Fish, Wildlife and ParksThe only outfitters who may operate on the Beaverhead River are those that have documented use on the Beaverhead River prior to December 31, 1998, or if they were ...

HELENA, Mont. — Starting Saturday a full fishing closure will be in place on the Big Hole River from Saginaw Bridge on Skinner Meadows Road to the junction with North Fork of the Big Hole River.

Four years later, they represented 67 percent of the use. On the Big Hole, nonresident use grew from 37 percent to almost 43 percent of total anglers between 1989 and 1999.

Flows on the Big Hole River are well below normal due to hot temperatures, rapid snowmelt and meager precipitation. The low flows could lead to fishing restrictions earlier than usual.

In 2023, FWP biologists recorded historically low numbers of brown trout along some stretches of the Big Hole. Anglers and conservationists floated a number of possibilities that may be ...

DILLON — The lower reach of the Big Hole River was reopened to fishing Wednesday by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Pat Graham. The 73.7-mile lower reach of the river was ...

A fishing closure remains in effect upstream of the confluence with the North Fork of the Big Hole River due to low flows. The closure status here may change in the coming days, depending on flows.

Cooler weather has prompted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to end angling restrictions on the Upper Big Hole River. Section I of the Big Hole from Saginaw Bridge on Skinner Meadows Road to the ...

Meanwhile, anglers who love the Big Hole River, along with the fishing industry that serves a subsection of them, have expressed alarm in recent years about declining populations of brown and ...

Brian Wheeler, executive director of the Big Hole River Foundation, walks out into the Big Hole River in August 2023 carrying a water quality sampling kit. He has conducted water quality ...