MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE AND PARKS
Montana
Fish, Wildlife and Parks invites anglers and other interested parties to
participate in a survey regarding changes to the 2020 fishing regulations.
The survey is
part of a public scoping process to review fishing regulations and identify
potential issues with fisheries. This review happens every four years.
“Public
input is vital to crafting fishing regulations,” said Eric Roberts, FWP
fisheries management bureau chief. “We evaluate how a regulation may impact a
fishery biologically, angling opportunities for the public and the regulation’s
social acceptability.”
This initial
scoping process runs through June 21. FWP staff will then formulate tentative
proposals to present to the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission in August.
Additional public comment on tentative proposals will be collected this fall
and the final regulations will be considered at the October commission meeting.
Some of the
ideas now being considered by FWP include:
- Changing the largemouth and smallmouth bass
limits on some waterbodies in the Western Fishing District;
- Allowing single-point lures only on the Middle,
North and South Forks of the Flathead River;
- Implementing a “hoot owl” restriction on the
Ennis Dam to Mouth stretch of the Madison River that would prohibit fishing
between 2 p.m. and midnight from July 1 through Aug. 31;
- Establishing no limit or mandatory harvest of
northern pike and standardizing the daily walleye limit on the Missouri River
from Holter Dam to Black Eagle Dam;
- Requiring ice fishing shelters to be removed
from the ice by at least March 1 in the Eastern Fishing District;
- Allowing bow and arrow harvest of Chinook salmon
from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 on Fort Peck Reservoir.
Anglers and
others are invited to participate by reviewing these and other FWP ideas, and
by contributing additional ideas of their own.
Comments can
be submitted online or at public meetings that will soon be scheduled in each
FWP region. Comments can also be sent by mail to Montana FWP Fisheries
Division, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT 59620-0701 or via email at fwpRegs20@mt.gov.
The survey is available at fwp.mt.gov/fish/publicComments/regsScoping.html.