Montana fishing regulations are being re-written this year. And for anglers who want the rulebook to change, now is the time to speak up.
Every four years, Montana’s fishing regulations undergo a comprehensive review. This month, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is hosting statewide open houses to discuss regulations for the 2016-2019 fishing seasons.
"June and July we’ll take that information and we’ll formulate some tentative regulations. Then come back out to the public in august where they'll get to see what a regulation change would be in the booklet," says Regional Fisheries Manager Mark Deleray.
Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, wants to see regulations that improve the population of cutthroat and bull trout.
"We’ve been recommending in the Flathead river system above the lake that we liberalize regulation for northern pike, for example. Northern Pike are highly predacious, they are invasive, they were introduced illegally into the Flathead system. And they eat a lot of bull trout and cutthroats."
You can submit a comment on the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks website, and see a schedule of public meetings.
