New regulations to limit commercial guiding and float-fishing along the West Fork and Upper Bitterroot River will get a public hearing in Missoula Monday night. It's the first of three hearings Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is holding to get public feedback on the proposals.
On Saturday fish are rising to feed on the Bitterroot a short walk from downtown Hamilton. The river is teeming with fish - at about a thousand trout per mile, the Bitterroot holds many more fish than other rivers its same size. The valley is a well known blue ribbon fly-fishing destination.
But what do you do when a sport gets too popular?
This is the question Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is faced with as they hold hearings and ask for public comments this month in Missoula, Hamilton and Butte on new proposed regulations. They would limit the number of commercial outfitters floating sections of the river, and also ban float fishing entirely on Fridays along a designated stretch.
Christine Oschell is the FWP River Recreation Manager for the Upper Bitterroot and West Fork. She says a committee was formed after a survey conducted in Ravalli County found that a majority of local anglers were no longer fishing on those parts of the Bitterroot anymore. She said "the top three reasons were it’s too crowded, too many float anglers, and specifically, too many commercial guides and outfitters."
The regulations were put together by a 16-person citizen’s advisory committee that FWP assembled to represent the diverse interests of commercial outfitters, private anglers, and riverfront property owners.
Fly fishing is important in the Bitterroot Valley. Hamilton, a town with a population of just under five thousand, has three fly fishing shops.
Steve Plumb lives alongside the river. He’s been there 18 years but says he doesn’t fish it anymore because it’s too crowded and over-fished. "I hear the dogs barking, I walk out and there’s a raft. It happens 20 times a day or more in the summertime."
Eddie Olwell is one of five commercial outfitters on the committee that recommended the regulations to FWP. "You know everybody wants it to be like it was 30, 40 years ago," says Olwell. "Well, it’s not. There’s more people fishing. That’s just the way it is. That’s the nature of the sport, that’s the nature of a society that’s grown."
Olwell says that the impact of the fly fishing boom goes beyond the river’s banks.
"You have all these other secondary businesses that are dependent on this fishery. The lodging, the restaurants, the car rentals, the airport, retail. All those things go into this local economy and it’s all driven by fishing," says Olwell.
Another commercial outfitter and fly shop owner in Hamilton, Chuck Stranahan, says he thinks being for or against the regulations is just two sides to a five sided issue. He’s worried about the fishery’s health as a whole. He says the new rules won’t help the problem and could even make it worse by relocating float traffic to smaller sections of the river, and capping the number of commercial outfitters and guides at a level that’s already too high to sustain.
Stranahan worries that by the time the committee goes through all the comments and agree on a sensible solution, there might not be any good fishing left and Montana will have lost one of its finest trout streams.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks is taking public comments until October 13th and the Fish and Wildlife Commission will make a final decision on the proposed regulations this December in Helena.
Monday’s hearing starts at 6:00 p.m. at the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Missoula offices. Tuesday’s hearing in Hamilton is at 6:00 p.m. at the Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor’s Office on 1801 North First Street, and the final hearing will be at 6:00 p.m. on October 10th in Butte.
To review the entire rule proposal and to comment, visit FWP’s website, under “News,” then “Recent Public Notices.” Or comment by mail to Region 2 FWP, 3201 Spurgin Rd., Missoula 59804; by phoning 406-542-5540; or by emailing shrose@mt.gov.
Comments must be received by FWP no later than 5p.m. on October 13, 2017.
