In May, a coalition of more than 30 fishing guides sounded the alarm about the historic trout declines taking place in Montana\u2019s Jefferson River Basin. Fed up with what they saw as a slow response to a serious problem, the guides wrote a letter to Gov. Greg Gianforte demanding that more action be taken by the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an emergency in southwest Montana\u2019s rivers, and we need to act immediately to avoid a total collapse of those trout fisheries,\u201d they wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis is an all-hands-on-deck moment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jefferson River Basin, which includes the Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Ruby Rivers, comprises some of the most productive trout water in the West. The three streams (and the main stem of the \u201cJeff\u201d) have historically supported thousands of wild trout per mile, along with prolific bug hatches that draw anglers from all over the U.S. But in recent years, the Basin\u2019s trout populations have taken a nosedive due to low water levels and a mysterious disease that no one has a handle on.<\/p>\n The growing frustration over the state of these fisheries was compounded by the fact that the region lacked a fisheries manager for two years, not to mention a full understanding of what\u2019s driving the declines.<\/p>\n Finally, Gov. Gianforte held a meeting on Friday at a packed community center in Wise River. He tried to assure the crowd that Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks had formed an adequate response to trout declines in the Basin. This news was welcomed by the locals. It was also long overdue, which only underscores the fact that it could be some time until we fully understand the crisis at hand.<\/p>\n In the Big Hole River, fisheries biologists with MFWP are seeing the lowest numbers of brown and rainbow trout since record-keeping began in 1969. Similar declines have been recorded on the Beaverhead and Ruby Rivers, which along with the Big Hole flow into the Jefferson\u2014one of three main forks that form the Upper Missouri River.<\/p>\n The most recent fish counts on the Jerry Creek Section of the Big Hole show fewer than 1,000 brown and rainbow trout per mile. That\u2019s compared to roughly 1,750 trout per mile in 2017, and it\u2019s a third (at best) of the 3,000 to 3,500 trout per mile that were counted along the same section in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about the lowest fish counts on record in the Big Hole, Ruby, and lower Beaverhead. It\u2019s bigger than a singular river,\u201d says Brian Wheeler, a fly-fishing guide at Big Hole Lodge and the executive director of the Big Hole River Foundation<\/a>. \u201cThis is a basin-wide crash at the headwaters of the Missouri River, and we\u2019re right in the middle of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trout populations in the Basin have trended downward over the past 11 years, and scientists will point out that other streams in southwest Montana have seen their trout populations dip recently during low water years. But they also agree that something more troubling seems to be taking place on the Big Hole.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen declines\u2014[but] nothing on that magnitude,\u201d MFWP fisheries biologist Jim Olsen told the Montana Standard<\/a><\/em> last month. \u201cIn the past, they\u2019ve really followed water. And so, during drought times, populations [on the Big Hole] would decline. But we\u2019re talking a 20 to 25 percent decline.\u201d<\/p>\n What makes these low numbers even more concerning is that no one knows exactly what\u2019s causing them. As Olsen and others have pointed out, low, warm water has been linked to trout declines in rivers across the Intermountain West. But brown trout are usually more tolerant of warm water than rainbow trout and native cutthroat throat\u2014which also inhabit the Big Hole\u2014and the browns seem to be faring the worst out of the three.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the browns that seem to be the ones getting this disease\u2014this fungus\u2014whatever it is,\u201d Wheeler says. \u201cAnother odd aspect is that the rainbows aren\u2019t increasing to fill the voids the browns are leaving. And then you have cutthroat, which seem to be doing great. These are some things that don\u2019t quite make sense and lead us to think there is an additional factor at play that\u2019s probably disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Olsen and other biologists found several of these dead, fungus-covered browns in the Big Hole last fall. They say the only way to positively identify the mystery disease is to bring a live tissue sample from a living fish to a histopathologist in a lab. But the agency has so far been unable to pull this off.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This spurred Big Hole Lodge<\/a> owners Craig and Wade Fellin to launch the Save Wild Trout<\/a> campaign in the spring. The group partnered with Yeti to acquire some coolers that were retro-fitted with aerators. These serve as temporary fish tanks, and they could be essential in helping the guides achieve their number-one goal: getting a live-but-dying brown trout into MFWP\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get this done as quickly as possible, and the best-case scenario is providing an answer so the state can chart a path forward,\u201d Wheeler says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a few situations where a guide caught a sick fish, rowed down and wasted their day to get to the boat ramp\u2014but didn\u2019t care because this is as close as anybody has gotten to getting a sick fish to a biologist. Then they got to the takeout where they had service, but the fish didn\u2019t quite make it because there was nobody available to come meet us at the boat ramp.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike Duncan, who was hired as the Region 3 Fisheries Manager just three weeks ago, says he understands the frustrations voiced by the outfitting community.<\/p>\n \u201cI get it. I get that folks worry that we\u2019re not being proactive or responsive enough, but we\u2019re working on it best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n A former fisheries biologist on the Madison River, Duncan points to the agency\u2019s recently announced four-pronged response<\/a> to trout declines. This includes three key studies into fish mortality, recruitment, and any potential diseases that could be impacting populations. The three studies are slated to begin sometime in 2024. This feels like an eternity for the guides and private anglers, who are now trying to work in tandem with the state to speed the process up. In the meantime, Duncan is working to better understand what\u2019s killing the trout. <\/p>\n \u201cThe fungus on their sides, that\u2019s saprolegnia<\/a>. We know what that is,\u201d Duncan tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cBut these other lesions we\u2019re seeing on the top of their heads, tails, and bellies. We don\u2019t know what exactly is causing that, and saprolegnia could be a secondary effect from that.\u201d<\/p>\n Duncan points to the new online portal<\/a> that FWP launched in July, which allows the public to report sick or dead fish to the agency. (This represents the fourth \u201cprong\u201d in MFWP\u2019s ongoing response.) And he says that as much as he\u2019d like to see a sick brown trout tested in a lab, it\u2019s not always that easy. There aren\u2019t many hi<\/mark>stopathologists who can run this specific live-tissue test, he explains, and the agency\u2019s staff is already spread thin across a large geographic area.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we need to have realistic expectations on how we can respond to these calls,\u201d Duncan says. \u201cThe one that came through the other week \u2026 I was finishing up a meeting and hit the road to head over there, and then the fish died before we got there.\u201d<\/p>\n Duncan adds that while the moribund browns are a real concern, it\u2019s not like every brown trout in the Big Hole is sick or dying. He and other biologists have spent days on the river looking for sick trout without finding one.<\/p>\n \u201cI get that when you see a dead or dying fish, it\u2019s concerning \u2026 especially when you have a population that is at or near historic lows,\u201d Duncan says. \u201cAnd when the biologists can\u2019t tell you exactly what it is\u2014I understand why the public wants answers. And we\u2019re gearing up to get them those [answers].\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n The myriad problems plaguing the Big Hole might not be fully understood just yet, but two things are certain. They aren\u2019t unique to southwest Montana, and they all tie back to a shortage of cold, clean water.<\/p>\n Below-average snowpack, weakened runoff, higher water temps, lower soil moisture levels, and longer fire seasons. As the effects of climate change bear down on watersheds across the West, many of the people whose livelihoods are tied to these rivers start blaming one another. And on the Big Hole, this conflict is too often portrayed as the fishing community versus the ranchers.<\/p>\n Beaverhead County is home to more cows than any other county in Montana, and cattle operations have long been linked to poor water quality<\/a>. Wheeler runs a water-quality-monitoring program at various points along the river, and he\u2019s seen nutrient-loading issues with some stretches containing high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. He also says that since some irrigators don\u2019t measure how much water they use, it\u2019s hard to determine the amount of water being taken out of the system at any given time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know we have nutrient problems, but I want to say explicitly that this is not<\/em> a ranchers versus fishermen debate,\u201d Wheeler says. \u201cThe whole \u2018cows not condos\u2019 thing is a real mentality out here and we hope that ag stays on the landscape. These problems are not unique to here. They\u2019re also not unfixable.\u201d<\/p>\n This is where the Big Hole Watershed Committee<\/a> is trying to make a difference. Executive director Pedro Marques explains that the group was formed to get ranchers engaged in voluntary conservation, and so far, they\u2019ve been successful. Marques and Wheeler both point to the Arctic Grayling Recovery Program<\/a>, which is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supported by MFWP. The program relies on dozens of ranchers along the river who\u2019ve either cut down on their water use, engaged in restoration work, or both\u2014all with the common goal of preserving one of the last viable grayling populations in the Lower 48.<\/p>\n \u201cThese ranchers are doing the best they can,\u201d Marques says. \u201cWe know there are improvements to be made, like installing water measurement devices at diversion points and making headgates more efficient to operate. And if we can find some spots where we can help ranchers move their production and concentration of cows further from the river\u2014those are relatively easy projects once we identify them.<\/p>\n \u201cBut based on our drought management plan that we\u2019ve had for 20-something years, ranchers have<\/em> been giving back water, and they\u2019re all trying to share in that sacrifice for the river\u2019s sake,\u201d he continues. \u201cThe hard truth of the matter is that these landowners could dry up the river tomorrow and not break a single law.\u201d<\/p>\n Duncan agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re confident that it\u2019s the amount of water in the river that continues to drive the bus,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we can work with water users to be as efficient as possible \u2026 But we can\u2019t make snow. Ranchers are already taking voluntary cuts on the Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Ruby Rivers, and every one of those rivers could be dried up multiple times if it weren\u2019t for their efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n Marques adds that it\u2019s important to look beyond the barbed wire fences to the roughly 2,800 square miles of mountainous country the Big Hole drains. He brings up the loss of beaver in the region, which has significantly reduced the landscape\u2019s ability to hold water, along with the roughly 42 percent of rangeland that\u2019s been lost to conifer encroachment<\/a> over the last 30 years.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you ask the ranchers \u2018where\u2019s the water?\u2019 they look up at the mountains,\u201d Marques says. \u201cThese forests are overstocked. And every tree uses water: roughly eight to thirty-five gallons per lodgepole pine per day.\u201d<\/p>\n Marques also brings up a hard question that some anglers might not want to answer: Is there a chance that we\u2019re part of the problem?<\/p>\n The ranchers in the Big Hole Valley have dealt with water shortages before. Both Marques and Duncan point to the drought of 1988, when the river went totally dry near Wisdom. Trout populations dipped as a result, but they say the \u201988 crash still wasn\u2019t as substantial as the one we\u2019re seeing today.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing to keep in mind is that agricultural practices in this valley\u2014and the amount of water they use\u2014haven\u2019t changed substantially in 100-plus years,\u201d Marques says.<\/p>\n One thing that has changed substantially is the amount of fishing pressure the Big Hole receives every summer. MFWP keeps track of this pressure<\/a> by gauging the number of \u201cangler days\u201d in a year. (One \u201cangler day\u201d equals one angler fishing one body of water for any amount of time on a given day.) Past surveys by the agency showed 71,553 angler days on the Big Hole in 2011. That number jumped to 95,233 in 2017 and then to 118,140 in 2020, which equals a 65-percent increase over a nine-year period.\u00a0<\/p>\n The question, then, is whether all this increased angling pressure is having a real impact on the fishery itself. Duncan can\u2019t be certain it isn\u2019t. Catch-and-release anglers have long seen themselves as having minimal to no impacts on wild fish populations. But the jury\u2019s still out as to what percentage of trout survive, die, or get sick after they\u2019re caught, handled, and released.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of increased pressure in recent years, just a lot more folks fishing on these rivers,\u201d Duncan says. \u201cAnd I think one of the reasons we\u2019re interested in the impacts of catch-and-release angling is because it\u2019s the one thing we have the most control over.\u201d<\/p>\n These impacts can also vary depending on the waterway. It\u2019s possible that some rivers in the West can handle more catch-and-release because there\u2019s enough clean, cold water to keep fish populations healthy and strong in the first place. As an example, Marques points to the Madison River tailwater, which sees roughly three times the angling pressure at Big Hole.<\/p>\n Read Next:<\/strong> How a Dam Malfunction on the Madison River Nearly Wrecked a Blue-Ribbon Fishery<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cPeople point to that river and say, \u2018See, you can still hammer these fish as long as you release them\u2014they\u2019ll be fine.\u2019 But that\u2019s because the Madison has a dam that provides abundant cold water. I don\u2019t think you can hammer these fish under certain situations. I think it adds a significant stressor to a fishery that\u2019s already struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n The most obvious stressor is the direct handling of fish, which can remove the protective slime that serves as a trout\u2019s immune system. Playing fish for too long can also wear them down and make them more susceptible to predation or disease.<\/p>\n But there are secondary effects of angler pressure\u2014more cars driving through the valley, more feet walking along the riverbed, and all the bug spray and sunscreen from 120,000 angler days\u2014that could be impacting the river\u2019s overall health and its bug populations. And fewer bugs means less food for trout.<\/p>\n While the state looks for answers, MFWP has enacted emergency fishing regulations<\/a> on the Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Ruby Rivers. Catch and release is now mandatory throughout most of the Big Hole, as is fishing with single barbless hooks. The agency also plans to shut down fishing during the brown trout spawning season, which takes place in the fall. Duncan explains that browns are \u201cextremely vulnerable\u201d when they\u2019re on their spawning redds\u2014especially after dealing with low water conditions all summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n These emergency regs are separate from the state-mandated Hoot Owl restrictions that are already in place on the Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Ruby Rivers. The restrictions close certain stretches to fishing after 2 p.m. and they\u2019re triggered when water temps exceed 73 degrees for three days in a row. (You can find a list of the current closures and angling restrictions here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, all the changes regulation-wise are being implemented on the fishing side of things,\u201d Wheeler says. \u201cAnd we have absorbed that happily because until we know, the outfitting community is willing to take these hits. We know we have to be extra cautious until we figure this out.\u201d<\/p>\n For Wheeler and the other guides at Big Hole Lodge, this means carrying a thermometer and reeling up when water temps reach 68 degrees, which is even stricter than the state\u2019s Hoot Owl rules. (Trout start to get stressed when water temps exceed 65, and they\u2019re already struggling to survive by the time temps reach the mid-70s, according to Trout Unlimited<\/a>.) It means keeping fish wet and handling them as gently as possible. It means staying off closed sections and not ripping browns off their spawning redds in the fall.<\/p>\n \u201cThese fish can be resilient when we figure out what\u2019s happening and manage accordingly. But job number one is to define the problem,\u201d Wheeler says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I carry one of those coolers and aerators in my truck. And anytime I have a single fishing client, we\u2019re bringing that in the boat with us and\u2014I never thought I\u2019d say this before\u2014hoping to catch a sick fish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThe Lowest Fish Counts on Record<\/h2>\n
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The Mysterious Fish Fungus<\/h2>\n
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Declining Water and Quality Concerns<\/h2>\n
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Are Anglers Contributing to Trout Declines?<\/h2>\n
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Emergency Regs and Fishing Closures<\/h2>\n
Other Things Anglers Can Do<\/h3>\n
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