Montana's spectacular trout streams and lakes are legendary across the nation. One of the most important parts of this wonderful resource is Montana's largest native trout: the bull trout. Bull trout have declined across their range. Agencies and citizens have united across the west to help conserve this important part of our native heritage in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, as well as in Montana.

If we want to conserve bull trout and high quality aquatic habitat, we must inform and educate ourselves. The Bull Trout Identification Program provides you with an educational tool that can help you conserve bull trout for future generations. If anglers can effectively identify bull trout and learn about their importance, bull trout will benefit.

Here's how the program works

• First, assess your knowledge about bull trout and other trout—their ecology, habits, habitats, body characteristics, and conservation status—by taking a short preliminary quiz, the PRETEST. Once you've completed the Pretest and reviewed your score, you're ready to move on to the next step, the Tutorial.
• In the TUTORIAL, you'll learn more about fish and get a chance to practice the skills and knowledge in those questions that you've missed.
• When you're done reviewing the Tutorial, you can take another test—the FINAL TEST—to see how much you've learned and how well you can identify "virtual" fish.

It's quick—usually less than a half-hour—and you can revisit the site any time you feel the need to brush up on your fish identification skills. No two tests are identical, so the next time you log on to test your knowledge, you'll find a different set of challenging questions. We've designed this program to be challenging. You may find the Pretest difficult if you take it before the tutorial. But take heart, because if you spend time at this site you will become a bull trout expert.

Lets get started!

To begin, click on the Pretest button below. You can view the Tutorial as a PDF or as an eBook. Click on the Final Test button when you are ready to test all you have learned. Thank you for taking the time to go through this program!

Bull trout recovery video

For further information on bull trout conservation, watch the video, Bull Trout Recovery, a Fish, Wildlife & Parks feature documentary.

Contact us

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, please send email to John Fraley, Information Officer, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks or Dave Hagengruber, Angler Education Cordinator, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

A number of people helped greatly in the development of the Bull Trout Identification Program. Thanks to Wade Fredenberg of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jim Vashro, Mark Deleray, Tom Weaver and more than 15 other reviewers from across the western United States. The Bull Trout Identification Program was developed in cooperation with Avista Utilities, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Idaho Council of Trout Unlimited, Idaho Fish and Game Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service.