Montana Offers Anglers More Than Just Trout

Saturday, May 05, 2001
Headlines

This article was Archived on Monday, July 01, 2002

Trout aren’t the only fish Montana offers anglers. There are walleye and northern pike, largemouth bass and crappie, among several other warm water fish species, just waiting to be noticed by those habitual trout anglers hungry for a change of pace. Veteran warm water fisherman will tell you that the fishing has improved in recent years, and they are right. In fact, the fishing for warm water species, most of which takes place on the lakes and rivers of eastern Montana, is developing into some of the finest in the region.

A boon to the growth of Montana’s warm water fishery has been the renovation and expansion of the state’s warm water fish hatchery at Miles City, a facility acquired from the federal government in 1985. The improvements have allowed state fisheries managers to increase fish stocking proposals for warm water lakes and rivers.

The most popular warm water fish stocked in central and eastern Montana in 2000 were:

• Largemouth bass: 61,140 to 17 waters
• Smallmouth bass: 70,165 to 7 waters
• Northern pike: 61,612 to 5 waters
• Channel catfish: 52,900 to 5 waters
• Walleye: 35.2 million to 20 waters
• Tiger Muskie 8,200 to 3 waters

In addition, Montana’s new Warm Water Fish Stamp--established by the 1999 Montana State Legislature--will help fund a new multi-species fish hatchery near Fort Peck Dam. The Federal Congress passed a bill signed by President Clinton in 2000 authorizing the hatchery.