Brown Trout Numbers in Missouri River

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Current brown trout numbers in the Missouri River between Holter Dam and the town of Cascade appear to be slightly above long-term averages, a state fisheries biologist says.

“Steady as she goes,” says Grant Grisak, Fish, Wildlife and Parks fisheries biologist in Great Falls.

An FWP fisheries crew, headed by Grisak recently surveyed the brown trout population in the blue ribbon trout section of the Missouri River.

Trout in the 30-mile stretch are surveyed twice a year: brown trout in the spring and rainbow trout in the fall.

While the rainbow is the star of the river’s fishery – sometimes numbering more than 3,000 fish per mile – brown trout provide a steady, secondary fishery.

Near the town of Craig, the FWP crew counted 771 catchable fish per mile. A catchable fish is 10 inches or larger. Generally that’s a fish at least 2 years old.

For the Craig portion of the river, the long-term mean based on 21 years of data collection is 551.

Near Pelican Point, just upstream of Cascade, the crew counted 594 fish per mile. There the long-term mean is 323.

“The population looks good and stable and close to the 21-year average for brown trout,” Grisak says.