State of the Missouri

4500 trout per mile, an abundance of 18″ rainbows and 17″ browns, well below average flows and plenty of opinions via the 2015 Creel Survey.

The annual State of the Missouri program was presented last Thursday night at Montana Wild Education Center in Helena by FWP Fisheries Biologist Jason Mullen.

This is always a great program and definitely worth your while if you get a chance to check it out. There was a wealth of information presented not only about the Missouri but about the Smith, the Sun and Belt Creek as well. Following are some of the highlights we know are of interest to you.

Fish Per Mile

This always seems to be the most popular topic of the presentation and while we’ve become accustomed to the numbers over the past few years the amount of trout in the Missouri River is truly mind-boggling. The numbers have been on the decline for the past couple of years following the 2012 peak of >8,000 fish >10″ per mile in the Craig section which is to be expected.

2015 saw Rainbow populations still well above the 3300 average at 4,073 per mile while Brown Trout came in slightly under the 572 average at 433. That’s still over 4,500 trout over 10″ per mile! Like I said…..Mind Boggling!

While the numbers of fish are amazing it’s the average size of the fish that surprise a lot of first time visitors to the Missouri and keeps them coming back. More than 900 18″ Rainbows and close to 100 17″ Brown Trout per mile….this is the Missouri River!

The river section from Holter Dam to Craig is by far the most popular stretch but take a look at what’s going on in the Cascade stretch. We’re looking at above average trout populations and while there are certainly more fish up high we’re still talking about over 2300 trout per mile in the Cascade stretch. There is no reason you shouldn’t be fishing the lower river!

The fish population statistics are interesting and exciting but equally as important, if not more so, is the flow data. 2015 was not a great water year for us with average flows well below average. The Missouri certainly fared better than many other rivers in the state which saw Hoot Owl Closures for much of the season but we would definitely like to see more water this season.

Many of you may have been interviewed last season by FWP while you were out fishing the MO’ as part of the Creel Survey which began in March of last year and just wrapped up. The data are still being processed but the preliminary results are in. A few points of interest – 43% of those surveyed were non-resident anglers on par with 44% in the last creel survey in 2002. Of the resident anglers 24% were from Cascade County, 13% from Lewis and Clark and 20 % from elsewhere in Montana.

22% of those surveyed were being guided compared to just 11% in 2002. Interestingly, preliminary results show that those surveyed believe that 45% of those fishing the river are being guided. Anglers were generally satisfied with the average numbers of fish being caught and overwhelmingly satisfied with the average size of the fish being caught.

The survey also indicated that while many feel the river usage is too high the consensus is that crowding is not a problem. Also of interest is that those surveyed strongly oppose limiting use by both non-residents and guides and outfitters.

Once again, in summary,  plenty of big fish, less water than we would like and  interesting preliminaries from the creel survey.