WEST GLACIER — For the first time, Montana Fish, Wildlfie and Parks (FWP) has implemented hoot owl restrictions in the Flathead drainage due to record water temperatures and falling water levels.
Hoot-owl restrictions, which prohibit fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight went into effect Wednesday afternoon.
“I think it’s necessary, it’s too warm in the afternoon and you see more and more of them rolled over, so we don’t want to be killing them,” said Wild River Adventures Fishing Guide Brock Sampson.
Sampson and Wild River offer trips on the middle and north fork of the Flathead River.
He said his team has taken a proactive approach and have been going out early on the river before the water gets too warm.
“We try to get an early start in the middle of the summer like this, so we’re done and off by about noon.”
Sampson agrees with FWP’s decision to implement Hoot Owl restrictions in the best interest of protecting fish.
“Yeah absolutely, it seems to prove worthy in other places when they’ve done it,” added Sampson.
The restrictions run the full length and both sides of the North Fork from the U.S.-Canadian border to the confluence with the Middle Fork Flathead River near Blankenship Bridge.
Glacier Guides and Montana Raft Company Owner Denny Gignoux said they will be moving most of their fishing guides over to the Middle Fork.
“You know right now we’re trying to stay away from the north fork, and trips that we have move to the middle fork and we will see how August progresses, you know the long-range forecast is for hot and dry, but you know we’re along the continental divide and things can change rapidly,” said Gignoux.
Gignoux said Glacier National Park and surrounding areas have seen a change in climate in recent years, which could make Hoot Owl Restrictions more common.
“We’re getting less water later in the season and that water has been warming, so the writing has been on the wall, and we expect unfortunately that this is something which may happen again,” said Gignoux.
