Montana commission takes up a 44-item fishing-rule package today

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is asking the Fish and Wildlife Commission for a final vote today, Oct. 15, 2026, on the 2027–28 fishing regulations. The department packet has 44 proposals. Scoping ran April 17 through May 31, with seven regional meetings and two statewide virtual meetings. FWP logged 261 comments on 41 scoped ideas and 94 separate proposals from the public, then withdrew three scoped items, modified four, carried three public proposals, and added three new ones.

The proposal summary says the package increases the Big Hole combined-trout harvest limit to one fish and the Beaverhead brown trout limit to five. On the Big Hole, the proposed text from Brownes Bridge to the mouth is one combined trout a day and in possession, under 18 inches, with that reach open April 1 through Sept. 30. The adaptive plan calls for a one-trout harvest, and keeps the spawning closure, when combined trout abundance sits between the 5th and 25th percentiles for two consecutive years. On the Beaverhead, FWP says brown trout downstream of Barretts Diversion have increased over the past two years and are at the management goal, so the recommendation is five fish a day and in possession, all under 18 inches, aimed at age-2 and age-3 fish while protecting older spawners. The same summary would drop the spawning-closure exception from Barretts Diversion to the mouth.

Gear changes in the packet expand lines on part of the Missouri and on Fort Peck in open water, and tighten setlines for a spring window. From Cascade Bridge to Black Eagle Dam, the proposal is two lines with two hooks per line, to raise harvest on northern pike that have been abundant below Cascade since 2018 under a no-limit rule since March 2020. Fort Peck open water would allow four poles per angler, all attended and in the angler’s immediate control; FWP says an unguided angler can now use two rods while a guided boat can put out four. From May 1 through June 15, the Yellowstone from the I-90 bridge at Billings to the Bighorn, and the Missouri from the mouth of Cow Creek to Beauchamp Creek, would be limited to three lines with up to six hooks per line.

The department’s recommended motion is to adopt the package as presented, plus any public proposals the commission wants to take up. This brief is the proposal in front of the commission, not a report of a vote.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Montana FWP — 2027–2028 fishing regulation proposals (commission packet for the Oct. 15, 2026 meeting).