Montana fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits FWP publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- Anyone 12 or older needs a valid fishing license to fish any state water. Children 11 or younger do not need a license and must follow limits and seasons. Most anglers also need a Conservation License before they can buy the fishing license, and anglers 16 and older need an AIS Prevention Pass. The fishing license runs from March 1 through the end of February. Regulations in the 2026 booklet are valid March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027. A license on a phone is acceptable and must be in possession while fishing. Paddlefish require a tag, and bull trout require a free catch card on the few waters where harvest angling is authorized.
- Residents
- A resident must have lived in Montana for at least 180 consecutive days immediately before buying a resident license, file Montana income tax as a resident if required to file, register vehicles in Montana, be registered to vote in Montana if registered anywhere, and must not hold or apply for resident hunting, fishing, or trapping privileges in another state or country. At purchase the person must show a Montana driver’s license, a Montana driver’s examiner identification card, or a tribal identification card. The license-fee table in the PDF did not keep its columns aligned, so this summary does not quote a season fishing-license price. Lines that stayed attached to a label include a $4 Conservation License for residents 12–15 with no AIS fee, and an $8 Conservation License plus a $2 AIS Prevention Pass for residents 18–61. Paddlefish tags are $6.50 for residents.
- Nonresidents
- Anyone who does not meet the resident test needs a nonresident fishing license, plus a Conservation License and, at age 16 and older, an AIS Prevention Pass. The fee table labels a nonresident 16-and-older Conservation License at $10 and an AIS Prevention Pass at $7.50. The season fishing-license dollar amount in that table was not readable as a single aligned figure, so it is not quoted. A nonresident paddlefish tag is $15. Nonresident motorized vessels need a $30 AIS prevention pass, and nonmotorized out-of-state vessels need a $10 pass, each good through December 31.
- Free fishing days
- Mother’s Day and Father’s Day weekends in 2026 are May 9–10 and June 20–21. Any person, resident or nonresident, may fish without a fishing license and must still follow seasons, restrictions, and bag limits. Paddlefish and bull trout are the exceptions: both still require a Conservation License, a fishing license, and an AIS Prevention Pass. Paddlefish also require a tag, and bull trout require a catch card.
Seasons and closures
District seasons
Western District rivers and streams are open from the third Saturday in May through November 30 unless an exception says otherwise. Western, Central, and Eastern lakes and reservoirs are open all year unless excepted. Central and Eastern rivers and streams are open all year unless excepted. Fishing is allowed at all hours during an open season unless an exception sets hours. The regulations year is March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027.
How to read a water
Pick the district, read that district’s standard season and bag, then look up the water in the exceptions. If the water is listed, the exception replaces the standard. If it is not listed, the standard applies. Temporary closures are posted at fwp.mt.gov and are not all printed in the booklet. Flathead Reservation waters need a tribal permit.
Paddlefish calendar
Paddlefish tags are area-specific. The Upper Missouri white-tag harvest drawing closes at 11:45 p.m. on April 1, 2026, and the drawing fee is $5. Other snagging and archery dates in the booklet include May 1–June 15 on some sections, May 15–June 15 on others, and bow seasons such as July 1–August 31. Those dates apply only on the river sections the paddlefish chapter names. A fish hooked while snagging for paddlefish, other than a paddlefish, must be released.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
There is no statewide barbless rule. Hook caps are set by district and by water. An artificial lure counts as one device no matter how many hooks it has, and one lure may not be tied to another. Western District open water is 1 line with 2 hooks on rivers and streams, and 2 lines with 2 hooks on lakes and reservoirs. Ice fishing there is 2 lines with 2 hooks, and the angler must stay in visual contact. Paddlefish snagging, where it is open, requires an 8/0 or smaller hook, barbless or with the barbs pinched, and only one treble hook per line. Many exception waters ban double and treble hooks. The booklet recommends barbless hooks for release and does not make that a statewide law.
Rods per angler
Line limits are the rod limits, and they are not the same in every district. Western District rivers are one attended line. Western lakes are two attended lines. Setlines are not allowed in the Western District. Central and Eastern district waters often allow two lines in open water, and some reservoirs allow six lines through the ice. Spears and bows count as lines. When several lines are allowed, the total of attended lines, setlines, and spears cannot exceed the line limit. Setlines, where legal, must be checked at least once every 24 hours, must be labeled, and may not be tied to a jug or other float.
Nets
A landing net may be used to land a hooked fish. Seines and traps for bait fish are a separate activity. A bait-fish seine may not exceed 12 feet. People 15 or older need a bait-fish seining license to seine or trap and transport bait, and the commercial-harvest license fee printed in the booklet is $10. The seining section also limits transport above 24 dozen nongame bait fish without the license terms on that page. Nets are not a method for taking game fish.
Snagging
The Western District closes all waters to snagging of game and nongame fish except waters listed in the exceptions. Snagging means casting and manipulating a hook so it embeds in the body, or hooking a fish that did not voluntarily take the hook. Kokanee snagging is open only where an exception says so, often in the fall, with its own bag. Paddlefish snagging is a tagged fishery with area dates, hours, and hook rules, including a ban on snagging by boat trolling. Any fish other than a paddlefish caught while paddlefish snagging must be released. Eastern District standard text says no snagging except where an exception opens chinook salmon or paddlefish.
Spearing and bow
Western District waters are closed to bow-and-arrow taking of game and nongame fish except listed exceptions. Spearing is closed except for northern pike through the ice and by a swimmer or submerged diver in waters open to fishing, plus exceptions. Central and Eastern districts open spearing and bow on some waters for northern pike, nongame fish, and, in places, walleye or salmon, usually through the ice or in a posted season. Shortnose gar bowfishing in the Eastern District is 3 per season and requires a catch card from the Region 6 office in Glasgow. Crossbows are unlawful. A spear counts toward the line limit.
Bait and live transport
Live bait means animals such as mealworms, red worms, and night crawlers, and fish only where a district bait section allows fish. No live fish may be used as bait in the Western District, and sculpins may not be used dead or alive there. Dead bait in the west is limited to listed native nongame species. Live bait fish may not be imported. Whole game fish may not be used as bait. Transport of live fish is unlawful except for listed commercial permits and the bait rules. Eastern and Central districts name the nongame species that may be collected and used as live bait, and those fish may be used only in the collection area described in the booklet. Eurasian watermilfoil areas add extra bait-transport bans.
Bag and size limits
These are the statewide or default limits. A named lake, river, or marine area can replace every figure below.
Trout, by district, not statewide
The booklet does not set one statewide trout bag. If a water is not in the exception list, the district standard applies, and the exception replaces the standard. Western District combined trout, which means brown, rainbow, golden trout, and arctic grayling, are 5 daily and 10 in possession in lakes and reservoirs, only 1 over 22 inches, and 3 daily and in possession in rivers and streams, only 1 over 14 inches. Cutthroat trout are a separate Western limit: 3 in lakes with no size limit, and 3 in rivers with none over 12 inches. Brook trout in the west are 20 daily and in possession. Lake trout in the west are 20 daily and 40 in possession. Central District combined trout, which also includes cutthroat, are 5 daily and 10 in possession in lakes, and 3 daily and in possession in rivers and streams with only 1 over 18 inches. Other Central District river conditions are in the booklet's district table. Eastern District combined trout are 5 daily and 10 in possession in lakes, and 5 daily and in possession in rivers and streams. Brook trout are 20 in the Central District and 10 in the Eastern District.
Bass, walleye, and pike
Western District largemouth bass are 5 daily and in possession, only 1 longer than 12 inches, and from the third Saturday in May through June 30 the limit is 1 fish over 22 inches. Western smallmouth bass are 15 daily and in possession with no size limit on the standard line. Western walleye must be killed and the whole fish turned in to FWP, and the catch reported within 24 hours; they are not a harvest fishery under the standard line. Western northern pike are 15 daily with no possession limit, and spearing is open as the district gear rule states. Central District bass are 5, northern pike 10, and sauger/walleye 5 daily with only 2 sauger, possession 10 with only 4 sauger. Eastern District bass are 5, northern pike 10, and sauger/walleye 5 daily and 10 in possession. Channel catfish are 10 daily in the Central District and 10 daily and 20 in possession in the Eastern District.
Kokanee, salmon, and sturgeon
Central District kokanee and chinook are 10 daily and in possession on the standard line. Eastern District salmon are 5 daily and 10 in possession. Tiger muskie are 1 a day and in possession and must be over 40 inches in both the Central and Eastern standards. Shovelnose sturgeon are 5 daily and in possession, none over 40 inches, in those districts. Pallid sturgeon are closed, and every pallid sturgeon must be released. All sturgeon over 40 inches must stay partly in the water and be released immediately under the Eastern rule. Paddlefish are 1 per season, and a tag is required.
Bull trout
All waters are closed to angling for bull trout unless a Western District exception says otherwise. Lake Koocanusa, Hungry Horse Reservoir, and part of the South Fork Flathead River have a regulated experimental season. The angler must carry a free bull trout catch card for that specific water and may pick only one of two areas: Lake Koocanusa, or Hungry Horse Reservoir together with the South Fork Flathead. Catch cards are issued through the Region 1 office in Kalispell or the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. Bull trout fishing is not covered by the free-fishing weekends.