Flathead River

Um, so we're in the, like the Flathead, uh, Flathead Indian Reservation, um, Salish Kootenai Indian Reservation, like that, their land, um, And, um, it's, uh, yeah, I mean, we're, we call it Big Fork because there's two rivers that flow into Flathead Lake right there.

Um, and yeah, the Swan River and the Flathead River and it's the back door to Glacier Park.

I mean, it was just the most amazing place in the world.

Glacier's a

the commission also moved forward on major land management initiatives approving a ninety nine year conservation easement on the three thousand six hundred fifty two acre hanna ranch near moore and authorized the acquisition of thompson island Additionally, motorized watercraft are now banned on the Mitchell Slough Channel of the Bitterroot River.

Other approvals include new regulations for brown trout in the Flathead River drainage, the relocation of northern leopard frogs, and specific release sites for grizzly bears.

A public petition to restrict motorized use on Swan Lake was denied.

There are no funeral notices to report for today.

To simplify the rule book, the commission tackled several key western Montana issues.

including the approval of new brown trout rules for the Flathead River drainage, placing a full ban on motorized watercraft along the Mitchell Slough channel of the Bitterroot River, which has been a source of controversy for years.

Boaters near Missoula will also see a temporary full closure of the Kona Bridge fishing access site on the Clark Fork.

They're going to do some work at that site.

Um, it's a really neat valley bound by two mountain ranges.

We have Reservation Divide to the north, where if you get up on top of those mountains, you can look down, you can see Glacier from there and the Mission Mountains, and you're looking down on the Flathead River-

Wow

... and the, the Flathead Reservation.

Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Ian Wargo has introduced four changes ahead of the commission's October 14th meeting.

Those proposals would keep standard kokanee limits on Little Bitterroot Lake and adjust boundaries and gear restrictions along Hungry Horse Reservoir and the South Fork of the Flathead River, including opening catch-and-release bull trout season earlier in mid-May.

On Flathead Lake, the proposal would scale back lake trout limits to twenty a day and forty in possession while instituting slot protection for fish between twenty-six and thirty-six inches.

Public comment is open through October 9th online via the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks web, uh, web portal.

On Little Bitter Root Lake, Wargo wants to keep the standard daily limit of 20 kokanee salmon.

For the Hungry Horse Reservoir in the South Fork of the Flathead River, proposals would prohibit live or dead bait and move the catch-and-release bull trout season to mid-May.

On the Flathead River, new rules would require single-point hooks and ban scented lures from December through mid-May.

Finally, Flathead Lake regulations would see a major shift, dropping the daily lake trout limit from 100 down to just 20 fish.

The public comment deadline for these amendments is October 9th.