Montana Fish Report

Streams and rivers are now closed to trout fishing until next spring.

A few anglers have caught early returning winter steelhead in the Millicoma system and fish should be in the South Fork Coos River. Anglers fishing the South Fork Coos River above Dellwood will need a permit from Weyerhaeuser, which allows the angler to access up to the Seven Mile Bridge. Permits can be obtained at Weyerhaeuser’s Coos Bay office. In the Coos Basin, 1 additional hatchery steelhead may be retained per day for a total aggregate of 3 adult fish harvested daily.

Recreational fishing for bottomfish is closed because the quotas for several species have been reached. This includes the ocean along with bays and estuaries. On Oct. 1, recreational bottomfishing was reopened outside 40 fathoms but for anglers using “longleader” gear only. The daily bag limit for the long-leader fishery has been increased to 10 marine fish but retention of black rockfish, cabezon, lingcod, and other nearshore rockfish (blue, deacon, china, copper, and quillback rockfishes) are not allowed at any depth for the remainder of the 2017 season. Find more information about a longleader setup here.

Crabbing and clamming updates can now be found in the Crabbing and Clamming section of the Recreation Report.