Montana Fish Report

Streams and rivers are now closed to trout fishing until May 22, 2018.

The steelhead rivers in the Coos Basin are running high and muddy with the recent rain. The West Fork Millicoma River will become fishable first followed by the East Fork Millicoma and South Fork Coos rivers. Several steelhead swam into the fish hatchery on the West Fork Millicoma River this weekend. Steelhead anglers are having success fishing eggs or yarn balls along the bottom or by fishing a jig suspended below a bobber.

Anglers fishing the South Fork Coos River above Dellwood will need a permit from Weyerhaeuser, which allows the angler 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 hatchery fish harvested daily.

Recreational fishing for bottomfish is opened on Jan. 1 in the ocean along with bays and estuaries. The daily bag limit will be 5 marine fish plus 2 lingcod. There will be no retention of cabezon until July 1. Anglers have reported catching rockfish near the north jetty of Coos Bay.

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