Montana Fish Report

This is the last week to catch a trout until next year. The season closes Oct. 31. Artificial flies, lures and bait may be used. The daily limit is 2 fish with an 8-inch minimum length. Rainbow trout over 16-inches are considered steelhead.

Chinook salmon and steelhead season is open from the river mouth to Nook Creek through Dec. 31. With a little rain in the forcast, there may be some fish moving up river this week. Anglers are successfully catching Chinook in the Estuary. For a visual and status update on the river bar crossing, see the NOAA bar camerawebpage. After recent rains, a few anglers have reported Chinook catch at Social Security Bar.

Anglers are encouraged to drop hatchery fish snouts in the kiosk at the Port of Brookings cleaning station (instructions on how to remove and package snouts is available at the kiosk). Fishing is restricted to fly- fishing or bobber fishing with one a single point hook from river mile 2.2 through to Nook Creek from Sept. 1 through Nov. 3. These anti-snagging gear restrictions are described on page 18 of Oregon’s 2018 Sport Fishing Regulation Book. Please see the southwest zone regulation exceptions in the ODFW Sport Fishing Regulations book for more details.