Don't fear Montana's mussel decontamination stations

Photo courtesy of MTFWP at montana.gov

I went up to Canyon Ferry Reservoir yesterday to chase some mirror carp, cool off, and also check out the mandatory mussel decontamination stations.  I had been reluctant to launch the boat on Canyon Ferry because I didn't know what the decontamination at the end of the day would entail. At first, the idea of power washing my newly refinished wooden boat with hot water made me a little panicky.

To be clear, decontamination stations are at the boat launches on Cayon Ferry and Tibor Reservoirs (water bodies with detected zebra/quagga mussels).  There are boat checkpoints all over the state that have the ability to decontaminate a vessel but these decontamination stations are a bit more comprehensive.  My plan was to fish all day and then take a few pictures or a video of the decontamination process to share with folks that may be apprehensive or just curious.

So why then, is there a picture from Montana.gov and not a bunch from me?  It's because it went so fast that I didn't even have a chance to ask if it was ok to film!!

Here's why it went so fast.  At the launch, while taking my boat out, I made sure to:

• Drain the boat 
• Removed all my flooring mats  
• I left the oars in place and my trolling motor attached.  
• I took out all my fishing stuff and pulled the gear out of my storage compartments
• I used my Montana FWP sponge (free at checkpoints) to quickly wipe up any water that did not drain

I then drove up to the decontamination station and turned off the truck to ready myself for a hot wash and some picture taking.  By the time I got out of the truck and walked over to talk to the inspector that was filling out the inspection form he said, "ok, you're good to go!"  In that time, 2 other inspectors had checked the entire boat (it's a drift boat so, not much to inspect) and I passed inspection. It was just as fast as the checkpoints and because I made sure to show up with a totally dry boat, it honestly took about 3 minutes and I didn't have to be decontaminated.  I essentially did it myself when I dried the boat at the launch.

So there you have it.  Go to Canyon Ferry and have fun.  It's no big deal.  There is a mandatory engine flush for larger gas powered boats which will take a couple more minutes, but still.

Fisheries Biology Presentations on Jefferson and Beaverhead Rivers in Butte

There is a public meeting tomorrow April 12, with presentations by Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks at Butte Brewing Company in Butte, Montana @ 6 pm.

Ron Spoon will give information on the Jefferson and Upper Missouri Rivers.  Matt Yeager will give an update on the Pointdexter Slough restoration project and provide the reasoning behind the new brown trout regulations in the Beaverhead River.

Local fisheries info, good folks, and beer?  Slam dunk!

Do You Know About MFISH?

General distribution of common carp in Montana based on

MT FWP fisheries data

The Montana Fisheries Information System is a database which compiles not only all of Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks fisheries data but also restoration projects, river closures, sampling locations, public lands, and much, much more.  All of this data has been available in raw form for years but now you can search and display just about anything you can imagine in GIS form.  You can export these maps, manipulate them, and utilize just about every kind of data FWP has collected.

You've got to check it out to really see how cool it is.  Click the "Generate Map" button after you've performed your search to get a map with the results.  Then, you can add and manipulate layers like you can do in Google Earth or ArcMap.  Have fun!

Montana FWP and Trout Unlimited to Give Presentation on Clark Fork Restoration and Fishing

Jason Lindstrom, Region 2 Fisheries Biologist for MT Fish, Wildlife, & Parks and Casey Hackathorn, Upper Clark Fork Program Manager for Trout Unlimited (National) will give a presentation on the ongoing restoration of the Clark Fork River and its awesome and resilient fishery.

The presentation is tonight, March 9 at the Pour House Pub (next to Ace Hardware on Harrison Ave.) at 6:30 pm.

The Pour House is a tap room and growler fill station with 24 craft beers on rotation.  They also have wine and cider.  The meeting will be in their backroom.  I can not think of a better place to drink beer and learn about Clark Fork river updates and get some insight on this amazing and unbelievably resilient fishery!!

See you there!

Big Hole River Fishery Report

Help WestSlope TU and Montana FWP catch fish for science!

THE MEETING PLACE HAS CHANGED TO THE MISSOULA PUBLIC LIBRARY @ 10am!

WestSlope Chapter of Trout Unlimited's Website
Join Trout Unlimited

Biologists are puzzled by the cloudy water on the Beaverhead River

Starting in mid-July, we watched as the Beaverhead River became cloudier and murkier by the week. It started out with a glacier-like blue/green silty color.  A couple of weeks later, it was down right blown-out looking,  The fishing really sucked as well.  I had never seen the Beav like that and it turns out, neither had a lot of other people.

State biologists are "stumped" by the condition which showed up for a couple of weeks last year but lasted all summer this year.

There is a great article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle about it.

The Beav is one of my favorite places to fish.  I hope this can be figured out!

Here is another great link which provides a couple of hypothesis given at the meeting in Dillon on Oct. 27th.

Public meeting on Beaverhead and Big Hole rules this week

Beaverhead River, MT

Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks is hosting two public meetings next week to take comments and questions about the Beaverhead and Big Hole River Recreation Rules.

The meetings are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. @:

Dillon: Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the University of Montana-Western Block Hall #311
Butte: Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Butte Ranger District, 1820 Meadowlark Drive

"Three Rivers" - An old movie by Montana FWP about Lilly, Bailey, and Grant

Grab some popcorn and a beer and watch this classic from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks