Big Hole River 165 cfs, water temp, 59 Beaverhead River 332 cfs
There is an article on the front page of the Montana Standard today regarding the possible premature closure of the Big Hole. Allen Schallenberger who is an outfitter from Sheridan wrote a letter to the governor asking him to reverse the decision to close the river. The Dept. of Fish, Wildlife acknowledged they closed it before it hit the trigger point and thought it would keep dropping. It didn’t and after it closed it came up. As I said before I do not disagree with them when they closed it as it was marginal at best. Now it’s a different story with a fairly steady flow and low water temps. There is absolutely no reason they should not reopen it tomorrow. It did sound like they would bend a bit on the 200 cfs, 7 or 10 day deal. Allen also went on about how the closure hurts local business and the effect it has on them. The river closed Aug. 17th and we kept the shop open for fisherman who were heading up the tributaries and lakes. Let’s see, doing a quick audit in my head since the closure the shop has sold about 18 fly’s, 2 leaders and 1 tippet spool. I went back to work running a D8 cat—gotta feed the dogs.
There was a comment from Maxman regarding irrigators who are trying to conserve and others who are taking every drop they can get with a total disregard for the river and that they should be publicily named—what a great idea.