FWP Hearing Petitions on Madison River Recreation
After postponing discussions on efforts to ease crowding on the Madison River, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is now announcing an August 13th meeting.
At the August 13th meeting, FWP says the commission will hear two petitions regarding recreation on the Madison River.
The Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana (FOAM) and the George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited (GGTU) along with the Anaconda Sportsmen Association (ASA) will present their petitions directly to the commission. Both petitions are requesting rulemaking to address recreation on the Madison River. Following the presentation of the petitions, FWP staff will answer questions but will not represent any support or opposition to the petitions.
The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will be streamed online at the FWP website. Both petitions are available on the commission page of the FWP website, fwp.mt.gov. Details on how to access the meeting will be posted on fwp.mt.gov closer to the meeting date.
Back in June, the Associated Press reported on a plan by FWP to limit access to the river for fishing guides:
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has put forward a proposal for regulating fishing outfitters and easing crowding on the Madison River, one of the top fly-fishing destinations in the world, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports. Its proposal would cap the number of guided trips, bar guides from some river sections on certain days and create a stamp program for anglers to begin gathering data on non-guided fishing pressure.
Click here for the full story that originally ran in The Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
***By the way, the above screenshot was taken from the following "Spring Fishing the Madison" YouTube video posted by Big Sky Outdoors.