MISSOULA, Mont. 鈥� In the early season, when the rivers are still running high and cool from snowmelt, KynsLee Scott loves trout fishing. As a fishing guide and conservationist, her life revolves around it, she says, standing in the shade of tall pines on the banks of the Blackfoot River.
Lately though, she says with a pause, 鈥淚t鈥檚 been harder to love, simply because of the changed environment.鈥�
Scott is an angler 鈥� one of many in the western U.S. 鈥� snagged in an ethical dilemma brought on by the 鈥渁bsolutely alarming鈥� shifts she鈥檚 seen with a warming climate: When the trout you鈥檙e fishing need cold water, and cold water is increasingly scarce, how and when should you fish?
鈥淔or me, unless I have to do it for my job, I don鈥檛 feel good about coming out and targeting already stressed fish,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t sucks. But we have to adjust what we鈥檙e doing to have a resource at the end of the day.鈥�
Western Montana is particularly water-starved this year after a meager snowpack and . Hot water temperatures forced state officials to implement fishing restrictions on 17 rivers this summer, including 鈥� for a spell 鈥� the iconic Blackfoot, which is at its lowest level in 30 years. The so-called hoot owl restrictions prohibit fishing during the hottest part of the day to give fish a reprieve, forcing anglers to get out on the water early.
Montana鈥檚 fishing industry, which brings in per year, is trying to adjust.
鈥淧eople get concerned about what's causing [climate change] and all that. But that part to us doesn't matter,鈥� says Mike Bias, executive director of the Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana. 鈥淭he reality is hatches are happening sooner. Flows are peaking earlier and tapering off. So what do we do? How do we adapt?鈥�
Some guides in the Missoula area have moved their trips to colder rivers like the Missouri near Helena, where the water temperature is quasi-controlled by a series of dams. Others have shifted to targeting other fish like pike, which are invasive in some Montana watersheds. Almost all have shifted their fishing seasons, booking clients earlier in the spring and later in the fall.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a real paradox for me,鈥� says John Herzer, who鈥檚 been a fly fishing guide and outfitter on western Montana rivers for 35 years. On one hand, he says, 鈥渢he fishing is still really good.鈥�
On the other hand: 鈥淭here鈥檚 just less and less water every year,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no question. Absolutely less water.鈥�
Trout need cold water
Humans have been trout fishing in western Montana for millenia. In the Missoula area, the Salish people were catching native bull trout on the Blackfoot River long before author Norman Maclean immortalized the 鈥淎rctic half-light of the canyon鈥� of the 鈥淏ig Blackfoot,鈥� as he called it, in his book A River Runs Through It.
The problem is the 鈥淏ig Blackfoot,鈥� like many rivers in the American West, isn鈥檛 as big as it used to be. Invasive species like smallmouth bass and carp are . Water is being siphoned off for agriculture, energy and towns.
鈥淲e鈥檝e degraded habitats, severed connections between [them] and introduced invasive species,鈥� says Clint Muhlfeld, a research ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey鈥檚 Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center. 鈥淭hose stressors combined with climate change are really causing some of these trout species to decline.鈥�
Pollution from cars, buildings and industry is . As a result precipitation patterns in Montana. Droughts are becoming . Snowpacks are .
鈥淭he northern Rockies is actually warming at two times the rate of the global average,鈥� says Muhlfeld. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really changing our hydrology and, consequently, the water the fish live in.鈥�
Trout need cold, oxygen-rich water to survive. Temperature thresholds vary by species, but all trout become sluggish and stressed when the water temperatures go beyond their comfort zone. Too hot, they鈥檒l die.
In 2015, Trout Unlimited, the nonprofit conservation group, published a report looking at the of trout and char that are native to the U.S. It found more than half of those species and subspecies have been squeezed into smaller ranges, occupying only a quarter of their historic range. Nearly all types of trout and char, the report found, face some level of risk.
Montana, Muhlfeld says, 鈥渋s home to some of the last remaining strongholds for native fish species.鈥� But it isn鈥檛 invulnerable to change.
A study Muhlfeld co-authored in 2022 found that of Montana鈥檚 cold-water fisheries could be unsuitable for trout by 2080, costing the state nearly $200 million in lost revenue.
鈥淭he lower reaches of all these famous trout rivers are going to get warm the quickest,鈥� says Timothy Cline, the study鈥檚 lead author, who鈥檚 now an ecologist at Montana State University. 鈥淲e might lose some of those lower reaches on the Madison, Blackfoot, the Bitterroot, the Big Hole.鈥�
Fortunately, though, he says, their study also found that trout and the industry that relies on them, are still resilient. Higher elevation rivers and cool mountain streams and lakes still offer refuges. Trout are adaptable and will move to more agreeable conditions when they鈥檙e able.
鈥淭he hope is that by maintaining and protecting all those options we can have robust trout fisheries and opportunities in the future,鈥� Cline says.
Giving trout room to move
In some cases, maintaining and improving fish habitat requires removing relics of the past.
North of Missoula, on Rattlesnake Creek, which merges with the Clark Fork River downstream of the Blackfoot, a coalition of agencies and groups are a series of now defunct dams that stretch into the Rattlesnake Wilderness.
鈥淔ish that can鈥檛 get up into cold water are going to have a harder time dealing with climate change and warm waters,鈥� says Warren Colyer, the Western Water and Habitat program director at Trout Unlimited. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e trying to remove those barriers.鈥�
Colyer and his colleague, Christine Brissette, are standing on the edge of Rattlesnake Creek just upstream of a deep pool, which denotes where one of the dams was removed in 2021.
鈥淲e saw immediately after this dam removal fish that had been tagged at the mouth of the creek hanging out just above where the dam used to be,鈥� Brissette says. 鈥淭hey moved into this habitat immediately.鈥�
Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups are working to restore floodplains, creating artificial beaver dams in places to slow runoff. They鈥檙e working with irrigators to limit withdrawals during periods of severe drought.
Earlier this year, the Blackfoot Challenge, a coalition of landowners, public agencies, and conservation groups that live and work along the Blackfoot River, along the Blackfoot to voluntarily reduce demand on the river鈥檚 water and anglers to shift their techniques, including by using barbless hooks.
鈥淓very guide has a responsibility to change how we are utilizing our water resources, especially for these cold water fisheries,鈥� Scott says on the banks of the Blackfoot.
Fish are a finite resource, she says. Climate change is worsening conditions. 鈥淲ith those two combined there鈥檚 only a limited time in which we can continue to adjust,鈥� she says.
Asked how Scott thinks her job will change in the future, if a river will still run through it, she laughs.
鈥淎 river will still run through it,鈥� Scott says. 鈥淎nd it might be a trickle.鈥�
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