Beaverhead River fishing guide

Public access & launches

• High BridgeMontana FWP
  Boat launch
• Pipe OrganMontana FWP
  Boat launch
• GrasshopperMontana FWP
  Boat launch
• CorralsMontana FWP
  Fishing access
• Selway ParkMontana FWP
  Fishing access
• Cornell Park Fishing Access SiteMontana FWP
  Fishing access

Regulations

• Central Fishing District

  Entire river Rainbow trout: Catch-and-release only. Brown trout: 5 fish daily and in possession. All fish must be less than 18”; except for Clark Canyon Dam to High Bridge FAS and Barretts Diversion to the mouth, see special regulations below. Artificial lures and single-pointed hooks only. No treble or double hooks. Anglers may remove treble or double hooks from the lure and replace them with a single hook, or the shanks may be cut off the other hook points to leave a single hook. Lures with multiple hook attachments may still be used but any treble hook must be replaced by a single hook. Clark Canyon Dam to Pipe Organ Bridge Open third Saturday in May through Sept. 30. Clark Canyon Dam to High Bridge FAS Catch-and-release only. High Bridge FAS to Henneberry FAS Closed to float fishing by nonresidents and float outfitting on each Saturday from the third Saturday in May through Labor Day Henneberry FAS to Pipe Organ Bridge Closed to float fishing by nonresidents and float outfitting on each Sunday from the third Sunday in May through Labor Day. Barretts Diversion to the Mouth Open April 1 through Sept. 30. Catch-and-release only. Highway 91 South Bridge (Tash Bridge) to Selway Bridge Closed to float outfitting from the third Saturday in May through Labor Day.

• Brown Trout

  Season

  Open April 1 through Sept. 30.

  Bag

  Catch-and-release only.

• Brown Trout

  Bag

  Catch-and-release only.

  Gear

  Artificial lures and single-pointed hooks only. Anglers may remove treble or double hooks from the lure and replace them with a single hook, or the shanks may be cut off the other hook points to leave a single hook. Lures with multiple hook attachments may still be used but any treble hook must be replaced by a single hook.

• <UNKNOWN>

  Season

  Open third Saturday in May through Sept. 30.

• Rainbow Trout

  Bag

  Catch-and-release only.

• <UNKNOWN>

  Closed to float fishing by nonresidents and float outfitting on each Saturday...

• <UNKNOWN>

  Closed to float fishing by nonresidents and float outfitting on each Saturday from the third Saturday in May through Labor Day.

• Brown Trout

  Bag

  5 fish daily and in possession.

  Size

  All fish must be less than 18 inches.

• All species

  Once off the water, fish may be dressed, filleted, and skin removed for transport to permanent residence, unless size limits apply: all fish can be counted and identified; two fillets counted as one fish; frozen catch must be packaged so it can be counted. Salmonids (trout, salmon, arctic grayling, char and whitefish): entire skin must remain attached to the fillet for identification.

• All species

  Handling and Transporting Legally Taken Fish: While fishing or on the water/ice, all fish in possession must be visibly identifiable to species. Unless size limits apply, fish may be cleaned prior to transport so long as the entire skin remains attached to the fish or fillet for identification. Two fillets will be counted as one fish. If frozen prior to transport, each fish or fillet must be packaged so it can be counted. Consumption of fish on the ice or water is allowed but counts toward daily limit.

As of 2026-08-28.Guidance, not legal advice — always confirm current rules with the state.Official Montana regulations

More Montana fishing

Montana field notes

Bozeman, MT

Bozeman Built a Trail System Out of Handshakes and Easements

Nearly 100 miles of trail start inside Bozeman and run to the mountains, and most of it exists because a land trust spent thirty-five years negotiating easements across private ranchland one landowner at a time. The M and Drinking Horse are the famous pair. The system behind them is the actual story.

Missoula, MT

Missoula Hikes You Can Walk To From Downtown

A university town of 78,000 people sits where five valleys meet, with a mountain rising straight off the campus and a 61,000-acre wilderness up the road behind the houses. The famous hike takes forty minutes and most of the town has done it drunk at least once.

West Glacier, MT

The Highline Trail's Hand Cable Is the Least Frightening Part

Every photograph of this trail shows the same thing: a narrow ledge, a garden hose of steel cable bolted to the rock, and a very long way down. In practice that section takes four minutes and the tread is excellent. The parts worth thinking about come later: the shuttle you must book, the parking cap, and the grizzlies.

Babb, MT

Grinnell Glacier Before It's Gone: The Boat Shortcut, the Bears, and the Best Light

A trail cut into a cliff above two turquoise lakes, ending at a glacier that has been measured shrinking for a century. There is a boat that removes 3.4 miles of it, a mid-July opening date that catches people out, and enough grizzly activity that bear spray is standard equipment rather than a precaution.

West Yellowstone, MT

Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park: Cutthroat in the Meadows, Wolves on the Ridge, and the Strangest Trout Stream on Earth

Yellowstone holds the largest concentration of wild cutthroat trout in the world, a river that flows past erupting geysers, and backcountry meadow streams where you fish with bison grazing behind you and wolves howling at dusk. It's not just fly fishing. It's fly fishing inside the world's first national park.

West Glacier, MT

Fly Fishing Glacier National Park: Native Cutthroat, Wild Rivers, and Backcountry Water That Hasn't Changed in a Thousand Years

Glacier National Park holds 700 miles of streams and over 130 named lakes, most of them holding native westslope cutthroat trout that have never seen a hatchery. The fishing is wild, the setting is the most dramatic in North America, and the native fish are counting on you to handle them with care.

Beaverhead River fishing — FAQ