Flathead River fishing guide

Public access & launches

Public bank access at several points along the Flathead River, computed from public land ownership and hydrography.

• Sportsmans BridgeMontana FWP
  Boat launch
• TeakettleMontana FWP
  Boat launch
• Pine Grove PondMontana FWP
  Fishing access
• Old Steel BridgeMontana FWP
  Fishing access

Regulations

• cutthroat trout

  Season

  General Season (third Saturday in May through Nov. 30)

  Catch-and-release for cutthroat trout.

• Northern pike

  Season

  General Season (third Saturday in May through Nov. 30)

  Bag

  no limit

• northern pike and whitefish

  Season

  Extended Season (Dec. 1 to the third Saturday in May)

  Extended season open for northern pike and whitefish.

• trout

  Season

  Extended Season (Dec. 1 to the third Saturday in May)

  Catch-and-release for trout during extended season.

• trout (combined)

  Season

  General Season (third Saturday in May through Nov. 30)

  Bag

  3 daily and in possession

  Size

  Only 1 over 14 inches long

• All species

  A tribal permit is required to fish on waters within the boundary of the Reservation. Call tribal headquarters at 406-675-2700 for information.

• Western Fishing District

  Mainstem Flathead and tributaries, from confluence of North and Middle Forks to Highway 2 Bridge upstream at Teakettle FAS Single-pointed hooks only. No treble or double hooks. Anglers may remove treble or double hooks from the lure and replace themwith 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. Mainstream Flathead from confluence of North and Middle Forks to Flathead Lake Open entire year. No intentional fishing for Bull Trout. Catch-and-release for Cutthroat Trout. Northern Pike: February 28 to third Saturday in May closed to intentional fishing for Northern Pike. Rainbow Trout: 5 daily and in possession. Whitefish: 100 daily and in possession. From December 1 to third Saturday in May, maggots and artificial lures only, no artificial lures can be scented (infused, saturated, orapplied). Flathead Indian Reservation boundary to mouth Open entire year.

• All species

  Season

  Open entire year.

• Cutthroat trout

  Season

  Open entire year.

  Bag

  Catch-and-release

  Catch-and-release for cutthroat trout.

• Western Fishing District

  Brenneman, Church, Egan, Fennon, Half Moon, McWennegar, Mill, and Rose Creek Open entire year. Rainbow Trout: 5 daily and in possession. Catch-and-release for Cutthroat Trout. Hook and Line: 2 rods and/or lines with up to 2 hooks per line; Western District bait regulations apply.

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

What’s in it

Recorded in/near this water. Occurrence-based unless a higher-confidence source is shown — see it per-species in the app.

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.

Flathead River fishing — FAQ