MONTANA - Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has introduced several changes to the 2025 fishing regulations for paddlefish, focusing on sustaining the fishery and maximizing angler opportunities.
Key updates include a requirement for barbless hooks and a limit of one treble hook per line for snagging. The use of forward-facing sonar is now banned to protect larger, spawning females, while other sonar types remain allowed.
Adam Strainer, FWP Fisheries Divisions Administrator, emphasized the importance of these changes. "These changes will ensure paddlefish opportunities continue into the future," he said.
The regulations require anglers to report their catches within 48 hours, with varied methods based on tag areas. New provisions allow for delayed reporting if cell service is unavailable.
For details on tag areas and reporting, anglers should consult the fishing regulations or visit the FWP paddlefish page. An online paddlefish dashboard will be launched in 2025 to track harvest rates, initially covering the blue tag area.
Anglers can find updates for the yellow and green tag areas on the FWP R7 Facebook page or by contacting the region 7 office.
