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KALISPELL - Slow flows and warming waters have forced afternoon fishing closures on the Thompson River, the earliest such restrictions on record.

Beginning Tuesday, the entire Thompson River is off limits to fishing between the hours of 2 p.m. and midnight.

Biologists at the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said the angling shutdown was needed to protect fish from the potentially deadly stress of being caught and handled during days of extreme summer heat.

Agency biologist Jon Hanson said the Thompson River is running at about half of normal for this time of year, and maximum water temperatures have been exceeding 73 degrees above Fishtrap Creek.

Similar restrictions were posted on the river in 2001 and 2003, but not until late July. This year's exceptionally warm and dry weather, however, forced a much earlier closure, which will remain in effect until conditions improve.

That improvement is not expected any time soon, though, with continued hot and dry weather in the near-term forecast.

Other Montana waterways also are feeling the heat. In addition to the Thompson River restrictions, officials at FWP have closed fishing on a 19-mile stretch of the upper Big Hole River near Wisdom.

“This is extremely early for the consideration of low flows and drought plan actions,” FWP fisheries biologist Dick Oswald said in a public release. “A very poor snowpack and uncharacteristically warm and dry conditions since the first week of June have resulted in low flows throughout the upper (Big Hole) basin.”

That closure, which took effect July 5, aims to protect the Big Hole's population of arctic grayling, which is the last remaining native population of river-dwelling arctic grayling in the lower-48 states.

Parched skies have pushed other river levels down as well, but fishing remains open. The Yaak River near Troy ran at just 57 percent of normal through June, which was about the same percentage of normal as was seen on the Blackfoot near Bonner, the Clark Fork near St. Regis and the Yellowstone River near Billings. Some smaller waterways east of the Continental Divide are running at less than 40 percent of average for the time of year.

This week, possible closures could follow on portions of the Sun, Jefferson and Smith rivers, said John Fraley, spokesman for the Kalispell office of FWP.

“Things are not looking good for streamflows across Montana,” he said.

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