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 They 're an odd bunch with old-time Hollywood names like Spoonhead, Stonecat, Cutthroat, Brassy, Redbelly, and Shovelnose. But they're not crooks from old-time movies. They're Montana's native fish. As a group, all 56 of these often overlooked cast of characters still exist in Montana, but 18 are classified as Montana "Species of Special Concern" and three native fish--the threatened bull trout, and the endangered pallid sturgeon and white sturgeon-are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Most of our best-known fish -- rainbow trout, brown trout, largemouth bass and walleye, for instance -- are not native to Montana, but were introduced as sport fish by new comers over the past 100 years or so. "Montana's native fish adapted to life here over thousands of years," said Bob Snyder, FWP's enthusiastic native fish coordinator who's charged with helping FWP and all Montanans understand more about the state's seldom seen fish. "You have to admire their tenacity," he said. "They've carved out a life in Montana's streams by adapting to wild spring floods, summer's drought, and then those long and bitter cold winters. They're survivors, and so far none have been cast off the island, which is a real testament to the people of Montana." Still, as new settlers changed Montana's landscape, the cycle of life also changed for many of Montana's native fish. The eventual planned and unplanned introductions of non-native fish also added new competitive challenges to the natives' struggle to survive. |
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Snyder, meanwhile, is attempting to build Montana's first native fish management plan to shed more conservation light on native fish populations and their habitats. He said the best plan would define ways to: * Monitor the distribution and abundance of native fish. * Maintain or enhance native fish populations and habitats. | 
of Eastern Montana, sometimes weighing over 100 pounds. |
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* Maintain, conserve and enhance native sport fish populations -- cutthroat trout, bull trout, Arctic grayling, sauger, shovelnose sturgeon, and paddlefish -- to continue to allow angling and to allow anglers to keep some of the fish they catch. * Invite local communities, scientists and other state and federal agencies to offer their expertise and advice in the conservation of native fish populations and habitats. * Balance everyday management of Montana's world class cold water (trout) and warm-water (walleye, bass) fisheries with everyday native fish management. "Montana is a big place with lots of different fishing opportunities" Snyder said, noting that of the 60 fish listed as official Montana-record catches, 30 are Montana natives. "We can have introduced smallmouth bass and native sauger in the upper Yellowstone River, just like we have introduced Hungarian partridge and native sharp-tailed grouse in some areas. What we need to do now is learn more about all our native fish and the places where they're found." |
 For Snyder, it's a bit like a treasure hunt. "These native fish are Montana's collective family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation," Snyder said. "The stonecat is a very cool and rather small catfish with eyes on top of its head and a spine that can deliver a bee-like sting. That unique critter lives right here in Montana. Our cutthroat trout are still as fine a trout today as when they were first described by Lewis and Clark, but we really have to help reconnect our cutthroat trout to their native ranges, and we can do it. I like to consider our native fish as Montana's own keepers, stored away with all the treasures that make Montana such a special place. They're all still here and it's up to all of us to keep it that way." -- Tom Palmer, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Of the 45 fish species found in the Missouri River below Fort Peck, 30 of them are native species. That's pretty amazing. When you think about it, that means these 30 different species survived centuries of drought cycles and floods. They survived the bitter subzero winters which brought thick river ice. They survived the worst summer heat. But somehow, they all made it through those times and still swim in the river today. |
| Why did they survive? What do they have in common? Well, it certainly isn't their size. The colorful little Iowa darter is just a couple of inches long, as are the fathead minnows and other small minnow species. But paddlefish can weigh in at well over 100 pounds and bigmouth buffalo and pallid sturgeon can weigh half that amount. Big native fish survived. So did small native fish. It doesn't have to do with what they eat, either. Native sauger, burbot and channel catfish are minnow eaters. Those huge paddlefish and bigmouth buffalo eat tiny water creatures called zooplankton. |
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| What these fish do have in common is that they have adapted to survive in the sometimes high, muddy flows of the Missouri River. They can take the summer heat. They can take the ice of the coldest winters. The mixture of rocky areas, sandbars and mud banks provide the right kind of habitat for them to continue living and spawning so future generations of these fish are born and survive. Not all native fish of the Missouri River are doing well. Pallid sturgeon, for example, are on the federal Endangered Species List because there are so few of them and ongoing fish studies are being done to help learn more about pallids and what this rare species needs so it can do better in the future. Other species, like paddlefish, seem to be doing fine now, but because these fish live for so long and they have to be so old before they spawn, they are being managed and watched very carefully so that they don't become endangered, too. The same is true of river sauger which have been going down in numbers in recent years. Missouri River native fish are survivors -- just like so many other Montana native fish have survived -- but that doesn't mean they are sure to survive forever. They still need to be watched. They need to be managed. They need to be taken care of and appreciated and helped -- if we can help them -- if for no other reason than these species have been calling this part of Montana home for much, much longer than you or me. They deserve to still call it home well into the future. 
Montana PikeMasters Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks |