sport fishery value as did the majority of the Ruby River. In 

 fact, 40 percent of the stream miles in the Big Hole and 

 Beaverhead drainages received a Class III in the sport fishery 

 value. The majority of these 566 miles were productive small 

 stream fisheries, where brook, cutthroat or rainbow are abundant, 

 fishing is fun and easy and locations are relatively unknown. 



The Big Hole River has been recognized as a blue ribbon trout 

 stream since the first stream classification occurred in 1959. In 

 1985, the lower river supported non-resident angler-days second 

 only to the Madison River among southwest Montana streams. A 

 "slot" limit was placed on a 10-mile river section from Divide to 

 Melrose, where anglers could harvest only fish less than 13 inches 

 and greater than 22 inches. Recent data indicate the regulation 

 has been extremely effective in increasing numbers of 16-inch and 

 larger brown trout but not in increasing the number of 13-15 inch 

 fish. 



Only 22 percent of the stream miles in the Big Hole and 

 Beaverhead drainages received a Class I or II in the habitat and 

 species category, compared to a state average of 40 percent. 

 Again, these results were probably more a reflection of 

 insufficient data than of insufficient populations of species of 

 special concern. The upper Big Hole River and 13 other reaches 

 in the Big Hole and Beaverhead drainages received a Class I 

 designation because of their arctic grayling populations. 



In past geologic time, the grayling was found throughout 

 northern North America. During the last ice age, the population 

 was separated into two bands 500 to 800 miles apart. In northern 

 Canada and Alaska, grayling populations are still widespread; to 

 the south, a relict population isolated from its principal range 

 existed in Montana in the headwaters and the main stem of the 

 Missouri to Great Falls and in Michigan. Extinct in Michigan 

 streams since the 1930s, the fluvial arctic grayling has been lost 

 throughout its Montana range except for the upper Big Hole 

 drainage. Recognized as a species of special concern since the 

 early 1970s, with documentation in 1981 of its range being reduced 

 to ten streams in the Bighole, efforts to save the fluvial arctic 

 grayling are still under way. A change in fishing regulations to 

 protect this species, as well as a renewed attempt to determine 

 the grayling's remaining range and habitat requirements, are 

 currently being conducted by the MDFWP and the Beaverhead National 

 Forest . 



The presence of westslope cutthroat trout led to three Class I 

 and half of the 20 Class II reaches in the habitat and species 

 value. Although nearly all the major tributaries and alpine lakes 

 of the Big Hole and Beaverhead have been planted with brook, 

 rainbow, or Yellowstone cutthroat, many upper reaches probably 

 still contain genetically pure populations of westslope. 

 Inventories of tributaries to the Big Hole River are presently 

 being conducted by the MDFWP in cooperation with the Beaverhead 



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