The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes announce the availability of the March 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026 Flathead Indian Reservation Joint Tribal/State Fishing and Bird Hunting and Recreation Regulations and proposed changes.  The Tribal Council welcomes comments from the public on these draft regulations.

A summary of Proposed Changes for March 1, 2025 through February 28, 2026 are shown below in BOLD, please request a more detailed copy from our office, which will include explanations for proposed changes. Page number refer to the 2024-2025 Non-Member Regulation book. 

PART II: FISHING REGULATIONS

Section 2. Standard Fishing and Possession Limits

1. Daily Creel Limit: (Page 5)

All rivers, streams, creeks, canals, ditches, lakes, ponds, potholes and   reservoirs except those closed to fishing:

Smallmouth Bass: Unlimited. Removed: (see exception at Part II, Section 3H for Flathead Lake).

Crappie: Unlimited

Whitefish: 20 fish (Total daily possession limit)

(Changed from 100 Lake Whitefish & 50 Mountain Whitefish)

see exception at Part II, Section 3H for Flathead Lake.

Section 3. Exceptions to the Standard Fishing and Possession Limits

(Page 6)—Format Change not regulation change.

1. Management Unit 7: Reservoirs:

(1) All reservoirs have minimum pool requirements for fisheries protection. Should a reservoir be drawn down in surface elevation below the prescribed minimum pool requirement, the fishery will be temporarily closed and announced by press releases and such closure will be posted.

1. Management Unit 8: Flathead Lake: (Page 7) 

(1) Rainbow trout: Removed limit on Rainbow Trout harvest on Flathead Lake to be consistent with the rest of the Reservation. 

(3) Smallmouth bass: 15 fish (Limit Removed to No limit)

(2) Whitefish: 50. (Limit change)

PART IV: RECREATION REGULATIONS

Section 1. Regulations of General Application

1. Discharging any firearm (Removed: “in a negligent manner”) or in any designated campground, trailhead, boat launch or parking lot. (Page 9)

Section 6. Off-Road Motor Vehicle Use, Motorcycles, ATV, Snowmobile and Electric Bicycles (Page 13)

1.  A motor vehicle or off-highway vehicle may not be operated below the high-water mark in rivers, streams, and lakes on tribal land, even if a road is present.

The only exceptions to this regulation are as follows:

1. Man-made bodies of water where established roads are present, such as Saint Mary’s Lake, Lone Pine Reservoir, Mission Dam & Lower Crow Reservoir.

1. If you are launching a boat on Flathead River or McDonald Lake, you may temporarily travel below the high-water mark at established boat launch sites for the sole purpose of unloading and loading your vessel.

1. Snowmobiles: (Page 13)
2. Operating a snowmobile with the possession of firearms, bows, or crossbows with exceptions detailed in the Wild Bison Hunting Regulation.

General Information (Page 16)

1. Disposition of Human Remains
2. No entity or individual may engage in the internment or any disposition of human remains on the surface or below the surface of CSKT controlled lands or waters, whether or not such party holds a Tribal land use agreement, except on lands expressly designated for burial by the Tribal Council. For purposes of this section, human remains refers to and includes whole or partial human bodies, ashes from cremation or other products of treatment of human remains, or funerary objects related to or part of a human body. Per the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Land Ordinance 45C, Section 3, subsection C.

Please Return Comments to our Office by: 

We ask that all comments be submitted via letter or email, no later than 5:30pm on August 31st, 2024. There will be an in-person hearing/public comment period from 4:00-5:00pm on Thursday, August 29, 2024 at the CSKT Permit office, 406 6th Avenue East, Polson, Montana 59860. Written comments can be summited by letter to P.O. Box 278, Pablo, MT 59855 or via email to recpermits@cskt.org, Sattie Fisher, DFWRC Permit Agent at Sattie.Fisher@cskt.org  or Stephanie Gillin, DFWRC Information & Education Program Manager at Stephanie.gillin@cskt.org.   

—CSKT—