Kootenai River
Image by Brad Smith

Kill Order Issued for Brown Trout on the Kootenai River in Montana

It's not often you hear officials ordering people to kill every brown trout they catch. 

If you catch a brown trout, you better kill it. Well, only if you 're fishing a certain section of the Kootenai River in Montana.

In a rather surprising statement, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Department put out the order for the sections between Libby Dam and Kootenai Falls.

They're worried if brown trout get a hold in that area, they may threaten the existing world-class rainbow trout population. To make matters worse, the nationally threatened bull trout that also inhabit those waters.

"It's just a great stretch of river for rainbow trout fishing. The state record came from that stretch of river, and so there is other places folks can fish for brown trout," said Fish and Wildlife program manager Dillon Tabish in an interview. "We just don't want them to fish for brown trout in this area, and so that's why we are looking for their help." 

This was all spurred by a report of an angler catching a brown trout above Libby Dam. If that is the case, this would've been the first ever caught in that stretch. As they say, where there's one, there is probably more. At least in this case, lets hope not.

NEXT: HERE'S HOW TO FILLET A BASS THE BONELESS WAY

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