Friday, the State of Montana closed the Yellowstone and tributaries from the Park down through Livingston. Closed means all recreation including boating and fishing on all the rivers. Attributed to parasites the fish kill started in Whitefish and infected trout species as well. The closure is indefinite.

Wow! Hate to read news like this!

I believe they just recently announced that the efforts to restore the Yellowstone Cutthroat population was on a positive trend. Hopefully this doesn't destroy the river My wife and I were planning a trip up there next year. May have to rethink our destination.

I just got back from up there fishing the Madison and was there when this was announced. Apparently there are dead whitefish littering the Yellowstone. Our guides said all of those trips that are booked with guides on the Yellowstone are probably gonna divert over to the Madison so they weren't thrilled about the pressure about to come down on their fishing waters.

A lot of other rivers up there are closed right now or have afternoon closures to fishing due to the heat and the stress that puts on the trout.

The article I read mentioned that the closure does not include the Park....only from the north boundary of the Park upstream.

Wow, that is a popular stretch of fishing water.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/19/popular-yellowstone-river-closes-after-thousands-fish-die.html

They figured out the reason behind the fish kill, it's a tiny parasitic protozoan that's leading to kidney failure. Great article about it in The Atlantic.

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archi...-origin/496817/