Photograph Source: Mike Cline – Public Domain

The incident was first reported by Craig Jones of Great Divide Outfitters, who was on the 3.8 mile stretch between the Jerry Creek and Greenwood Bottoms fishing access sites. As reported by the Montana Standard’s Duncan Adams, Jones put it bluntly: “I came in the day after they’d electrofished and there were dead fish everywhere. It’s just a bummer. It’s just one blow after another (for the river).”

Indeed, the picture Jones posted online shows a very large adult brown trout, half a dozen rainbow trout and a whitefish, just a small part of the more than 70 dead fish they were able to net. Jones added that some dead fish were too small to net and count and eagles were busy retrieving carcasses, meaning there were far more than they counted.

As someone who makes their living on the river, Jones said it made no sense........

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