Invasive fish found in community ponds in Three Forks and Livingston

Somebody illegally dumped fish into community ponds near the Madison and Yellowstone rivers — and now FWP is left cleaning up the mess.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks confirmed the finds after anglers did what anglers do: they noticed something was off and said something. FWP received two reports of northern pike in the Three Forks Ponds, which sit less than a mile from the Madison River. Fisheries staff verified it on May 28 when they ran gillnets and pulled out two pike. That’s not a rumor. That’s confirmed.

Then, in late May, anglers fishing around the Sacajawea Lagoon in Livingston — the pond along Fleshman Creek right next to the Yellowstone — started seeing bass that had no business being there. FWP sampled the pond on June 1 and came up with three smallmouth and six largemouth bass. Nine fish that someone put there on purpose.

Honestly, this is one of the more frustrating things I see happen to Montana fisheries. Northern pike, smallmouth, and largemouth bass all exist in other parts of the state — nobody’s saying they’re monsters everywhere they swim — but they are not native to the upper Missouri or upper Yellowstone drainages. Those are two of the most important native fisheries in the state, and the last thing they need is a new predator or competitor showing up uninvited a stone’s throw away.

FWP is also aware of illegally introduced fish in the River Rock Pond in Belgrade, so this isn’t an isolated incident. Someone — or multiple someones — keeps doing this. And it’s against the law. Montana law prohibits transporting live fish away from the water where it was caught, with very limited exceptions spelled out in the fishing regulations. If you want to stock a private or community pond, you need a license, and you can only use approved species. That’s not bureaucratic red tape — that’s how we protect the rivers that make this state worth living in.

Once invasive species get established, you’re often looking at a permanent problem. Extremely difficult to remove. Sometimes impossible. The upper Yellowstone and the Madison deserve better than that, and so do the people who fish them.

FWP staff are continuing to assess the situation and figure out the best path forward. Montana’s Statewide Fisheries Management Plan lays out possible management tools for fish removal based on local conditions. Any removal effort will go through the same process as other management projects under the Montana Environmental Policy Act.

If you know something, say something. FWP takes tips on illegal fish introductions seriously, and you can submit information at tipmont.mt.gov. There’s a reward of up to $1,000 if your tip leads somewhere.

To learn more about stopping the spread of aquatic invasive species, click here.