The Drift
Rivers for next spring
September 17, 2026
Next spring means 2027. The rivers on the list are the Gallatin, the Madison, the Bitterroot, and the Smith. Three of them we can drive to and judge that morning. The Smith we cannot simply decide to float. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks requires a permit for the 59 miles between Camp Baker and Eden Bridge, and those permits come from a lottery. The 2026 drawing is already done. This is how that season worked.
The Gallatin leaves Yellowstone, runs northwest through Gallatin Canyon on U.S. 191 south of Bozeman toward Big Sky, and meets the Madison and the Jefferson at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks. FWP describes that National Historic Landmark as the place those three rivers form the Missouri, and notes that Lewis and Clark camped there in 1805. In spring the canyon is a freestone river under snowmelt. We read the gauge for the stretch we mean to fish or float.
March 2026 put a closure on part of it. FWP announced on March 6 that boating would stop from the Upper Deer Creek launch, just above Markley Bridge, to the Portal Creek launch, starting March 9 and possibly through May 18, while the Forest Service replaced the bridge. The Fish and Wildlife Commission had approved the closure on February 12. Wade angling stayed open except at the work site, and boats could still launch at Portal Creek and float downstream. That window has passed. The next one will be a notice on the restrictions page, not a rumor from the lot.
The Madison wears one name and fishes like several. It leaves Yellowstone, passes Hebgen Lake and Quake Lake, runs the valley to Ennis Lake, and below the dam is a different river on the way to the same headwaters. FWP’s drought criteria split them. Upper water is measured in part at USGS gage 06037500 near West Yellowstone. From the mouth to Madison Dam, the gages include 06041000 below Ennis Reservoir. The published trigger is a daily maximum of 73 degrees for three days, or flows under the 5th percentile for the date. A hoot-owl restriction, when posted, stops fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight. A kind June can still become a closed afternoon, and the list that matters is the one FWP has up that morning.
The Bitterroot is the valley river south of Missoula. The East Fork and the West Fork join, and the main stem runs north to the Clark Fork. Spring snowmelt lifts it the way it lifts the other freestone rivers, sometimes past the point where wading is a good idea. FWP keeps fishing access along the river. Use the map they have posted, not a list saved in the fall.
The Smith is stricter because the corridor is small. One public put-in, Camp Baker, and one take-out, Eden Bridge. Boats are non-motorized, and there are no services between them, so food, water, safety gear, camp, and a fishing license all ride in the boat. Mostly rainbow and brown trout, with whitefish common. Of 118 shoreline miles, 26 are public, with 27 boat camps and 52 sites. The float is 59 river miles. Water FWP calls normal — 300 cfs and up — still wants two nights and three full days, and from May 15 through July 15 the stay caps at four nights. A typical season, as they describe it, runs mid-April through mid-July, sometimes September and October, moving with snowpack, rain, and irrigation. A permit is required year-round. The canyon sits between the Little Belt and Big Belt mountains, and the gage they name is Smith River below Eagle Creek near Fort Logan, a mile and a half below the put-in.
The 2026 private-permit window opened January 1 and closed February 15, with the drawing on February 18. FWP emails the people who draw and does not email the people who do not. Results also post at myfwp.mt.gov. The application fee for that window was 15 dollars, nonrefundable. The applicant had to be at least 12 that day. There is no age minimum for riding along. A private group is limited to 15 people on one permit. FWP prints the state rule on the Smith page: a fitted life jacket for every person, and children under 12 wear one while the boat is moving.
One Super Permit each year lets the holder pick any launch date that season. Float fees are still due. Chances were 5 dollars, as many as you wanted to buy. In 2026 the deadline was March 15 and the drawing was March 16. From March 2, 406-454-5861 took weekday calls from 8 a.m. to noon for a leftover date, a cancellation, or to give a date back. Two days before launch, rangers call between 1:00 and 3:30 p.m. and assign a one-hour ramp window. Camp Baker is day-use only except from September 1 through November 30. Human waste is packed out in an approved hard-sided toilet. Food goes in bear-resistant storage, or hangs at least ten feet up and four feet out. Dogs stay home, aside from service animals and hunting dogs in a legal season. Paying someone to row or cook on a private permit is illegal outfitting. It is 26 miles from White Sulphur Springs to Camp Baker, and an out-of-state boat has to be inspected before it launches on Montana water.
For the Gallatin, the Madison, and the Bitterroot, next spring is a truck, a gauge, and the right to turn around. For the Smith it is an application we will read on the Smith River State Park page when FWP posts the next window, and a float that exists only if the draw says so. The days between are ordinary ones on the water and in camp. The fish shirts are here: fish collection. The camp shirts are here: camp collection.