Flathead River at Columbia Falls MT

Flathead River MT USGS

Flathead River at Columbia Falls MT (12363000) is a real-time streamflow monitoring station on the Flathead River in MT, operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. Riverbot tracks its streamflow and water temperature and alerts anglers the moment flow and temperature hit their fishing window. 14 fish species are associated with this station in public fish records.

USGS site number
12363000
Operated by
U.S. Geological Survey
State
MT
Coordinates
48.3618, -114.1850

Live conditions & history

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7-day weather

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Fishing regulations

Western District zone default

Default area rules for fish in the public records above. A grey row means the release has no canonical regulation match for that species.

Western District zone default only. Water-specific, national-park, sanctuary, licence, and in-season exceptions may apply.

Effective Jan 1, 2026 – Sep 14, 2027 · evaluated for 2026-09-10 in America/Denver

Regulations shown are for reference only and may not reflect in-season changes. Always verify current regulations with the Montana Fishing Regulations before fishing.

Fish recorded near this station

Sampled in this watershed

Flathead River at Columbia Falls MT has documented fish occurrence data from USGS Presence/Absence sampling in the HUC8 watershed 17010208 containing this station. The dataset includes 14 species with recorded observations.

Species include: black bullhead (Ameiurus melas), longnose sucker (Catostomus catostomus), largescale sucker (Catostomus macrocheilus), brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans), northern pike (Esox lucius), and 9 others.

Where these records come from

Evidence
Sampled in this watershed
Fish were sampled elsewhere in the same watershed — a provincial or federal survey nearby, not at the gauge itself.
Records
14 species
from 14 individual records
Observed
Mar 20, 2015 – Mar 14, 2016
13 dated records

Sources

🪰 Hatch Calendar

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A month-by-month hatch calendar for this river — which insects are emerging now, hook sizes, and patterns to fish — collected from fly shops and guides who know it.

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