Can the Big Hole Recover? With Jim Olsen
Episode 164 of the Destination Angler Fly Fishing Podcast – February 12, 2026
Our destination is the Big Hole River in southwest Montana with Jim Olsen, Fisheries Biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Our destination is the Big Hole River in southwest Montana — a place trout anglers have revered for generations and home to the last native Arctic grayling in the Lower 48.
But is this storied fishery at a crossroads? Trout numbers are lower than they’ve been in decades, even as anglers still find good fish. So what’s really happening out there — and what will it take to turn things around?
Jim Olsen, Fisheries Biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, gives us the facts.
With host Steve Haigh.
The Big Hole at high water
The Big Hole River valley:
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Contact Jim Olsen: JimOlsen@mt.gov | 406-533-8451
Destination Angler Podcast:
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Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Recorded Dec 11, 2025
Chapters:
· The Big Hole at a Crossroads
· Brown Trout in Historic Decline
· Why Angling Isn’t a True Barometer
· Electrofishing: How Population Estimates Work
· Giants in the River: The Rise of 10-Pound Browns
· Fewer Fish, Fatter Fish: What’s Really Happening
· What a Fisheries Biologist Actually Does
· From Electrical Engineering to Fish and Wildlife
· Trapping Beavers in Montana Winters
· What Makes the Big Hole So Unique
· Blue Ribbon Status: Still Deserved?
· Drought, Water Rights, and Shared Sacrifice
· Disease, Die-Offs, and the Search for Answers
· Arctic Grayling: Montana’s Native Survivor
· Hatches, Streamers, and the “Turd and a Worm”
