To anyone planning a trip to Montana, keep your lassos in the saddle because the Big Sky State strictly prohibits fishing with a rope wrangler. In the Montana Code Annotated, fishing with anything but a rod, line, and hook is illegal and will catch you a whole lot of trouble. Forget to leave your cowboy ambitions on shore, and you might be coming off the water in need of a bigger net and a deeper wallet to pay a fine anywhere between $50 and $1,000.
The peculiar law might be a nod to the infamously large Brown Trout in the Treasure State’s rivers, but more seriously, it is a part of the state’s extensive fish and wildlife laws. Montana’s fishing industry generates more than $900 million annually, so it is important to regulate the tourists and visitors fishing upstream.
Oddly enough, the state of Tennessee has a similar law. But, what sets Montana apart is that it is also illegal to give a fish a beer. No beer, no lasso, no fun. C'mon Montana, let us live a little!
