Winning a launch date
You cannot float the Smith between Camp Baker and Eden Bridge without an FWP permit, in any month. For launches from April 1 through August 15 the permit comes from a drawing: for 2026 applications opened January 1, closed February 15 and were drawn February 18, with a nonrefundable $15 application and one launch date per applicant. FWP sets a combined cap of nine launches a day, private and outfitted, and nonresidents can hold no more than 10 percent of the permits. The 2026 numbers show the odds: a quota of 1,115 permits against 8,711 resident and 2,860 nonresident first-choice applicants, and 995 successful applicants. Bonus points cost $5 for residents and $125 for nonresidents, are squared in the draw and reset when you win. There is also a single Super Permit each year, $5 a chance, drawn in mid-March, that lets the winner pick any date.
If you miss, call the Smith River reservation line at 406-454-5861, weekday mornings from early March, for dates left after the drawing and for cancellations, which come back to the pool on a first-come basis. Launches from August 16 through March 31 are handled by the Great Falls office and are not guaranteed. Draw a peak-season date between May 15 and July 15 and you cannot apply for that window the next year.
Camp Baker to Eden Bridge, one way in and one way out
FWP counts 59 river miles from the Camp Baker put-in to the Eden Bridge take-out, with no public access in between. Of 118 miles of shoreline only 26 are public, about 80 percent of the corridor is private, and the last 12 miles from Rattlesnake boat camp to Eden Bridge are private on both banks. There are 27 boat camps with 52 sites, from Spring Creek at mile 4.4 to Rattlesnake at 47.4, and rangers assign yours when they phone you two days before launch; you may only camp at your assigned camps. Parties max out at 15 people, stays are limited to four nights from May 15 to July 15, and a layover night is allowed only at the mid-canyon camps from Two Creek to Upper Parker. Floater fees are $25 for residents 13 and up, $60 for nonresidents and $15 for ages 6 to 12.
Buy your fishing license before you arrive; FWP does not sell them at Camp Baker, but Twin Sisters Trading Company in White Sulphur Springs does. Human waste goes out in a hard-sided portable toilet, and food must be in bear-resistant storage or hung. Expect one Class II rapid at mile 47 and several more around mile 49. The shuttle from Camp Baker to Eden Bridge is about two hours and 75 miles on Millegan Road.
FWP's boat-by-boat minimums at the Eagle Creek gauge
FWP names this gauge, about 1.5 miles below Camp Baker, as the one to watch. Its guidance is specific to the boat: drift boats generally start having trouble below 350 cfs, rafts below 250 and canoes below 150. Normal water, in FWP's planning, is 300 cfs and up, which calls for at least two nights and three full days; most parties take four days. FWP does not close the river for low flow, but it waives the late-cancellation penalty when flows are below 100 cfs. On the high end, Montana Angler says that above 800 cfs the trout move to soft water along the banks. Together those set the 350 to 800 cfs range here.
The USGS record explains why the season is short. At this gauge May and June average about 670 and 680 cfs, July drops to 239 and August to 104. In 2024 FWP's annual report tracked the river falling below 300 by mid-June and below 100 on July 20. Montana Angler notes a small bump in mid-September when irrigators close their headgates and gives about a 50 percent chance of a floatable fall.
Three under 13 and one over 22
The Smith is Central District water, open all year, but the 2026 regulations set a different trout limit from Camp Baker Bridge to Eden Bridge: 3 trout under 13 inches daily and in possession, and only 1 over 22 inches. It is artificial lures only, except that anglers 14 and younger may use bait. Four tributaries, Sheep Creek from the bridge above Moose Creek, Rock Creek from the Lingshire Road bridge, Tenderfoot Creek from the falls above Daisy Creek and Hound Creek from the Upper Millegan Road bridge, are open only from the third Saturday in May to November 30 down to their mouths. You can wade-fish them from the river within the high-water mark, but step above it on private ground and you are trespassing. FWP describes the fishery as mainly rainbows and browns, with plenty of whitefish.
Skwalas in April, salmonflies in May, spruce moths in August
Montana Angler's Smith chart and seasonal guide make the case that this river hatches earlier than the big southwest Montana rivers. Skwalas and blue-winged olives come in April, and Mother's Day caddis in early May. The seasonal guide puts the salmonfly peak in mid-May, usually the second or third week, while the hatch chart says late May or early June; either way it collides with runoff and can be a boom or a bust. Brown and green drakes follow in June, brown drakes more common because of the fine sediment. Golden stones and Yellow Sallies run from early June into mid-July, PMDs from mid-June through July. From mid-July into August spruce moths drift off the timbered banks, and hoppers carry late summer. Their flies for the trip: Zirdles, Kreelex and JJ Specials in the high water, a size 10 Prince in April and May, Stimulators from size 4 for salmonflies down to 16 for caddis.
Black Butte Copper and Sheep Creek
Sandfire Resources America's Black Butte Copper project lies about 17 miles north of White Sulphur Springs, and its water plan discharges back into Sheep Creek, the Smith tributary named in the regulations above. DEQ approved it in April 2020 and issued the operating permit on August 14, 2020. Montana Trout Unlimited, the Montana Environmental Information Center, American Rivers and Earthworks sued; a district court decision against the permit, which Sandfire dates to 2021, was reversed by the Montana Supreme Court 5-2 on February 26, 2024, reinstating the permit. A second challenge over water rights ended with another 5-2 ruling for the company and DNRC on January 2, 2025; in dissent Justice McKinnon called the Sheep Creek offset plan an unenforceable promise. Sandfire's June 2026 report says most Phase I surface construction is complete, the mine is not in production, and there is material uncertainty about the company's ability to continue as a going concern while it relies on bridge loans from its parent.