Big Hole River - Wisdom

The source of the mainstem Big Hole River is Skinner Lake in the Beaverhead National Forest along the Montana-Idaho border. The Big Hole River flows northwest and north, past Wisdom and between the Anaconda Range to the northwest and the Pioneer Mountains to the east. It flows around the north end of the Pioneers, then southeast past the town of Wise River, where it is joined by the Wise River. Near Glen, Montana it turns northeast and joins the Beaverhead River near Twin Bridges to form the Jefferson.

The Big Hole river has been a destination for serious trout fisherman since the late 1880s, with healthy wild populations of brook, rainbow and brown trout which were first introduced into the Big Hole in late 1880s as hatchery operations began in Butte and Bozeman.