Montana has some of the most liberal (read good) stream access laws of any state in the US. However, a judge their has sided with wealthy land owners and ruled that an irrigation ditch is not a natural waterway and therefore not subject to these laws.
"In the Mitchell Slough case, many emphatically believe the 12-mile waterway is a natural channel, manipulated for more than 150 years by irrigators and now owned by wealthy landowners - including rocker Huey Lewis and investment mogul Charles Schwab - who believe it's always been a private fishery. They and others believe it is simply a big ditch, used to convey water to farmland and carry run-off from those fields back to the river. This side maintains the slough has been private and public access was only granted with permission, though many trespassed."
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