OUPV (Six-Pack) and Master credential paths for charter boats, tour boats, and passenger-for-hire operators in Montana.
It isn't a state license — it's the same federal USCG Merchant Mariner Credential with an OUPV or Master endorsement, used nationwide.
Montana fishing guides on Flathead and Fort Peck typically hold OUPV Inland for charter compliance.
The nearest USCG Regional Examination Center is Portland, OR / Seattle, WA. Compare centers and appointment rules in the USCG REC locations guide.
Major Montana charter hubs
Montana has no 33 CFR Part 80 line, and its two claims to Western Rivers water under 83.03(n) — the Missouri and the Yellowstone — are a long way above the commercial towing reaches those provisions were written for. Flathead Lake and Fort Peck Lake are inland water under 83.03(q) with the plain Inland Rules applying; Flathead drains to the Columbia, so it is not in the Mississippi system at all. Montana candidates split between REC Portland and REC Seattle, and the more common real question is Alaskan or Pacific Northwest sea service documented from a Montana address. Log the water each voyage was actually on — a Montana mailing address decides nothing about the route.
33 CFR Part 80 draws no demarcation line in Montana. Its 106 sections cover the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Pacific islands and Alaska; a state with no coast has no section, which is itself the answer.
Western Rivers (the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers) are defined at 33 CFR 83.03(n) and carry Inland Rules provisions the rest of inland water does not: 83.09(a)(ii), 83.14(d), 83.15(b) and the towing-light exception at 83.24(j).
This decides which rulebook you steer by, not where your credential may operate: the route limit is the 46 CFR Part 7 Boundary Line, and the two lines are not drawn in the same place. How the two lines differ · International Rules · Inland Rules
33 CFR Part 80 and the Part 83 definitions above read from eCFR on 12 Aug 2026. Any specific water is a determination for the cognizant Coast Guard Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection.
Not sure the trip needs a credential at all? The captain's-license trigger guide.
Document your sea service
Pass the medical & drug test
CG-719K and CG-719P — medical certificate guide.
Get a TWIC + CPR / First Aid
Submit your application to the NMC
Pass the exam at REC Portland, OR
Or an approved course provider — what it covers and the score you need.
There is no Montana captain's license to get — you earn a federal USCG credential, in the five steps set out above, and sit the exam at REC Portland, OR / Seattle, WA.
The same — a federal Merchant Mariner Credential endorsement, valid in every state. Montana licenses the business, the guide and local fishing separately.
The minimum age is federal, not set by Montana: 18 for OUPV, 19 for most Master endorsements, 21 for higher-tonnage and ocean routes (46 CFR 11.201(e)).
At REC Portland, OR / Seattle, WA once the NMC approves the application, or through an approved course provider that administers the exam itself.
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