Stream Access Easements Buried in Deeds Nearly Wrecked My Purchase

I spent eight months negotiating a parcel in the Madison Valley that had a spring-fed tributary running straight through it. Gorgeous water. Wild browns stacking up in every bend. I was sold before I ever ran the deed history properly. Turns out there was a recorded public fishing access easement along that creek corridor going back to a 1970s conservation deal. Not a problem for me personally — I actually support that kind of access — but my lender flagged it late and my title company had completely missed it during preliminary review. We nearly blew the closing date. Here's my hard stance: don't let your title company be the first set of eyes on recorded easements tied to water features. Hire a water rights attorney to run that corridor independently before you're under contract. They read deeds differently than title companies do, and they know what to look for in the language around riparian corridors specifically. Title insurance covers a lot of things, but a surprise fishing easement isn't going to feel like coverage when you've got strangers wading through your backyard in August. Has anyone else found that title companies in their region consistently miss water-related encumbrances, or is this more of a Montana-specific blind spot?