Several studies have shown a homing pattern by walleye to 

 spawning areas (Forney 1963, Crowe 1962, Olsen and Scidmore 1962). 

 Mature sauger in the Yellowstone River system tend to "home" to the 

 Tongue and, probably. Powder rivers during the spawning period 

 indicating these are important spawning areas. 



Tag returns show that sauger migrated from all areas of the 

 lower Yellowstone to enter the Tongue and Powder rivers during late 

 March through early May (Figures 12 and 13) . Tag returns from 64 

 sauger captured one or more years previous indicate that most (80%) 

 of the sauger entering the Tongue River during spring migrated from 

 areas in the Yellowstone near or upstream from the mouth of Tongue 

 River. This was also true for the Powder River where 75 and 25 

 percent of the 2 recaptured sauger were tagged upstream and 

 downstream from the Powder River, respectively. Sauger that 

 migrated to these two tributaries from upstream areas were almost 

 always sexually mature (over 90 percent) , however, 40 and 60 

 percent of the sauger from downstream areas were immature in the 

 Tongue and Powder rivers, respectively. This suggests that 

 younger, immature sauger were entering the spawning population from 

 rearing areas downstream while older, mature sauger were entering 

 the spawning run from rearing areas near or upstream from the 

 tributaries. 



The major portion of the sauger, 68 and 65 percent, recaptured 

 in the Tongue and Powder rivers, respectively, were caught during 

 March through April which usually encompassed the height of the 

 spawning run. The remainder were recaptured during May. 



34 



