one meter of water) . Observations of sauger fry collected from the 

 Yellowstone River system were similar. 



Young-of-year sauger were not collected in the Yellowstone 

 river near Miles City (river km 298) with electrof ishing gear until 

 November 4, October 26, and September 18 during 1977, 1978 and 

 1979, respectively. Only in 1979 were young-of-year sauger 

 collected as far upstream as Forsyth diversion (river km 381) . 

 They were first collected at this site on October 4, 16 days after 

 they were collected near Miles City. No young-of-year sauger were 

 collected upstream from Forsyth diversion. 



Young-of-year sauger were almost always present in the 

 Yellowstone River downstream from Intake diversion on the first day 

 of summer or fall electrof ishing. Young-of-year were collected as 

 early as July 12 during 1977 downstream from Intake diversion. 



Gardner and Berg (1980) and Stewart (1980) found similar 

 downstream concentrations of young-of-year sauger in two separate 

 reaches of the Missouri River. 



Young-of-year for many species of fish were most abundant in 

 backwaters of the Yellowstone from Intake diversion downstream 

 indicating the distribution of many and perhaps most fish species 

 in the lower Yellowstone is affected by larval drift. 



Distribution of Immature Sauger During Spring 



During May 2 and 3, 1979 the Yellowstone River from Forsyth to 

 Miles City was electrof ished (84 river kilometers) . Only 9 

 immature sauger were collected. 



56 



