Population Statistics of Sauger at Miles City During Aut\imn 



As previously discussed, sauger were sedentary during late 

 summer and fall, allowing population size to be measured by mark- 

 recapture techniques. Estimates of the late summer/ fall sauger 

 population in an 8 km reach of the Yellowstone River near the mouth 

 of Tongue River (Figure 1) were obtained during 1978 through 1980. 

 A total of 524, 504, and 400 age 1+ and older sauger were marked 

 during each of the respective years. The number of sauger 

 recaptured during the experiment was 38, 46, and 30 in 1978, 1979, 

 and 1980, respectively. 



Sauger were significantly most abundant in 1978 and least 

 abundant in 1979 (Table 10) . Sauger numbers estimated ranged from 

 177 to 247 per kilometer in the three years. Sauger apparently 

 enter the population at Miles City in large numbers at age 2+. 

 Over 30 percent of the 1978 and 1979 population was comprised of 

 age 2+ sauger. 



Angler Harvest 



A total of 11,499 sauger were tagged from 1974 through 1980 

 and during this time 425 were recaptured by fishermen, giving an 

 annual average harvest rate of less than one percent. The present 

 harvest rate probably has little impact on the sauger population in 

 the lower Yellowstone River. 



63 



