The largest number of walleye spawning areas, 11, were located 

 between river km 114 (Intake diversion) and 71 (40 km upstream 

 from Sidney) . The mean distance between sites in this section was 

 4.3 km. Only one site was located downstream from Sidney (river km 

 71) (Figure 24) . 



Eleven of these 15 walleye spawning sites were in gravely runs 

 at the head or mouth of dry side channels or along gravel islands 

 (Table 18) . The four other sites where eggs were found were: 1) an 

 extensive gravel bar downstream from Intake diversion, 2) a run 

 along a cliff, 3) at the mouth of a creek, and 4) at a sharp bend 

 in the Yellowstone River. All sites were dominated by a pebble or 

 cobble substrate. The spawning ground downstream from Intake 

 diversion was the largest and had many more walleye at the site 

 than all other spawning areas. 



Distribution of Immature Walleye During Spring 



No immature walleye were collected while electrof ishing the 

 Yellowstone River from Forsyth to Miles City during May 2 to 3 , 

 1979. Sixteen immature walleye were collected while shocking one 

 side of the Yellowstone River from Miles City to the North Dakota 

 border during April 19-27, 1980. This represents 10% of the 

 combined catch of immature walleye and sauger. Fifty percent of 

 the immature walleye were captured upstream from Intake diversion 

 and 50% downstream. Very few, 3%, of the 1940 walleye captured 

 (excluding same year recaptures) at Intake during spring of 1976- 

 1980 were immature (Table 11) . 



80 



