July 2022 - 8

NEWS
This adult sauger was implanted with a radio tag in the North Platte River within Glendo State Park. The purpose of tracking these fish is to learn more about seasonal movements of adult sauger
in the river, when they move to the reservoir throughout the year and if and under what conditions they can swim upstream past Orin Weir. (Photo by Nick Hogberg/WGFD)
Game and Fish continues work to
reintroduce sauger above Glendo Reservoir
GLENDO - The Wyoming Game and
Fish Department is continuing a project to
return sauger to its native waters.
The fish species were once native to
the North Platte River system in eastern
Wyoming, but they were extirpated sometime
in the mid-1940s. In 2017, Game and Fish
began reintroducing sauger in the North
Platte River upstream of Glendo Reservoir.
Since then the department has gathered
information about sauger migration and
movement patterns and if a weir in the river
near Orin Junction is preventing migration
of sauger and other native fish.
" We want to know how much of the river
is available to them and if doing additional
work to provide better fish passage over
the weir would be beneficial, or if they are
already able to swim over the weir, " said Nick
Hogberg, Game and Fish fisheries biologist
in the Casper Region.
" Their ability to pass the weir is dependent
on river discharge, so we expect that at some
8 | July 2022
flows it will be easier than others. As long as
there are flows in the spring that allow them
to pass the weir, they will probably be able to
migrate as far as they want because the next
barrier is a lot farther upstream. "
Since 2017, Game and Fish has stocked
about 950,000 fry and fingerling sauger in
this area.
TO VIEW VIDEO OF THIS PROJECT
AND OTHER FIELD WORK BEING
DONE BY THE WYOMING GAME
AND FISH DEPARTMENT GO TO
ITS YOUTUBE PAGE: Https://
www.youtube.com/user/
wygameandfish
" In addition to bringing back a native
species we would like to have back in this
system, sauger will provide a component of
diversity to the Glendo fishery, " Hogberg
said. " They are susceptible to a lot of the
same fishing techniques as walleye. We've
already seen anglers catching them and hope
that will continue into the future as they
become established and hopefully sustain
themselves. "
The department also placed radio tags
in sauger and three other native species
in this area - channel catfish, shorthead
redhorse and quillback. When fish swim
by or over the weir each tag has a unique
signal picked up by tracking stations next
to the weir. Numbered floy tags are inserted
into each fish. Anglers who catch tagged
fish are encouraged to release them and
asked to contact the phone number on the
tag whether they release or harvest tagged
fish. Through early June, two sauger, five
shorthead redhorse, two channel catfish and
two quillback moved over the weir. Hogberg
said there are plans to tag several more of
each species next spring.
- Ray Hageman, WGFD

http://www.youtube.com/user/wygameandfish

July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2022