NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: https://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1542285
48 Nebraskaland • December 2025 4-year study of walleye and sauger in Lewis and Clark Lake and the Missouri River above it confirmed what biologists had suspected: A high number of larval and young fish, and some adults, are flushed through Gavins Point Dam. It also revealed some interesting movement patterns of adult fish and the importance of deep-water habitat in the reservoir to wintering walleyes. The study was a cooperative effort between South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Will Radigan, who conducted the field research for his doctoral study in UNL's School of Natural Resources, implanted transmitters into the abdomens of 136 adult walleyes and 82 saugers captured in four segments of the 69 miles of river and reservoir between the Fort Randall and Gavins Point dams. He then tracked their movements from 2021 to 2024 by placing 16 receivers every 5 miles throughout the system. Radigan found the movement of the tagged fish varied according to sex, species and where they were tagged. Of particular interest were some walleyes tagged below Fort Randall Dam that had migrated in the fall to deep water near Gavins Point Dam, where they overwintered before swimming back upstream in the spring. One tagged fish made that round trip twice. "What we saw with the science mirrored what the fishing guides saw just going out there and fishing every day," Radigan said. "They catch fish there, and our telemetry told us the fish are going right there in the winter, too." Other findings included: • Many walleyes gather to spawn below Fort Randall Dam and in an area near Santee. • Up to one-third of the sauger tagged in the delta in the upper end of Lewis and Clark Lake never left the delta and seemed to spawn there as well, indicating that they have the food and habitat they need there. • Approximately 22% to 30% of walleyes and sauger were site residents, moving less than 6 miles from where they were tagged during the study. • Sauger used up to 43 miles of the study area. • Female walleyes tagged below Fort Randall used more of the study area than males. • Walleye tagged near Santee utilized more of the study area (approximately 39 miles) than walleye tagged elsewhere (18 miles). • Two fish tagged in the same location exhibited opposite behaviors: One moved between the dams, and one stayed close to where it was tagged. Additionally, 12% to 19% of the tagged walleye and 10% to 15% of tagged sauger were harvested each year, rates similar to what has been documented in studies on Lake Oahe. "I had one fish that got caught by anglers 3 or 4 different times, which is kind of crazy because I didn't tag that many fish," he said. Just six of the 218 tagged fish passed Walleye Movement at Lewis & Clark Story and photos by Eric Fowler A