FWP Moves Fish Around To Establish Populations
Word traveled quickly when an FWP hatchery truck pulled up to Spotted Eagle Lake in Miles City and dropped 150 catchable largemouth bass near the shoreline.
FWP uses fish transfers for a few reasons. One is to augment fish populations. Another is to establish new populations where they do not exist or may die off due to factors including winterkill. And, if you pay close attention, you may find some great late-season fishing opportunities.
So why does FWP move fish around? Prairie ponds in arid eastern Montana are generally shallow, providing adequate water and fish habitat for relatively short periods (one to five years) due to limited runoff from snow melt or rain. This results in ponds with limited spawning and rearing potential or a high frequency of fish winterkills. Transfers of wild fish from other locales with plentiful populations offer at least a short-term boost to prairie ponds – and to the anglers who visit them.
Depending on the management objective, wild fish transfers can be of mixed size and age classes or be limited to adult-sized fish. Adult fish provide an immediate angler opportunity and, if moved pre-spawn, can produce a new year-class of fish within days or weeks of being transferred.
Wild fish transfers may occur in both spring and fall. In general terms, FWP does not do transfers to a given water annually. Rather, the idea is to stock adults in the spring in pre-spawn condition that will go on to spawn in the new water the same year transferred. This spawning activity generally fills the biological niche without additional stocking.
In smaller waterbodies in south-east Montana, such as Spotted Eagle Lake and Hollecker Pond in Glendive, transfers may happen annually because they have limited spawning capacity and hence low natural reproduction.
Baker Lake is another exception, receiving adult walleye transfers for the past five years. Baker Lake underwent a large rehabilitation project in recent years to make the reservoir a quality fishery. Also, repeated stocking of fingerling walleyes have yet to recruit to the adult population.
Prior to movement of any wild fish, aquatic invasive species testing and fish pathogen testing must occur. This same testing also occurs at each hatchery at some level annually. This reduces the risk factor associated with moving fish between locations.
Region 7 water sources kept updated for wild fish transfers by completing annual AIS and fish pathogen testing include: Yellowstone River at Intake (walleye, channel catfish), South Sandstone (yellow perch, northern pike), Castlerock Reservoir (bluegill), Coal Creek Reservoir, Grant Reservoir and Cherry Creek Pond (fathead minnows). Other sources are occasionally used on a case-by-case basis.
Wild fish transfers completed in the spring of 2025 and proposed transfers for the fall of 2025: Spring 2025: Walleye (Yellowstone River at Intake) – Hollecker Pond, Spotted Eagle, Baker Lake Channel catfish (Yellowstone River at Intake) – Hollecker Pond, Miles City Hatchery Largemouth bass brood (Miles City Hatchery) – Spotted Eagle Crappie (Spotted Eagle) – Miles City Hatchery Fall 2025: Yellow perch (Baker Lake) – Maier Pond, Spotted Eagle, Miles City Hatchery Fathead minnows (Coal Creek, Cheery Creek and Grants ponds) - Spotted Eagle, Baker Lake, Miles City Hatchery Northern pike (South Sandstone) - Spotted Eagle
$ 1,250
