How a Bypass Channel Has Changed Fishing on a Popular Montana River

Picture this: walleye on the rise and happy anglers casting their lines in a revitalized river. That's the buzz around the Intake Diversion Dam.

A WALLEYE WINDFALL

My friend Brett French, Outdoor Editor of the Billings Gazette, shared a fascinating update on the Intake Diversion Dam's profound effect on 235 miles of the Lower Yellowstone River in the past four years.

Brett talked to Mat Rugg, a 13-year veteran fisheries biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who was quoted as saying, “I’ve talked to more folks that have caught walleye at Glendive than I have maybe ever in years past.”

Glendive is about 20 river miles above the bypass channel. Miles City, the next large community, is another 90 miles upstream.

And Caleb Bollman, a FWP fisheries biologist at Miles City, said, “In our backyard, people are really happy about what the passage at Intake has yielded them. Right away in the spring of 2022 — in April, May, the first spring that bypass was open — we were hearing of people finding more walleye farther upstream, and that has just continued to be the case.”

TAKING THE SCENIC ROUTE

Walleye are a popular species among anglers, and known for their flaky, tasty white meat. Many of the fish now moving up and down the Yellowstone River are coming from North Dakota’s Lake Sakakawea in the spring in search of spawning habitat.

Before the bypass was built, Montana FWP conducted studies to estimate the number of walleye below Intake Diversion Dam. As many as 10,000 fish might be captured and marked in April in the 10 miles downstream of the dam.

Now, those thousands of walleye are streaming through the bypass channel in spring, but many don’t stay upriver. About three-quarters of the marked fish were later caught by anglers in Lake Sakakawea.

READ MORE: Meet Newly Crowned 2026 Miss Rodeo & Miss Teen Rodeo Montana

WALLEYE AND MORE

Walleye were just one of five species Montana FWP studied to see how the bypass channel would affect their distribution on the big river. The others were sauger, pallid sturgeon, blue suckers and paddlefish, all of which showed significant increases or retained already high passage rates.

Something to keep in mind, anglers. To find out more, check out Brett French's excellent account of the Intake Diversion Dam's progress here.