Yellow tag paddlefish season ends short of harvest target

The 2024 paddlefish season for the yellow tag area of the Yellowstone and lower Missouri rivers ended June 30, short of the harvest cap of 1,000 fish.

The overall harvest estimate was 782 paddlefish, and female paddlefish represented 43 percent of the total harvest. Harvest estimates for the past two seasons were 776 in 2023 and 769 fish in 2022, continuing the trend toward a more dispersed fishery since open river passage began with the new Intake Bypass Channel near Glendive.

It was also an average year for tag sales, with a total of 2,120 yellow paddlefish tags sold for the season, compared...