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Maracek, S. and J. Wlosinski (1996). Fish movement through dams on the Upper Mississippi River. Pages 13 in J. T. Dukerschein, ed. Proceedings of the Mississippi River Research Consortium, La Crosse, Wisconsin (USA), Mississippi River Research Consortium.

We analyzed the results from 89, mark-recapture and telemetry studies which were performed by others on the Upper Mississippi River as part of an investigation on fish passage opportunities. Fish were marked in Pools 4 through 18 and 26. Studies included information for 15 species of fish; black crappie, white crappie, bluegill northern pike, common carp, channel catfish, freshwater drum, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, paddlefish, sauger, shovelnose sturgeon, smallmouth bass, walleye, and white bass. The total number of fish marked in 59 of the studies was 62,618. Totals were not available for the remaining 30 studies. Less than ten percent of the marked fish were recaptured. No black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, northern pike, or common carp were found to move across a single lock and dam, either in an up or down direction. Of the total number of fish recaptured in all studies 4,594 (79.7%) were in the pool where the fish was initially marked, 712 (12.4%) moved upriver and 458 (7.9%) moved downriver. We also investigated the head differential between headwaters and tailwaters for each day the fish was at large. Unfortunately, most fish were at large for fairly long periods, so we could not pinpoint the head differential when the fish actually crossed a dam. The minimum head differential during the period when fish were at large was used to conservatively estimate fish passage opportunities. Of the fish moving upriver through dams 88.0% crossed with a head differential less than 2.0 feet. Of the fish moving downriver through dams 72% crossed with a head differential less than 2.0 feet. Only 3.9% of the fish that moved upriver did so when the head differential was at least 4.0 feet and 19.4% of the fish that moved downriver did so at that head differential. Of the walleyes, which made up 53% of the total number of fish that moved, 78% moved upriver through at least one dam. Of the walleyes that moved upriver, the majority crossed 1 to 5 dams. Ninety-one percent of the sauger, which made up 15% of the observations, also moved upriver through at least one dam. In contrast, 94% of the channel catfish, which made up 20% of the observations, moved downriver through at least one dam. Of the channel catfish that moved downriver, the majority crossed 4 to 9 dams.