Nelson Reservoir walleye nets near the long-term average; perch come up short

Nelson Reservoir’s fall nets are in, and the two headline fish are moving in opposite directions. KLTZ in Glasgow reported Oct. 2, 2026, that Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 6 biologist Cody Nagel and technician Dawson Schott sampled the Phillips County reservoir over three days the week of Sept. 21. Overnight gill nets with mixed mesh are the long-term check FWP has run there for decades, a snapshot of species mix, relative abundance, and size.

The data are not finished. Nagel and Schott pulled walleye otoliths to age this winter, and KLTZ says more of the field season is still ahead. The preliminary read: walleye abundance is up from last year and near the long-term average, and the fish looked heavy for their length. Yellow perch did not show up well in the nets, which the station says points to a population below the long-term average in 2026. Perch on Nelson can swing hard inside a year if a spring spawn recruits. KLTZ still calls it one of Region 6’s premier perch lakes, even in a down year.

The same nets turned up black crappie, northern pike, and smallmouth bass, plus lake whitefish and pumpkinseed. Native fish in the write-up include shorthead redhorse, white suckers, smallmouth and bigmouth buffalo, and goldeye. This is the Nelson sample, separate from the Madison River note and the other Region 6 items already on the desk.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: KLTZ — FWP samples fishery at Nelson Reservoir (Oct. 2, 2026).