On our way up to my father-in-law’s cabin, Mrs. MNAngler and I decided to look for the MN DNR Fishery that is on Hwy 61 on the North Shore of Lake Superior. We hadn’t been there in years and thought the kids might like it. We found it not far up the scenic route between Duluth and Two Harbors.
The French River hatchery sits next to the MN DNR Area Headquarters and raises Rainbow Trout for release into regional lakes and streams. They trap Rainbows going up stream to spawn and harvest the eggs from females. They raise the fish for 16 months, then release them.
When Mrs. MNAngler and I visited the hatchery before, we were able to go into the tank area. Years ago, they stopped that practice to prevent the spread of disease. When we found out they stopped the practice 18 years ago, we couldn’t believe it. We were surprised it had been nearly 20 years since we stopped in.
The visitors area had nice big windows to see the tanks and what the people inside were doing. There were a couple of DNR employees netting fairly good size fish and dropping them into what looked like a scale. But in the few minutes we were there, we didn’t see them take them back out. We found that odd.
After watching for a few minutes, we walked outside and watched as a truck was being filled with water outside. We eventually figured out that the water going into the truck had fish in it. We took some pictures and the gentleman monitoring the truck motioned for us to come closer.
He told us they were loading up the truck with Rainbow Trout to release into the French River. The truck had three tanks holding about 500 lbs of fish each. The thing we thought was a scale inside was actually a funnel. The fish were dropped into the funnel and the funnel was attached to PVC pipes that went outside the building to the truck. They were just about done with the last tank so we would be able to watch them release the fish.
Before we headed to the release point, we checked out their other building with the fry holding tanks. There were about 8 tanks with thousands of Rainbow Trout fry in them. It was pretty cool.
After visiting the holding tanks, we headed to the mouth of the French River where they were going to release the fish. The 7 inch flexible tubes that would make the slide to freedom were already there. The tank trunk backed up a few minutes later. Two workers hooked up one end of the tubes to the first tank while two others waded into the river to guide the other end. One of the truck workers stood on a platform over the tube connection, pulled a lever, and the fish made their way into the wild. I swear I could hear them go, “weeeeeeee!”
Less than ten minutes later, all three tanks were empty. 1500 lbs of fish were free. They must have been celebrating because when you looked toward the river, you could see all kinds of splashing going on.
We were very thankful to be at the right place at the right time to see this process. I am also grateful to the truck gentleman who motioned us over. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have known what was going on and just left.
Our hard earned money goes to these efforts when we buy our state fishing licenses and trout stamps. Without them, we wouldn’t have the amazing fisheries we do here in Minnesota.
BTW, if you catch a tagged Rainbow, take note:
That’s pretty dang cool. I’ve vacationed up the scenic route a few times and never knew there was a hatchery there (it would have made those fishless weeks go by so much quicker!). I’ll have to make a stop next time I’m up that way!