East Fork State Fish Hatchery

Sport fish reared at the East Fork Hatchery include walleye, hybrid walleye, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, muskellunge, channel catfish, largemouth bass, and overwintered southern spring stocked rainbow trout. Fathead minnows are also reared for forage feeding.

With the exception of muskellunge and rainbow trout, all fish are reared in earthen ponds. Ponds are fertilized before being stocked to ensure ample plankton (microscopic plants and animals) are available; which serve as food for small fish. Additional food is supplied by either continued pond fertilization, feeding a commercial fish feed or, in the case of muskellunge, stocking forage fish.

Muskellunge, also known as muskie, are the only fish that arrive at the hatchery as eggs. When the eggs hatch and the fry have reached their swim-up stage, the muskie are then placed in long, shallow starter troughs for care and maintenance. Feeding in the production room consists of a commercial diet; the size of which starts similar to talcum powder and advances to larger pellets as the fish grow. Feed is automatically dispensed at set times to the muskie via specialized fish feeders.

As the muskie grow, they are placed into deeper linear tanks. The fish are inventoried periodically and can be separated into other tanks to avoid overcrowding. In the fall, young muskie are placed into outside ponds to feed on fathead minnows for their final 30 days at the hatchery. This ensures that the fish will have greater success in finding natural food sources once stocked into Indiana waters.

Production Building

The production building houses egg incubation and intensive production facilities. This consists of hatching jars, vertical flow egg incubation trays and 20-foot rearing tanks. The production room is equipped with an ultraviolet (UV) sterilizer, sand filter, controlled heating and lighting, and automatic fish feeders. The tanks are also used to sort and hold fish coming in from the production ponds, prior to being shipped across the state. The building also houses a laboratory, offices, a locker room, a work shop, storage space and public rest rooms.

Rearing Raceways

Both inside and outside raceways are used to rear fish from the fry stage to fingerling or larger sizes. Equipped with automatic feeders, the inside raceways afford a controlled environment for up to 70,000 muskellunge. Each winter through early spring, the outside raceways hold approximately 5,000 rainbow trout fingerlings for southern Indiana spring trout stockings.

Production Ponds

The three 2-acre, sixteen 1-acre, two ¾-acre, and seven ½-acre ponds can be used to rear all fish species to stocking size. Walleye, striped bass and their respective hybrids arrive as newly hatched fry and spend 30 to 35 days in the ponds. They are stocked out at approximately 1.5 to 2-inches fingerlings. Channel catfish arrive as fingerlings and are raised in the ponds for 4 to 5 months, being stocked out in the 8 to 10-inch size range. Largemouth bass arrive as 2-inch fingerlings and are reared to 4-inch fish over a 5 month period. Muskie arrive as eggs and are reared for 7 months indoors as they progress through the fry and fingerling stages. In early fall they are stocked into the outdoor rearing ponds in the 7 to 8-inch range, for their 30-day forage finishing process. After the forage finishing, the muskie are usually stocked out in the 9 to 10-inch range.

Total production at East Fork will range between 1 million and 15 million fish annually, depending on management needs.