State Fish Hatchery In Chateaugay, NY - Part 1

It had been raining off and on all morning, so I used that as an excuse to travel to the village of Chateaugay, about a 50 minute drive, to visit the State Trout Hatchery:

I began by walking around the outdoor pools. These tanks, the closest to the office building, were for those smallest fish which had hatched indoors but were being moved outside for the first time:

From there I saw many concrete pools, all with fresh running water and automatic feeders:

I didn't find out if the wires were to hold tarps when it rained or to discourage predators - maybe both:

There were huge numbers of baby trout:

They were small, about finger length, so I suppose they would be fingerlings:

The Marble River was just over that bank but I didn't try to push through the wet foliage to see it. Besides, I didn't want to be barred from accessing the trout (as per the sign):

When I reached the end of the ponds, I looked back toward the office buildings. It was truly an impressive operation:

There was what appeared to be a maintenance area behind the ponds, but it was marked off limits. I got a kick out of the fish net, though. I suppose it would come in handy here:

I began walking back to the buildings, and noted the incredible beauty of the location. This trail would have led up the hill to the access road and was probably a shortcut for the staff. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

A Visit To A New York State Trout Hatchery

We'd endured five days of chilly, rainy weather and at last we were promised a dry day. It was still cloudy, but I drove east to the town of Chateaugay to visit the New York State Trout Hatchery:

The hatchery was located in flat farm country, but was surrounded by pines and spruces. The Chateaugay River flowed just beyond those trees. Before entering the building, I explored the many "ponds" outdoors. Cold, clean water flowed through all of them continuously, and the first set were entirely covered with boards. I was told later that the young fish liked shade - and it also helped keep out predators:

The next set of ponds were open and contained 6-8" trout - many thousands of them:

Each pond was filled with baby trout:

And each pond was covered with wire, presumably to hold netting or tarps in the winter, and fed by a lively waterfall to keep fresh, aerated water moving at all times:

I walked up toward the building, stopping on the way to see the small display pond. It also was continuously fed with cold, aerated water:

Inside the display pond were very large trout, each of them two to three feet long:

I walked toward the buildings but first stopped to examine two large, circular tanks and one long, rectangular tank. The fish inside were huge and there were several golden, albino trout. I later learned that albinos are hatched every year, but most are stocked along with the normally colored fish. These were kept as a display:

I never learned to tell one species of trout from another, but I was told that they breed Rainbow, Lake and Brook Trout:

I entered the building and found many large, rectangular tanks and one worker:

The tanks had small fingerlings inside:

And the worker was cleaning Rainbow Trout eggs with a feather. The eggs at the hinged side were not yet cleaned, while the eggs closer to her were cleaned and ready to go. I thanked her for the helpful information she provided and began the drive home. But that also was interesting, and I'll post about the drive home tomorrow:

The Adirondack Fish Hatchery In Lake Clear, New York

It was a hot, hot, hot Sunday morning - far too hot for me to be out working in the sun, so I drove down to the town of Lake Clear to visit the New York State Adirondack Fish Hatchery. There were lots of buildings, but these two were the ones which allowed visitors:

The first building was a visitor's center. That stone pond was supposed to have fish in it, but didn't. The canoe was a classic Adirondack guideboat and there were mounted fish, all New York State species, hanging on the walls:

I only photographed a few of them, beginning with the Rainbow Trout:

Brown Trout:

Splake, which I later learned was a cross between a male Brook (AKA Speckled) Trout and a female Lake Trout:

Steelhead Trout. In spite of all the trout species mounted on the walls, this fishery was entirely devoted to the propagation of landlocked Atlantic Salmon:

I never saw another human being all the time I was there, neither tourist nor worker. I entered the next building, a cavernous place filled with two rows of large, circular tanks:

The first several tanks held larger salmon, in the one to two foot range:

Water constantly flowed, cleaning and aerating the salmon's environment:

I walked over to the tanks with smaller fish. They must have been the fingerling size because they were just about the size of a finger:

I exited the fish hatchery, still never having seen another human being, and walked to my parked car. There were many other complexes of maintenance buildings along the road, so I decided to keep driving and see what else I might find. But I'll post about that tomorrow: