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Manchester Trout Hatchery
Clip: Episode 110 | 5m 28sVideo has Closed Captions
The Manchester Trout Hatchery adds nearly a million trout each year into Iowa's waterways.
The Manchester Trout Hatchery adds nearly a million trout each year into Iowa's waterways.
![Road Trip Iowa](https://image.pbs.org/contentchannels/Fr6Tj9g-white-logo-41-56qx8tt.png?format=webp&resize=200x)
Manchester Trout Hatchery
Clip: Episode 110 | 5m 28sVideo has Closed Captions
The Manchester Trout Hatchery adds nearly a million trout each year into Iowa's waterways.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipWe're here at the Manchester Trout Hatchery, where each year, more than 750,000 trout are propagated to fill Iowa's public waterways.
Let's go take a look at the operation.
♪♪♪ The Manchester Hatchery produces around one million trout eggs each year, the majority of which are used to stock waterways in northeast Iowa.
We're here, Brooke.
This is our spawning room here in the hatchery.
Kohlsdorf: Dan Rosauer is a biologist here at Manchester.
His team stocks more than 100,000 fish near Manchester alone to supplement natural population and provide recreation for anglers.
Rosauer: Once we have our eggs fertilized, we'll bring them and put them into a tray, like right here on this table.
We'll put a lid on 'em and put 'em into our spawning rack or our incubation racks over here.
So the neat thing on trout is that it will take approximately 30 to 37 days for these eggs to turn into fish and to hatch.
Then what happens next?
After they hatch out of their eggs, they actually stay in these trays for another 30 to 35 days while they're resorbing their yolk sac and doing their final growth.
And after that step, we'll move 'em into our next room, which we can look at right now.
Okay.
♪♪♪ These are our start tanks that we move our fry into for their first feeding.
So this is the place where they start to look like fish?
Yup.
So the cool thing is, when they come out of those incubators, their swim bladder's not filled up yet, so they're heavier than the water, so they're sitting on the bottom.
Once they're ready to feed, they swim up, get a gulp of air, and that inflates their swim bladder and they're neutrally buoyant.
So once we see the fish up looking like fish in the middle of the water column, that's when it's time to start feeding them.
And then after that, they still have some time before they even develop scales.
These ones in front of us probably have another week or so before their scales are fully developed on them.
♪♪♪ Kohlsdorf: Once the trout grow big enough, they are moved to outdoor channels called raceways, where they await distribution to one of 60 streams in Iowa's Driftless Region.
Okay, what have we got here?
So these are some of our South Pine brook trout.
So brook trout are the only native salmon into Iowa.
And these are members of the South Pine Strain.
Kohlsdorf: Oh, they're beautiful on the underneath side.
And this guy here is colored up, ready to spawn.
So he's getting more distinct colors, some of the characteristics of these brook trout.
They've got worm markings across their back.
Kind of a broken -- broken markings across their back leading white edge to their fins.
And these guys will look similar all year, but their colors are way more pronounced right now.
And then the female, she's not as colorful, not as brightly colored, 'cause she's not trying to fight for a partner.
She's just producing egg.
Well, what separates the trout from other fish in Iowa?
So trout are pretty unique to northeast Iowa due to the cold water resources.
They are a good, uh, fighting fish for sporting.
They're great tasting fish, and they're not all the way across the state.
So in this -- in Iowa, if you want to catch all the different species, you probably have to come to northeast Iowa in order to catch all the trout species that are in Iowa.
♪♪♪ Kohlsdorf: Fishing is the main attraction on the Delaware Crossing Scenic Byway.
Local fly fishing instructor, Jeff Moore, has offered to show me the ropes on casting a line.
Let's see what this sport is all about.
What is the allure of fly fishing?
It's different than other kinds of fishing, right?
Yeah.
You're, um... You're studying the fish a little more.
You're also studying the bait that the fish are feeding on, from whatever minnows and insects especially.
That's really what the fly fisherman is all about, is studying those insects.
Alright, Jeff, I've been fishing, but I've never been fly fishing.
Well, we can fix that.
Okay, let's give it a shot.
♪♪♪ This is what I want you to do.
Just let it go and get it there and let it come towards us, so you can see it on the water.
Yep.
Barely.
Once it gets past the fish, we come back and do it again.
Pull it in.
And this is all we're doing, is drawing it in like this as it's coming towards us.
Then we can make a cast again up into that little bit of a current... ...and wait.
Watch him.
Watch him.
Oh.
He almost took it.
That's all there is to it.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jeff, I don't think this has been my day, but I really appreciate you showing me the ropes and the art of fly fishing.
I've never been fly fishing, and now I can say I have.
That's why they call it fishing and not catching.
I like that.
Okay.
Kohlsdorf: Even though the fish weren't biting today, thanks to Jeff's expert help, I can now check fly fishing off my bucket list.
[ Water rushing ]
Video has Closed Captions
Iowa's first state park sets the bar high for beautiful views of the Driftless Area. (2m 40s)
Baileys Ford Nature Center and Wildlife Exhibit
Video has Closed Captions
Explore this park's nature trails, woven within the water trails of the Maquoketa River. (2m 38s)
Video has Closed Captions
Pull off the byway to answer the call of this iconic baseball diamond and movie site. (3m 23s)
Video has Closed Captions
What started as a utility lake is now a generator of lifelong memories for visitors. (3m 33s)
Video has Closed Captions
One of Iowa's first colleges claims a distinguished list of impressive alumni. (2m 23s)
Video has Closed Captions
Brave the rapids in downtown Manchester, where utility has transformed into recreation. (2m 39s)
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