U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery

Station Facts Station Goals ■ Established: 1965. ■ Provide rainbow, brown, brook, and lake trout for mitigation stocking in ■ Number of staff: eight. and Georgia. Geographic Area Covered ■ Provide rainbow trout to Alabama ■ Stones River System, TN (Corps in return for Gulf Coast striped mitigation) – J. Percy Priest bass eggs and fry. Reservoir tailwater (TW), Stones River. ■ Provide a limited number of rainbow and lake trout for non- ■ Caney Fork River System, TN mitigation stocking in Tennessee photo: USFWS photo: (Corps mitigation) – Center Hill under a cooperative agreement Reservoir TW with the Tennessee Wildlife ■ Obey River System, TN (Corps Resources Agency. mitigation) – Wolf River, Dale ■ Assist in the recovery and Hollow Reservoir and TW restoration of imperiled aquatic ■ Duck River System, TN (TVA species by developing propagation/ mitigation) – Normandy Reservoir culture techniques and rearing TW animals for reintroduction into the wild. ■ Elk River System, TN (TVA ■ mitigation) – Tims Ford Reservoir Assist Tribal governments in TW managing resources on Tribal lands. photo: USFWS photo: ■ Hiwassee River System, TN (TVA ■ Work with the Tennessee Wildlife mitigation) – Apalachia Reservoir Resources Agency to ensure a TW, Parksville Reservoir TW thorough, perennial hatchery ■ Clinch River System, TN (TVA product evaluation program. mitigation) – Norris Reservoir TW ■ Provide quality environmental ■ Little System, education opportunities. TN (TVA mitigation) – Tellico ■ Provide recreational Reservoir, Tellico River opportunities for veterans through ■ System, TN Project Healing Waters. (Tapoco Projects) – Calderwood ■ Develop and maintain partnerships photo: USFWS photo: Reservoir, Chilhowee Reservoir with chambers of commerce, state ■ Holston River System, TN (TVA tourism departments, and other mitigation) – Reservoir agencies to promote regional TW, Ft. Patrick Henry Reservoir support for and and TW, South Holston Reservoir the fish hatchery. and TW, Wilbur Reservoir and TW, ■ Maintain a “Friends Group” to gain Watauga Reservoir and Boone TW. community and regional support ■ Northern Georgia (TVA and for the fish hatchery. Corps mitigation) – Federal Water ■ Establish and maintain a pollinator Development Projects photo: USFWS photo: garden providing specific benefits to the monarch butterfly. Andrew L. Currie, Hatchery Manager ■ Sipsey River System, AL Dale Hollow NFH (restoration tradeoff) – Lewis Fish Species and Capability 145 Fish Hatchery Road Smith Reservoir TW ■ Rainbow trout (mitigation/ Celina, TN 38551-6268 ■ Red River System, TN restoration trade-off/reimbursable) Phone: 931/243 2443 (reimbursable) – Fort Campbell 839,650 nine inch fish (250,642 Fax: 931/243 3962 lbs.); 705,000 three to five inch fish E-mail: [email protected] (11,894 lbs.). U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

■ Brown trout (mitigation) – 8,000 inch fish in waters which typically recreational fishing opportunities at Ft. six to eight inch fish (1,484 lbs.); experience intense fishing pressure Campbell, the Veterans Administration 233,000 three to four inch fish and little natural reproduction. A nine Hospital in Murfreesboro, Calderwood (39,560 lbs.). inch fish is considered large enough Reservoir, Chilhowee Reservoir, and for anglers to keep. Waters with few numerous winter, urban fishing events ■ Lake trout (mitigation/ predators and ample food supply held throughout middle Tennessee. reimbursable) – 150,000 six inch are stocked with three to five inch fish (8,196 lbs.). fingerlings. This technique is very Barrens topminnows are stocked into cost effective because large numbers springs and spring influenced streams ■ (mitigation) – 80,000 in south-central Tennessee (Franklin eight to nine inch fish (20,000 lbs.). of fish can be stocked without having to incur high feed costs. Nature grows and Coffee Counties). These stocking ■ Barrens topminnow (restoration) the fish to harvestable size. sites are located on private land. 1,200 two to three inch fish. Lake trout are stocked at a size of six How do you get eggs from the fish? Public Use Opportunities inches. These fish are stocked into Trout spawning operations are ■ More than 40,000 visitors yearly. reservoirs having conditions conducive not conducted at the hatchery. to good growth and survival. Fertilized eggs are received from ■ Hatchery tours. other hatcheries by overnight mail Brown trout are managed by stocking in special egg shipping cartons and ■ Off-site presentations. tailwaters that will support small fish are placed into hatching jars. Once ■ Aquarium/visitor center. with three to four inch fingerlings. the eggs hatch, the sac fry are placed Waters which have proved not to into indoor, concrete tanks. After the ■ Paved walking and exercise road. generate high survivability when larval fish absorb the yolk sac and are stocked with smaller fish, receive ready to begin feeding, the fish are ■ ADA accessible public fishing area. stockings of six to eight inch brown weaned onto a commercial trout diet. ■ Nature viewing. trout. Nature grows these fish to a harvestable size. Rainbow trout eggs are generally Calendar of Events available from August through the first March - November: Camping Barrens topminnows only grow to week of May. Brown trout and lake in adjacent Corps of Engineers about four inches in length. The fish trout eggs are only available from the campground, reservations grown-out at Dale Hollow NFH middle of October through the first recommended. average two inches in length when week of January. Brook trout eggs are they are stocked into the wild. available from the middle of December June 6, 2015: 18th Annual Kids through the end of January. Fishing Rodeo. Where do you stock the fish? All of the brown trout and brook Stocking trout is not “natural” is it? July 9, 2015: Wilderness Day Camp. trout and most of the rainbow trout Stocking non-native species of trout and lake trout reared at Dale Hollow is not “natural” but neither are dams. August 2015: Project Healing Waters NFH are stocked in and below U.S. Dams perform critical functions such Event. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) as flood control and hydro-electric Year-round fishing in local waters. and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power generation, but there is a impoundments in Tennessee. down side to dams. Construction of Questions and Answers a dam, regardless of its type, alters What kind of fish do you raise? Fingerling rainbow trout are supplied the entire river ecosystem. Dams Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery to the state of Georgia. These fish often produce large, deep reservoirs (NFH) is a coldwater fish hatchery are transferred to state and federal in which the water stratifies into which means that we raise fish hatcheries where they are grown to a thermal layers during the summer. that do best in water temperatures harvestable size and are subsequently The water released downstream into between 40 degrees and 60 degrees stocked in and below Corps and TVA the tailwater comes from a deep, cold Fahrenheit. The coldwater species impoundments in Georgia. layer. This newly created coldwater currently in production at this facility Harvestable size rainbow trout are habitat does not provide conditions are rainbow trout, brook trout, brown stocked into the tailwater of Lewis necessary for populations of native trout, and lake trout. The water being Smith Reservoir in Alabama in return warmwater fish to be self-sustaining. supplied to the hatchery to raise for Gulf Coast striped bass fry and Trout stocking is carried out in order trout is too cold to raise Barrens eggs which are utilized by federal to utilize the available coldwater topminnows. These species are raised warmwater hatcheries in an ongoing habitat and to “mitigate” for the in closed, indoor recirculation systems Gulf Coast striped bass restoration impacts that these water development where water temperature can be effort. projects have on the respective river controlled. ecosystems. Trout stocking programs Harvestable size rainbow trout are are being paid for by the user (i.e. How big are the fish when they are stocked into non-mitigation waters Corps, TVA, TN). released? under a cooperative agreement with The majority of rainbow trout reared the Tennessee Wildlife Resources at this facility are used for programs Agency. This program provides requiring continuous stocking of nine