Fishy business

The students spent the afternoon at the Jocko River Trout Hatchery, where they learned how the Arlee rainbow trout are bred, raised from eggs and dispersed to other hatcheries and waterways around the state.

Elsie Big Bow enjoyed seeing the little fish the best, especially after she saw the large ones and could see the difference.

“I like the albino ones, too,” she said.

Katie Dolence liked watching the big fish the most.

“Because we got to feed them,” she said excitedly.

“They splashed me,” she added.

“They would come splashing up and they would turn their bodies,” Big Bow chimed in, demonstrating the fish’s motion with her hands.

Learning about the trout life cycle ties into what the students learn about insects and their life cycles, teacher Sheila Hoback said.

During the tour, students got to see preserved trout eggs and then see the fish through the different stages of growth, from fingerlings and fry to full-grown.

Hatchery manager Ron Snyder frequently gives tours to school groups or others interested in the hatchery, where Arlee rainbow trout are raised.

The trout variety is easy to raise, catchable and grows quickly, he said.

Each spawning season — October to December — more than five million eggs are collected, with most of those sent to other Fish, Wildlife and Parks hatcheries in the state. The 300,000 to 400,000 eggs that remain at the Jocko hatchery are raised until they’re large enough to be released in bodies of water that make for good fisheries but don’t have spawning areas for a naturally sustainable population, Snyder said.

He said he hopes the students learned about the life cycle, as well as where fish come from.

If children learn about healthy environments and their value, it’s better in the long run, Snyder said.

“That’s good for everything,” he said.

The hatchery is located just north of Arlee and open from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily, year round.