Annual Report 2016

The trials and  tribulations of running a hatchery came to realization in 2016.  On January 3, 2016 Paul Miller and Dick Kirby traveled to Maine, brought back 45,000 Atlantic salmon eggs and placed them into the club's incubator.  On February 14 the weather turned very cold and the pipe supplying water to Harden and to the hatchery froze.  We lost about 3500 fish as a result.  Then to add to our frustration on February 19 the pipe supplying water to the incubators got plugged with silt and the club lost the remaining salmon.  

At that point we started looking around for other sources of salmon so that the year would not be a bust.  Thankfully the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery in Chittenden, Vermont thought they would have some extra salmon.  After following up on this lead, Paul Miller and Carl  Guerschi drove to Vermont on May 19 and picked up about 15,000 salmon.  About 3000 fish were big enough to stock right away and were placed in Furnace Creek.  The others were placed into the hatchery tanks until they started feeding.  Members stocked them on May 28.

On Jun 7, club members assisted students from the Camden Middle School to stock the brook trout that they had raised for the Trout in the Classroom program sponsored by Trout Unlimited  The club donated enough Atlantic salmon so that every student got to release fish.  Invertebrates and other creatures were collected from the Mad River and shown to students.  

The club also got word that the Adirondack Fish Hatchery located near historic Saranac Lake, NY had extra salmon. On June 9, Gary Bartell picked up a tank from the Rome Fish Hatchery that was loaned to the club and drove to Clear Lake to transport the fish to Taberg. On June 10 about 10,000 Atlantic salmon were stocked in Fish Creek.  

The club continues to receive support in its mission of restoring Atlantic salmon to waters from which they were extirpated in the 19th century, for which the members are grateful.


Club members stocking approximately 10,000  Atlantic salmon fry  from the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery located in Chittenden, Vermont on May 28, 2016.  The Atlantic salmon fry had not yet begun to feed and were placed in the club's hatchery tanks until they started to feed.

Camden Middle School students on a field trip to stock fish in Mad river.  Students raised brook trout from eggs supplied  by Trout Unlimited.  The Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club donated several hundred Atlantic salmon fry so that each student could have fish to place in the water.  Club members were on hand to assist some 150 students and their teachers.

Club members are shown stocking 10,000 Atlantic salmon on June 10, 2016 in the East Branch of Fish Creek near Taberg, NY.  The Adirondack Fish Hatchery donated 10,000 Atlantic salmon fry to the club.  A fish tank was borrowed from the state hatchery in Rome, NY to transport the fish from Clear Lake  to Taberg.


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