Fish Creek Hatchery


In 2005 it had become critical that the club take some concrete action steps toward establishing our own hatchery facility in order to ensure our supply of Atlantic salmon fry. And so after some conciderable discussion we began to build our own facility with the help of Tom Tkachuk, club member and owner of land bordering Fish Creek.

After running experiments for two years to check such things as water quality, availability of a water supply and whether or not we have the ability to care for eggs and young salmon fry, we have embarked on a program to actually build a structure to contain our hatching tank. It is a modest effort although the work involved can be quite strenous at times.

A movie has been made of the building of the hatchery. If you have a high speed connection and you wish to view it, 
click here.  The file is 11 mega bytes long.

On January 21, 2006 we terminated our relationship with the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery. Club members traveled to Lewbeach and removed our tank and transported it to the Fish Creek Hatchery. We are and will continue to be grateful for the cooperation of the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery. It gave us a start for this important work of re-establishing Atlantic salmon to their home waters. Thanks goes to the Shaver family and especially to Lisa.

After hatching eggs in the facility until 2009 we got an offer from Harden Furniture to build a hatchery for us at their dam in McConnellsville.  The club moved its facilities to McConnellsville in the Fall of 2009.  Club members are indebted to Tom Tkachuk for the many years of association with him and the facility in Ava.  Thanks Tom.

Directions to the old hatchery are included here.

To see larger images, click on the image of interest.

Two walls are up
October 08, 2005

Gene sawing a 2X6
October 30, 2005

Tom nailing the top plate
October 30, 2005

Placing the ridge pole
October 30, 2005

Setting the end rafters
October 30, 2005

Nailing the last rafter
October 30, 2005

Now for the roof
October 30, 2005

Burt checking level
October 30, 2005

The roof is on!
November 20, 2005

Cutting the siding to length
December 04, 2005

Jim installing the barrier
December 04, 2005

Tom and John installing the siding
December 04, 2005

East facing windows
January 02, 2006

West facing windows
January 02, 2006

A barrel is used as an aerator
January 7, 2006

Tom checking it out
January 7,2006

John and Paul laying pipe
January 7, 2006

Water in the hatchery!
January 7, 2006

The tank is installed
January 14, 2006

The ice needs to be removed
January 14, 2006

Mike and Jim cleaning the tank
after insulating it
January 21, 2006

Jim, Tom, Tom and Mike
Tapping the main spring
January 21, 2006

First row: Mike, Paul, Jim, John
Second: Jim, Gene, Tom, Dick
January 21, 2006

Mike and Tom dragging
our second tank to the hatchery
January 21, 2006

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