Glenwood Springs Fish Hatchery

CPW celebrates another successful year spawning kokanee salmon at Wolford Reservoir Kremmling, Colo. - Colorado Parks and Wildlife is celebrating its third most successful year of kokanee salmon spawning at Wolford Reservoir, near Kremmling. 

Wrapping up stocking season at beautiful Maroon Lake.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees began the brown trout spawning operation at North Delaney Butte on Wednesday. The eggs collected on Wednesday were transported to our hatchery for incubation. In approximately one month the eggs will be ready to ship to other CPW hatcheries to be hatched, raised and stocked in Colorado waters in 2023.

Over the past couple weeks, our staff has collected Gunnison River Rainbow Trout eggs from the East Portal on the Gunnison river. We use these eggs for brood stock to replenish genetic diversity in the fish that we produce.

We stocked 1800 Rainbow Trout into the Arkansas River last week. These fish were stocked up stream of Cotopaxi at Canyon Trading Post access site. These fish were brood stock at the hatchery that have served their purpose here. Good luck angling for these beautiful rainbows!

We stocked 410 Gunnison River Rainbow Trout into the Gunnison River today at Pleasure Park. These fish were an average of 12 inches long and were excess brood stock fish that have served their purpose in the hatchery. Interesting fact, unlike most of the rainbows we stock, which come from domestic brood stock we have on site at the Glenwood Hatchery, these rainbows were the result of a wild egg take on the Gunnison about 25 miles upstream of this stocking location. These fish are now back in the same water that they originated from.

Have you ever wondered how we count all of the eggs that we bring into the hatchery? Since we handle millions of eggs per year, counting each one of them is not an option, so we make a close estimate using a Von Bayer Trough. We can figure out the number of eggs per ounce based on the size of the eggs. Egg size is measured by counting the number of eggs that fit into the Von Bayer Trough. In the case of the Kokanee eggs pictured below, 60 eggs fit into the trough which gives us an estimate of 238 eggs per liquid ounce. We use this technique to estimate how many eggs and thus, how many fish we will have to stock out in Colorado waters.

Our first groups of Kokanee Salmon are beginning to hatch. These fish will end up in Lake Granby when we stock them in June.

Kokanee Spawn is all wrapped up for the year at the Glenwood Springs Fish Hatchery. In a few short weeks, the first group of Kokanee eggs will begin hatching. This jar contains approximately 28,560 eggs!

The Visitors Center at the Hatchery remains closed at this time, however the outdoor areas of the hatchery are open to the public.

One of our many beautiful fish!

The show must go on here at the hatchery! We are getting ready to spawn our very special, genetically pure strain, Lake Nanita western cutthroat trout. Here's what they look like!

What's the importance of fish supplied from hatcheries? Take a look:

https://www.9news.com/article/life/style/colorado-guide/where-do-the-fish-in-colorado-lakes-and-reservoirs-come-from/73-e1f65f77-c750-4010-9629-f313b2aaf839

Colorado Parks and Wildlife had a press release five days ago about the concerns of whirling disease, a pathogen in many of our Colorado waters affecting trout persistence. This pathogen affects the cartilage of juvenile fish creating bent spines and other deformities decreasing fish success in our waters. We here at our hatchery have whirling disease resistant rainbow trout that help mitigate some of these concerns. Take a quick read on what we are doing!

https://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Pages/News-Release-Details.aspx?NewsID=7256

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency​ manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing licenses...

These Kokanee eggs have been shipped to Mount Shavano Fish Hatchery. First we placed cleaned eggs into foam insulated trays then wrapped them with wet shop towels. Just add ice in the packing box and they're all set for a journey.

Just a little size comparison with a Kokanee egg on left and a rainbow trout egg on right. The salmon egg spent almost 3 months to get to eyed up in this photo with the trout egg at about 3 weeks for the same stage of growth.

A photo of our humble beginnings from the early 1900's. This image predates our current hatchery building still in use on the same site built in the 1920's.

Lake Nanita, CO has a special genetically pure strain of Western cutthroat trout.

Fun Fact:
They originated from Trappers Lake, CO and just one of the fish we incubate and rear. Trappers Lake had an introduction of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the 1950's mixing genes.

Lake Nanita, CO
Photo credit: Dr. Kevin Rogers, CPW

This is a Montana incubation jar that helps in getting eggs to the eyed up stage for sorting. The previous post showed how we measure and count eggs. This jar holds approximately 234,060 Kokanee salmon eggs. The water enters the bottom of the jar and flows out of the lip shown to give oxygen and keep eggs clean.

How do we know how many eggs we have? Well, we count them.

Making fish fry today by starting with a cross of whirling disease resistant rainbows with those from the Gunnison River. The female is in blue gloves with the Gunnison male in yellow gloves.

Here's those safety bits to be prepared for a safe ice fishing day! 🐟

CPW talks about ice safety at Eleven Mile State park FOX21 News, dedicated to providing relevant news, information and weather to Southern Colorado. Go to http://FOX21news.com for the latest.

Now that you have the skills for ice fishing, go out and do it on January 6 at the Eagle Claw-Shappell Colorado Classic Pro-AM Grand Slam Ice Fishing Tournament. This will be held at Eleven Mile State Park for both amateur and pro categories with more information within the link below.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency​ manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing licenses...

Fishing can happen all year round! Here's a short video to help with the tools and techniques to succeed at ice fishing. Be sure to dress warm and practice ice safety while on the ice!

Ice Fishing Rainbow Trout Join experienced angler Bryan Johnson and his friends as they fish for rainbow trout on 11 mile reservoir in South Park, Colorado. Learn more about Colorado ...

This video is showing the automatic egg picker in action. We loaded Kokanee eggs in the back basin which pulls a single egg onto the wheel. The egg is then sent into an optical unit which shines a light on the egg and based on light reflectance will define a good or bad egg. If a bad egg is identified, a puff of air will push the bad egg into a different outflow line. On the front of the unit we place two baskets to capture the outflow of eggs, one for good and the other for bad eggs.

Sorting Kokanee salmon eggs An automatic egg picker is used to assist in pulling the non viable eggs, those that are white.

Once the Kokanee eggs are eyed up we begin pulling the nonviable eggs, those that are white. Fortunately we use an automatic picker to remove most of the bad eggs. Some bad eggs get through and require manual removal. You can see a full tray of cleaned eggs. Those we will rear at our facility are placed into jars and those destined for other facilities are placed into trays until the delivery date. Our jars are holding 120,000 eggs on average.