Murray Springs Fish Hatchery

When you hook a fish on your line, do you ever think about where it comes from?

If it’s a rainbow trout from the Tobacco Valley area, there is a good chance that it was born in captivity.
Murray Springs Fish Hatchery planted 232,000 rainbow trout in lakes last year - in the Tobacco Valley area and some in the Flathead as well. That’s 15,000 pounds of fish.

The hatchery planted another 151,000 westslope cutthroat trout, Montana’s state fish.

Why plant all of these fish? Well, the vigorous, tasty, and fast-growing rainbow trout are immensely popular with anglers. The westslope cutthroat is designated a Montana Fish of Special Concern in Montana – hence the population boost. Its historic range has been greatly reduced by factors such as hybridization and competition with rainbow and Yellowstone cutthroat, and habitat loss and degradation.

The non-native rainbow trout planted by Murray Springs are sterile, which should alleviate some concerns with planting them – preventing a contribution to a rainbow population explosion or hybridization in the wild. According to Jim Schreiber, the hatchery supervisor at Murray Springs, the hatchery is very specific about where they plant rainbow trout. “Cutthroat waters we try and keep cutthroat. We try to keep them separate,” he said. “All our rainbow plants are non-controversial.”

One native subspecies of the rainbow trout is not sterilized at Murray Springs: the Columbia River redband trout. This trout is native to the Yaak River area, and plans for planting it in that location are still under development.

The hatchery was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the Libby Dam project in the late 1970s. The hatchery is a cooperative effort of the Corp and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, & Parks.

The hatchery’s waters flow from an artesian spring, producing from 5 to 13 million gallons of water per day, depending upon the time of year. This water maintains a constant 52 degrees Fahrenheit, which is an ideal temperature for the westslope cutthroat and rainbow trout.

The rainbow trout at Murray Springs begin as eggs and sperm from broodstock on location. The fertilized eggs are hatched in incubators within 27 days. After hatching, the fry, or young fish, are transferred to hatchery tanks, where they are nourished by the yolk sacs attached to their bodies. Once the yolk sacs are absorbed, the young fish begin to feed. The fry are fed with special formula fish foods and quickly grow to fingerling size.

As the fish mature, they are transferred to raceways.

The fish are planted in lakes at one and two years old. At this age, rainbow are usually between four and seven inches long.

The westslope cutthroat trout at Murray Springs are taken as fertilized eggs from broodstock in an Anaconda hatchery, and are raised in much the same fashion as the rainbow. They are also planted in lakes between the ages of one and two years, at which time they measure from one to seven inches.

Murray Springs plants fish from April through October. “Our main emphasis is Lincoln County and the Koocanusa tributaries,” said Schreiber.

Helicopter planting is conducted during a three day period each July. Thirty to 40 alpine lakes are planted every year by helicopter on a rotating schedule, so that different lakes are planted each year. Over 100 lakes are planted during a three year period.

Holding a corkscrew pattern 20 feet above the icy waters of a cirque lake, the helicopter will drop five gallons of water containing between 1,000 and 8,000 inch-long fish into the lake.

The hatchery is manned seven days a week. Visitors are welcome anytime between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., though large groups should call ahead of time for a tour. Even in the evenings, Schreiber added, “people often come out and look at the outdoor raceways.”