British Columbia Fishing Blog

Yesterday we spent several hours at the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery to finish up some footages needed for an upcoming video on the hatchery steelhead program. The winter steelhead spawning at the hatchery will be wrapped up in a couple of weeks from now. Here are some photos taken from yesterday.

Some remaining cutthroat trout that are waiting to be spawned for the rest of this season.

A Chehalis River winter steelhead that has just been spawned.

Sleepy steelhead in the recovery tank after being spawned.

Disinfecting fertilized eggs with iodine.

Starting today, Lower Mainland lakes will receive their second stockings of rainbow trout of the season. The bulk of the stockings will be done next week. On Saturday April 12th, the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC will kick off its “Fishing in the City” program at Rice Lake, North Vancouver. I will have more information on it in the near future.

Can’t catch steelhead but still want to touch them? Then a job at the local hatchery is perfect for you! Today we spent several hours at the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery in Abbotsford to capture some footages for an upcoming video feature. Operated by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, this hatchery does not only produce rainbow trout for lakes but is also responsible for the steelhead brood program of several rivers across the Lower Mainland. Our objective today was to film the cutthroat trout spawning process, but the hatchery staff also demonstrated some steelhead spawning. Here are some photos for a preview.

While the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery is exclusively operated by paid staffs, there are many community hatcheries in the Lower Mainland that are constantly looking for volunteers to perform spawning, egg sorting, fish feeding and general cleaning duties. For more information, please contact your DFO community advisor and ask him or her to provide you some contacts.

http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/community/contacts/ca_e.htm