6 / OutdoorIllinois May 2007

At Little Grassy Fish Hatchery, visitors get to see how the channel catfish becomes a keeper.At Little Grassy Fish Hatchery, visitors get to see how the channel catfish becomes a keeper.

In the Company of C atfishIn the Company of C atfish

As the summer vacation seasonapproaches, planning the sum-mer itinerary kicks into full gear.What places should you visit?What events are there to attend?

For something a little out of the ordi-nary, why not include a trip to view theannual catfish production at LittleGrassy Fish Hatchery?

Little Grassy Fish Hatchery is one ofsouthern Illinois’ hidden jewels. Located7 miles south of Carbondale within theCrab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge,Little Grassy Hatchery is one of three

fish hatcheries operated by the Depart-ment of Natural Resources. LittleGrassy, labeled the “warm-water” hatch-ery, is DNR’s sole producer of channelcatfish. Approximately 220 state- or pub-

Story By Brenda GarverPhotos By Little Grassy Hatchery Staff

In late spring, staff at Little

Grassy Fish Hatchery prepare the

concrete raceways for catfish

spawning production.

May 2007 OutdoorIllinois / 7

atfishatfish

lic-owned waters are stocked each yearwith 8-inch nonvulnerable (of a size thatis less vulnerable to predation by largerfish) catfish.

Little Grassy Lake provides the waternecessary to operate the hatchery.When the lake water temperature reach-es 75˚ F (usually by the first of June),the catfish spawn is triggered. Just priorto the anticipated spawning event, adultchannel catfish are retrieved from on-site outdoor ponds. Adult male andfemale catfish are paired up accordingto body weight, placed into spawningcubicles in outdoor raceways and pro-vided a nesting site (in this case large

metal milk cans). As the water warms tothe appropriate temperature, the catfishenter the nest site and lay their eggs.Fertilized eggs are then collected bytechnicians and taken into the hatcheryfacility to be weighed and prepared forthe next step in the production process.

Spawns collected out of the cans arenot individual eggs but a mass of thou-sands of eggs held together by a clear,connective matrix. Before the eggs canbe placed into incubation jars, this massmust be separated. This is done byplacing each spawn into a large stain-less steel bowl, covering the eggs with a

1.5 percent sodium sulfite solution andstirring gently for six to eight minutesuntil the connective tissue is liquifiedand the bowl contains thousands of indi-vidual eggs. The eggs are counted,placed into tall, cylindrical hatching jarsand placed on racks in the incubationroom. A water tube into each jar allowsoxygenated water to continuously flowover the eggs, gently rolling the eggsuntil they hatch six days later.

One would expect to see a miniatureversion of an adult catfish when theeggs hatch, but this is far from whatappears at the end of six days. Newly

After a successful spawn, the egg

mass is removed from the spawn-

ing chambers and brought into the

hatchery buildings for the hatch.

About six days after incubation, catfish

eggs hatch and develop tiny tails. A few

days later, the clumsy eggs become

increasingly mobile and begin to swim

to the surface and feed as fry.

The channel catfish is one

of Illinois’ most popular sport

fish, and Little Grassy Fish

Hatchery in Makanda produces

some 30,000 8-inch channel

catfish annually.

The channel catfish is one

of Illinois’ most popular sport

fish, and Little Grassy Fish

Hatchery in Makanda produces

some 30,000 8-inch channel

catfish annually.

(Pho

toby

Eric

Eng

bret

son,

Eng

bret

son

Und

erw

ater

Pho

togr

aphy

.)

8 / OutdoorIllinois May 2007

hatched eggs are nothing more than ayolk sac with eye spots and a tiny flagel-lum-like tail. These strange little crea-tures are very mobile at this stage—whirling, spinning and wiggling. The tinytadpole-like fry are then placed intoshallow start troughs where they contin-ue their development.

Over the course of the next five toseven days, the fry absorb their yolksacs, gradually develop all body partsand begin looking like a catfish, com-plete with whiskers. As the yolk sac isdepleted, fry begin to become moremobile, eventually swimming to the topof the water, an indication that they areactively searching for food.

Automatic feeding boxes are set upon each of the start troughs and the cat-fish are fed around the clock. The smallfry (0.25 inches) are kept in the starttroughs for approximately three weeksand are fed a high protein, fish-meal-based powdered food.

The young catfish are moved out ofthe facility to outdoor ponds and fed wellto support their explosive growth phase.A mechanism for survival in the wild,changing quickly from a tiny speck to amobile fish helps ensure survival amongmany and varied predators. By Septem-ber, the catfish hatched in early Juneaverage 4 inches in length.

As winter approaches and the watertemperature drops, the channel catfishfingerlings eat less. When the watertemperature drops to 50˚ F and lower,the fish cease to actively feed and seekthe warmer, deeper sections in theponds. Here they stay until springtime,when water temperature begins to grad-ually warm. In mid April, techniciansdrain the ponds and harvest the 4- to 6-inch fingerlings using fish pumps.

Fingerlings are placed into 80-foot-long and 12-foot-wide outdoor concretetanks called raceways. Approximately30,000 catfish are placed into each race-way and it is here that they will finish theirgrowth to the nonvulnerable length of 8inches. The peak of feeding occurs at theheight of summer when water tempera-tures reaches 85˚ F to 90˚ F. It is usuallymid- to late July when the first nonvulner-able catfish are ready to be stocked.

From July through September catfishare delivered and stocked into their newdestinations. Visitors to the hatchery areallowed to feed the hungry catfish duringthe hot summer months until all arestocked out. It is always fun to take abucket of floating catfish food to theraceways and watch as thousands of

catfish fight and splash while trying tograb a few morsels of food.

So whether you live in the area, orare planning a trip to southern Illinois,add a visit to Little Grassy Fish Hatcheryto your list of things to do this summer.You’ll be glad you did.

Facts at a glance

Address: Little Grassy Fish Hatchery,1258 Hatchery Lane, Makanda, IL62958.Telephone: (618) 529-4100.Website: www.ifishillinois.org/programs/Hatcheries/stocking.html.Directions: TakeGiant City Road southfrom Route 13 (E.Main Street) inCarbondaleand proceedsouth forapproximately7 miles to GrassyRoad. Turn left(east) onto GrassyRoad. Travel 1 mileand turn left onto Hatch-ery Lane. Follow the laneto the visitor parking lot.Comments: Open to the public everyday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Walk-invisitors are welcome. Appointmentsencouraged for families or large groups.Call to arrange educational tours.

LittleGrassy

FishHatchery

LittleGrassy

FishHatchery

Prior to the spawn, individual catfish

cages in raceways are equipped with

milk cans to serve as “nests.”

Adult catfish collected in hatchery

ponds are identified by sex and

placed into individual cages, one

male and female per cage.

(Pho

toby

Joe

McF

arla

nd.)

Brenda Garver is the site interpreter atLittle Grassy Fish Hatchery.