Lake Burton Fish Hatchery

 

While we were in the north Georgia mountains, we visited the Lake Burton fish hatchery where tons of trout are raised from fingerlings and then released locally. They raise brown, brook and rainbow trout.

This gives you an idea of the set-up.

I loved the official screwdriver that held the handle together on the valve.

 

This is a feeder that “auto-magically” feeds the fish, by a timer.

Trout require highly oxygenated water and cool temperatures, which is why they are not Florida fish. Pumps were bringing in water from the river and then sending it through the tanks and back into the river.

Some of the fingerlings were trying to  swim upstream. The five dark things in the foam are fish. I won’t tell you how many pictures of foam I took to get some with fish in them!

Some of the adult trout must have been in mullet training: they were practicing their high-jumping.

All of the black spots in the water in the picture below are fins.

Photographing thousands of fish turned out to be harder than I expected. Our eyes work around the reflections better than the camera does.

A few years back we had taken B’s Boy Scouts for a week of camping at Blackrock Mountain State Park in the youth camping area. During the week, we had visited the fish hatchery at Lake Burton. While we were eating at the picnic table, a large group of motorcyclists rode by on noisy bikes. Those facing the lake continued eating. Those facing the road, dropped their jaws as an older biker chick rode by, topless. Oh, my. I was facing the lake and missed that view, but the view of their faces was a memorable one.