Sean Henderson, Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery, works with young trout in a race located in the hatchery's Salmon Building.

RIVERDALE – No towering mountains. No rushing streams of clear water flowing rapidly over a cobblestone bed. No anglers in waders flinging flyline in graceful arcs. No trout fly shops.

North Dakota certainly isn’t thought of as trout fisherman’s favorite destination, but that doesn’t mean the popular fish are prevalent in waters throughout the state. Every year thousands of trout are raised at the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery for release in North Dakota.

“Ninety-nine trout are native to the Pacific Northwest,” said Sean Henderson, Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery while attending to trout in an indoor raceway at the hatchery. “This strain is a river fish, from the eastern side of the Sierras. We actually get the eggs from Wyoming. That state has several brood stocked hatcheries where they produce the eggs.”

Various strains of trout are raised at the hatchery, generally mixing it up from year to year. One year might mean producing mostly a Shasta strain of rainbow trout, the following year Hot Creek rainbows. Sometimes brown and cutthroat trout too.

“Right now we’ve got 18,200 brown trout in the building,” remarked Henderson. “I think we’ve got 66,000 catchable-size Shasta strain rainbows too. Their target size is 10.75 inches and the last sample was at 10.4.”

That sample was taken at the end of December. The brown trout, explained Henderson, were doing very well, having reached 9.6 inches when only 9-inch fish were expected in early January.

“All of these will be fun for anglers,” said Henderson. “We had 12-inch, catchable size trout, going into winter and they will be stocked out in the spring.”

The trout were growing somewhat better than anticipated because of the late start to the winter season that resulted in warmer water than usual coming from Lake Sakakawea into the hatchery.

“In cold water they don’t grow as well,” explained Henderson.

Water from Lake Sakakawea flowing into the hatchery was at 36 degrees in mid-January. It has since dropped a few degrees. Ideally, said Henderson, a water temperature of 45 to 55 degrees is the best for fish culture purposes. The largest brood stock station in the federal fish hatchery system is at Ennis, Mont., where the water temperature is in the mid-50 degree range, quite different from what happens in North Dakota.

“Here the lake temperature is just above freezing,” noted Henderson. “These trout are a cold water animal that is entirely dependent upon the temperature of their environment.”

Nevertheless, the hatchery has learned how to successfully raise trout, year after year, for stocking into North Dakota waters, mostly small ponds. However, the Missouri River has a reputation for producing good numbers and good sized trout and salmon. Records from that flowage includes a 10 lb.-1 ounce cutthroat trout, 16 lb.-6 ounce lake trout, 21 lb.-4 ounce rainbow trout, and a 31 lb.-2 ounce chinook salmon.