Manchester Fish Hatchery

The Manchester Fish Hatchery, located 4 miles southeast of Manchester, has a long and storied history. The first fish were produced here in the 1890s. It was operated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service until 1976 when it was given to the State of Iowa via a land trade. Since 1976, it has functioned as Iowa’s trout brood stock station where trout are spawned, incubated and hatched each year to produce over 600,000 fish to be stocked in Iowa waters.

Tours & Hours

The hatchery grounds are open from sunrise to sunset daily. Tours are self guided around the exterior raceways of trout. Office hours are by appointment.

Station Activities

• Spawning, incubating and hatching of rainbow, brook and brown trout.
• Raise and supply fingerling rainbow trout to both Big Spring and Decorah hatcheries.
• Raise and stock catchable size rainbow for Iowa’s stream and community trout fisheries.
• Building, grounds and equipment maintenance.
• A myriad of public relations duties including: guided tours, public speaking presentations, multi-media contacts and educational science class assistance.