MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — It won't be long before you'll be able to cast a line and reel in the trout you see at Big Brown Fish Hatchery in Chestnuthill Township.
"It's looking good. We always get excited come mid-February because mid-March we start to stock fish all over the place," said Allen Conklin, the general manager.
Conklin says the hatchery raises about 500,000 to 600,000 brown, brook, rainbow, and golden trout every year to stock private fishing clubs and ponds all over Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut.
It takes about a year to raise the fish. Conklin says Mother Nature plays a big role.
"We count on getting good growth through the spring, so we can keep growing fish in the sizes we need to stock for our fish-and-pay lakes and for other customers. So that would be difficult, and then it's always tough to raise trout if you don't have the water supply. So as long as we get enough precipitation, we can usually make it work."
The warmer winter has helped the fish grow in size and weight.
"Typically, in the winter, it's a lot of maintenance work, getting the truck ready and keeping the fish alive. But because it's been such a wet and warm winter, the fish have been growing a lot, so there's been a lot of feeding and sorting to keep things organized by size and ready to go."
While a lot of people like to catch and release, Conklin says trout is healthy for you to eat.
"We have our fee fishing lakes where it's catch-and-keep, of course. But it's similar to salmon with omega three fatty acids, the proteins that are really important for health."
Big Brown's fish-and-pay lakes open on March 18.
Trout season opens statewide on April 1.