As the last of the ice thaws, Genoa National Fish Hatchery staff gear up for one of the busiest and most exciting times of year—spring spawning season. This is when we harvest our overwintered ponds, which hold a variety of fish including feeder minnows, mussel host fish, and adult spawning species such as Fathead Minnows, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Black Crappie, and Yellow Perch.
Adult minnows are collected and sorted, then moved to our 33-acre production pond where they will reproduce and serve as an essential food source for other fish on station. Throughout the summer, staff deploy approximately 20 cloverleaf minnow traps to capture minnows to feed hatchery fish as they grow.
Mussel host fish are transferred to hatchery buildings to support our mussel propagation program. Some are inoculated with native mussels and released into designated waterways, while others remain on station for monitoring and mussel production.
Adult spawning fish are also harvested and relocated to specific hatchery ponds where they will reproduce, producing the young-of-year fish that will grow throughout spring and be stocked in early summer and fall. Before any fish leave the facility, all fish are screened by our fish health team to ensure that we are not spreading pathogens.
Once our overwintered ponds are harvested and adult spawning fish are moved to their respective ponds, production season is officially underway!
By: Nicholas Bloomfield

Staff collecting different species of fish and sorting them into buckets. Then they will be transferred to a hatchery pond at the station. Photo credit: USFWS.