Black and white photo of people loading trout with a mechanical loader into a truck. — **Plate I.** Fish loader in 1956, San Joaquin Hatchery. From wildlife.ca.gov

A black and white photograph shows a fish hatchery with rows of outdoor raceways and buildings. — **Plate II.** Historical view of San Joaquin Hatchery. From wildlife.ca.gov

An elevated view of concrete fish hatchery raceways filled with clear water and numerous fish. — **Plate III.** Fish raceways at San Joaquin Hatchery. From flickr.com

A long indoor water channel or treatment facility with multiple concrete basins. — **Plate IV.** Indoor tanks, San Joaquin Hatchery. From flickr.com

Numerous blue circular tanks for fish farming fill a large greenhouse structure. — **Plate V.** Fish tanks, San Joaquin Hatchery. From flickr.com

A group of fish swimming in a shallow blue pool. — **Plate VI.** Trout in tank, San Joaquin Hatchery. From flickr.com

San Joaquin Hatchery

Friant, Fresno County, California. Fish hatchery.

Details

Map. Friant, Fresno County, California. Larger map

Where: 17372 Brook Trout Drive, Friant, CA 17372. Directions
When: Grounds and restrooms: open daily, 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; FINS parking lot, trails, open spaces: open daily, sunrise to sunset.
Getting there: Located 1 mile below Lake Millerton Dam, about 12 miles north of Fresno.
Access: Lower parking lot: Open 7:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Additional parking and ADA parking to access the hatchery grounds is available. East of Highway 41 at Friant. From Friant road, turn west onto Flemming Road and follow the road to the small lower parking lot. Vehicles must be removed from the lower parking area by 3:00 p.m. daily.
Walk-in or reserve: Self-guided Tour: Brochures available in the Hatchery Office or can be printed from the San Joaquin Hatchery website.
Phone: (559) 822-2374
Website: wildlife.ca.gov
Managed by: California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A major producer of trout and inland salmon, San Joaquin Hatchery is also a great place to visit. Along the San Joaquin River, just downstream of the Friant dam, San Joaquin Hatchery has picnic grounds among the garden of California native vegetation. Take a photo with the enormous wood-carved rainbow trout!

Notable Events

1921The San Joaquin Experimental Hatchery was built near Friant due to the loss of spawning grounds when the Kerckoff Dam was completed, the first hatchery on the San Joaquin River. wildlife.ca.gov
1932Built with help from the Fresno Sportsmen's Club, the Friant Bass Hatchery was rife with problems; the current San Joaquin Hatchery was constructed on its site. wildlife.ca.gov
1948For the first two years, experimental work was undertaken to determine if Millerton Lake water could successfully grow fish. wildlife.ca.gov
1953$750,000 was allocated from the Wildlife Conservation Board to build the hatchery. wildlife.ca.gov
1955Dedicated in 1955, the hatchery had 36 ponds, a hatchery building with 104 troughs, and twelve redwood tanks, plus numerous outbuildings and employee housing. wildlife.ca.gov
1960In 1960 twelve more ponds were built; together with the new Moccasin Creek facility of 1954, many smaller facilities were shut down and operations relocated to the modern facilities. wildlife.ca.gov
2015About 80,000 pounds of rainbow trout were rescued from the hatchery and moved to cooler waters in Shaver Lake as a result of the drought; temperatures in Millerton Lake had reached nearly 70 degrees, threatening the trout's survival at the hatchery below Friant Dam. kmjnow.com

Details

Notable Events

Sources