- 1260 Red Hollow Road, Max Meadows, VA 24360
- Hours: Sunday–Saturday, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
- Phone: 276-637-3212
- Map & Directions
- Hatchery Manager: Butch Bates
The Fish
The temperature and chemistry of the facility source water at Wytheville Fish Hatchery are almost perfect for spawning and rearing both rainbow and brown trout. In a typical year, more than 150,000 trout (75% rainbow, 25% brown) are stocked from the facility, with an average length of 12–14 inches and an average weight of just under a pound each. These fish are released into almost 40 different bodies of water, including streams, lakes, and rivers across 10 counties in Southwest Virginia. The hatchery also releases close to 100,000 brown and rainbow fingerlings into Special Regulation and other waters in several counties in a typical year.
The Wytheville Hatchery also operates as a spawning and brood stock station, taking over three million eggs per year from facility-reared brood fish and rearing all life stages of rainbow and brown trout. The facility serves as a major transfer station as well, supplying other DWR trout hatcheries with hundreds of thousands of young rainbow and brown trout each year. The hatchery also produces sterile triploid brown and rainbow trout for stocking into select waters where Fisheries managers wish to avoid reproduction or competition with existing wild trout populations.
Background
Built and placed into service in 1964 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the hatchery was transferred to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) in 1983. Two deep, underground upwelling aquifers, both of which are located on the 100-acre DWR property surrounding the hatchery complex, supply source water for the facility. Both water sources are high-quality, high-flow limestone spring water with an almost constant temperature of 55°F year-round. Flows to the facility remain fairly consistent over the long term at an average of 2,400 gallons per minute.
The facility typically hosts several student interns per year who complete both short- and long-term internships in basic trout culture and hatchery operations, some of which result in academic credits for the experience.
Public Access
The facility is open to visitors seven days per week between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM, 365 days per year. The Wytheville State Fish Hatchery is located near the communities of Max Meadows and Fort Chiswell and may be accessed from either Exit 80 or Exit 84 off Interstate 81 in Wythe County.
