Idaho Fish and Game’s Sawtooth Hatchery will give away spawned steelhead to the public beginning March 31.
Steelhead will be available Mondays and Thursdays on a first-come, first-served basis until spawning is complete for the year. The public can pick up a numbered tag at the hatchery’s spawning facility between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., with the steelhead to be given away at 2:00 p.m. People can only pick up one tag per person. Number of fish per person depends on fish available and number of tags distributed. Numbers of available steelhead will not be known until the day of spawning.
Must be 18 years or older to receive fish and will need to provide personal cooler or bag and ice.
For more details, visit Sawtooth Hatchery’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sawtooth.hatchery, or call 208-774-3684 for a recording of the give-away process.
Located 5 miles south of Stanley on Highway 75, the anadromous fish hatchery was constructed in 1985 to rear spring Chinook salmon and collect eggs from steelhead. Sawtooth Fish Hatchery is also involved in trapping sockeye salmon. Catchable rainbow trout are also held at the hatchery for stocking into lakes and streams throughout the valley from June to August.