Welcome to Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery

**NEWS for YOU: With great weather abounding, make plans to visit the hatchery soon with family and friends! Whether it's to picnic, fish, tour our Visitor/Environmental Education Center or to check out the raceways and feed our hungry, happy trout, Wolf Creek NFH offers something for everyone! And the best part? There's no charge to visit and tour! So make plans today to get outdoors and connected with nature at Wolf Creek NFH!

To better help plan your trip, please reference our hours of operation below.

Hours of Operation:

Visitor/Environmental Education Center Hours:
Jan – Apr: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm CST daily
May – Oct: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm CST daily
Nov – Dec: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm CST daily

**Wolf Creek NFH is open 7 days per week, 364 days per year (only closing on Christmas).

Also, during your visit, don't forget to check out our gift shop! Operated by the Friends of Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery, Inc., the shop offers a wide array of books, pins, fishing bait and light tackle, home decor and more - all designed with an outdoor/environmental education theme in mind. All proceeds from sales in the shop are used to help support the hatchery, its mission and environmental education and outreach needs. While on hand, take time to learn more about the hatchery as we offer a great hands-on scavenger hunt for younger kiddos and a new adventure called Questing! Inquire at the front desk for more information and/or check out our Catch a Rainbow! - Find the Treasure at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery Quest.

A visit to the hatchery may even inspire you to learn more about becoming a VOLUNTEER! Whether one day per week, month or a full-time Workamper looking to live and learn at an exciting, fun spot, contact Amanda Patrick, Environmental Education/Outreach Specialist, at 270-343-3797 or via email: amanda_patrick@fws.gov to check out the hatchery's volunteer opportunities! You can also stop by the hatchery and inquire at the front desk.

Don't forget too that the hatchery is a participating site for the America the Beautiful pass program! Senior and Access passes can be obtained at the front desk during normal Visitor/Environmental Education Center operating hours. For more information, including eligibility requirements for each pass, click HERE to learn more.

Station Facts

Established: 1975
Number of staff: seven permanent
Annual budget (FY09): $676,300

Geographic Area Covered

1. Cumberland River Basin, KY (mitigation) - Lake Cumberland/Tailwater (TW), Martin's Fork Lake/TW, Laurel River Lake/TW.
2. Kentucky River Basin, KY (mitigation) - Buckhorn Lake/TW, Carr Fork Lake/TW.
3. Green River Basin, KY (mitigation) - Nolin River Lake/TW, Rough River Lake/TW, Barren River Lake/TW.
4. Licking River Basin, KY (mitigation) - Cave Run Lake/TW.
5. Little Sandy River Basin, KY (mitigation) - Grayson Lake/TW, Yatesville Lake/TW.
6. Big Sandy River Basin, KY (mitigation) - Dewey Lake/TW, Fish Trap Lake/TW, Painstville Lake/TW.
7. Whitewater River Basin, IN (mitigation) - Brookville Lake/TW.
8. Kentucky lake and streams (reimbursable agreement).
9. Cherokee Indian Reservation, Cherokee, NC.

Fish Species and Capability

Rainbow Trout (mitigation/reimbursable) 219,644 lbs. - 684,355 fish at nine inches 1,600 lbs. - 16,000 fish at six inches.
Brown Trout (mitigation/reimbursable) 9,938 lbs. - 47,700 fish at eight inches 2,358 lbs. - 75,450 fish at four inches

Station Goals

1. Provide rainbow and brown trout for mitigation stocking in Kentucky and Indiana.
2. Provide rainbow and brown trout to the Commonwealth of Kentucky (state management goals) under a reimbursable agreement.
3. Provide rainbow and brown trout fingerlings for mitgration stocking in Georgia.
4. Provide a refuge for threatened or endangered aquatic species and develop techniques required to culture these species.
5. Assist Tribal governments in managing fisheries resources on Tribal lands.
6. Implement a thorough, perennial hatchery product evaluation program.
7. Maintain Visitor/Environmental Education Center.
8. Provide environmental education.
9. Develop and maintain partnerships with chambers of commerce, tourist commissions, Trout Unlimited and other agencies to promote regional support for the fish hatchery.
10. Maintain a “Friends Group” to gain community support for the fish hatchery.

Public Use Opportunities

1. More than 100,000 visitors yearly
2. Visitor/Environmental Education Center
3. Hatchery tours
4. Off-site presentations
5. ADA Accessible public fishing area

Outreach Events & Field Trip Opportunities

Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery has launched an exciting new program that offers children the opportunity to have meaningful interactions with fish and aquatic habitats! The Biologist-in-Training (BiT) program is an experiential environmental education curriculum that utilizes National Fish Hatcheries and streams, lakes, ponds and rivers as outdoor classrooms. For more information please visit www.fws.gov/southeast/fisheries/BiT or contact Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery at 270-343-3797 to plan your next field trip visit.

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Questions and Answers


What kind of fish do you raise?

Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery is a coldwater fish hatchery which means we raise fish that do best in water temperatures below 60 degrees. Species currently in production at this facility are rainbow and brown trout.

Where do the eggs come from?

The rainbow trout eggs come from one of three other Federal hatcheries, Erwin NFH, TN; Ennis NFH, MT; and White Sulphur Springs, WV. The brown trout eggs come from the Saratoga NFH, WY. All of the eggs are received overnight by Federal Express.

What size are the fish when stocked?

A small number of fish are stocked at four inches, four inches, six inches, and eight inches to meet specific management needs. The majority of our fish are stocked as a catchable nine inch fish.

How long does it take from the egg stage to stocking size?

It takes 16-18 months to get a trout from the egg stage to nine inches.

Where do you stock the fish raised here?

Most of the fish are stocked into Federal mitigation waters in Kentucky. The other fish are provided to the Commonwealth of Kentucky under a reimbursable agreement to meet management goals in state controlled waters. A total of 100 different waters in Kentucky are stocked with trout from this facility. A small number of fingerlings are provided to the Cherokee Indian Tribe in North Carolina.

Do you provide or sell fish to private individuals?

All fish raised at this facility are stocked into public fishing waters.

What do you feed them?

A special formulated trout diet very high in protein to obtain optimal growth. No cat food or dog food is used.

Where does the water come from?

The hatchery water is received gravity flow from Lake Cumberland at a rate of 12,000-15,000 g.p.m. The water is used one time then empties into the Cumberland River.

Do you provide all trout stocked in Kentucky?

Yes. The entire trout fishing program in Kentucky relies solely on the production of the Wolf Creek NFH.

What is the economic impact of the fish produced here?

The direct economic benefit of fish produced at the Wolf Creek NFH to the Kentucky economy is $50 million annually. The indirect benefit is estimated at over $75 million in 2007.

Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery to Remain Open During Dam Rehab Project

Questions and Answers

Wolf Creek NFH Featured on “Kentucky Afield"

Biotech Chris Murphy isn’t normally as comfortable in front of a camera as he is behind the wheel of a stocking truck. But he’s been at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery for twelve years, and has a thing or two to share about trout stocking in Kentucky.

In fact, every trout stocked into public waters in that state has been through Murphy’s net.

Murphy helped to demonstrate the hatchery’s efforts to keep Kentucky streams filled with healthy trout on a recent episode of “Kentucky Afield,” the country’s longest-running outdoors television series.

Also featured was Wolf Creek NFH volunteer Ralph Parrish, along with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and other conservation partners and volunteers.

To view “Backpack Trout Stocking in Kentucky” on YouTube go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRAQ3KQU6XI