Fishing_Content Page_Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery

Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery

Fishing Wisconsin

Wild Rose Hatchery from the air
 

Hatchery information

Wild Rose is a reliable workhorse that's been delivering fishing fun and enhancing and restoring fish populations in Wisconsin for more than a century. Wild Rose State Fish hatchery grows more trout and salmon than any other and produces musky, sturgeon and walleye to test anglers statewide.

Wild Rose brochure [PDF]

Hatchery visitor hours (Note: hours are subject to change without notice)

New Hours: The Visitor Center Building will be open at 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday and summer holidays. Visitor Hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the property.

VIRTUAL GROUP TOURS AVAILABLE BY APPOINTMENT. Virtual group tours will continue to be available by request with advance notice..  Send an Email request at least 2 weeks before your group event to joan.voigt@wisconsin.gov to arrange for your group’s virtual tour.  Hatchery tour topics include the Wild Rose Hatchery Tour, Ancient Lake Sturgeon, Invasive Aquatic Species, History of the Great Lakes Fishery, and a look at the past - Historic Wild Rose Hatchery.  Lesson worksheets can be sent by email ahead of the virtual tour for class participation.

To schedule Group Tours of 10 or more, email or call 2 weeks in advance: joan.voigt@wisconsin.gov or (920) 622-3527, Ext. 209

CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC: November through March

SPECIAL EVENTS:  Free family activities including fish printing on t-shirts, learn to cast, fly rod casting, learn to identify your catch, and fish games for all ages.

  • SPRING STURGEON CELEBRATION held the first Saturday in May
  • FALL FISH MIGRATION held the last Saturday in October. 
  • WILD ROSE DAYS held the fourth Saturday in July. Learn to cast at Roberts Park on Wild Rose Millpond from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Visitor Center open from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday to view exhibits and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to feed brown trout in the old hatchery.

Carry-In, carry-out

We invite you to enjoy a picnic on hatchery grounds, but please plan to take out what you bring in.

Hatchery location

N5871 State Rd 22
Wild Rose WI 54984

Visiting

What can I do at the hatchery?

There's a lot to do at Wild Rose! Come and see the new Wild Rose Hatchery Education Center, where you'll find two large aquariums, interpretive displays, activities, and games that help tell the story of the fish hatchery then and now.

You can also take a peek at hatchery production from the coldwater (trout and salmon) observation room, then stroll down to the historic village where Wild Rose first began and fish still swim in the raceways.

Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the scenery in the historic village, a tradition since the early 1900s.

Fish production

With the completion of the new coldwater facilities, Wild Rose is currently producing brown trout, Chinook and coho salmon. The coolwater facilities produce northern pike, walleye, lake sturgeon and great lakes spotted musky.

Wild Rose Fish
With both cool and coldwater capabilities, Wild Rose is able to raise a variety of fish.

 

Stocking

spotted musky
John Aschenbrenner hauled in this 50-inch spotted musky on the Fox River near downtown Green Bay

Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery is critical to Wisconsin's $2.75 billion sport fishery. The hatchery is particularly important to great Lake Michigan fishing; 100 percent of the coldwater fish (trout and salmon) raised at Wild Rose are stocked into the big pond. Lake Michigan has been considered a "world-class" fishery and thanks to the renovations of Wild Rose, we can be confident that it will live up to its reputation.

Cool facts

  • Year in, year out, Wild Rose produces more than 2 million trout and salmon for stocking; and
  • It's one of only 3 hatcheries to raise both cold and coolwater fish.