Grayling Visitors Bureau

Official site for tourism information for the Grayling, Michigan area

,
 


Apparent:
Pressure:
Humidity: %
Winds:
Windgusts:
UV-Index:
Sunrise:
Sunset:
 
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on FlickrFollow Us on YouTube
  • Home
  • Videos
  • News
  • Links
  • How To Get Here
    • Crawford County Air Terminal
    • Historic Old U.S. 27
  • Contact Us
    • Mailing Lists
  • Special Places to Visit
    • The Arts
      • Murals
        • Post Office Mural
    • Fish Hatchery
    • Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling MI
      • Wedding/Chapel use
    • Historical Sites
      • Crawford County Historical Museum
      • Lovells Historical Society
      • W.J. Beal Tree Planting
      • Camp Grayling
    • Wellington Farm, USA
  • Things to Do
    • Birdwatching
    • Boating and Swimming
    • Canoeing & Kayaking
    • Disc Golf Courses
    • Downhill Skiing
    • Fall Color Tours
    • Fishing
      • Ice Fishing
      • Fishing Services
      • Fly Fishing
      • Lake Fishing
    • Geocaching
    • Golfing
    • Hunting
    • Morels-Morels-Morels
    • Motorcycle Friendly
    • Playgrounds
    • Skate Park
  • Events
  • Where to Sleep, Eat & Shop
    • Lodging
      • B&B/Specialty Accommodations
      • Cabins
      • Hotels
        • Ramada Inn
      • Motels
    • Wi-Fi/Computer Access
    • Restaurants
    • Night Life
    • Shopping
    • Camping
    • Churches
  • Trails
    • Biking
    • Cross Country Skiing
    • Hiking
    • Horse Trails
    • ORV
    • Skijoring
    • Snowmobiling
    • Winter Hiking, Ski Walking and Snowshoeing
  • Rivers & Lakes
You are here: Home / Special Places to Visit in Grayling MI / Fish Hatchery

Fish Hatchery

 

John L. Russell

Over 5,000 trout swim in the ponds of the Fish Hatchery in Grayling MI. Part of the fun of visiting the hatchery is watching the water churn as the greedy trout fight for their share of the fish food which can be purchased for a small donation. The thousands of brook, brown and rainbow trout range from 2 1/2 to 28 inches in length.The hatchery is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day Saturday and Sunday, 12-4.

 

Fish Hatchery in Grayling MI History

Shut down in the mid-60’s, the Fish Hatchery re-opened Memorial Day of 1983. By Labor Day, over 40,000 visitors had passed through the gates. Grayling Hatchery, Inc. operates the hatchery. Before it closed, the hatchery was run by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The fish hatchery had its beginnings in 1914 when Rasmus Hanson obtained the property on the East Branch of the Au Sable River through timber rights. In 1916 he formed a group of outdoorsmen called the Graying Fish Hatchery Club. Rasmus served as President, and his wife Margrethe [for whom Lake Margrethe is named] was the secretary/treasurer. They sold $5,000 worth of stock certificates for operating funds.

The men who joined the club were among the first in Michigan to recognize the need to reinforce natural trout reproduction in our streams by hatching and rearing fish in protected ponds. Farsighted in recognizing the need for fish management and protection, the group dedicated themselves to supplying area streams with as many trout as possible. William B. Mershon, who was the club vice-president in 1920, was quoted as saying “that each and everyone of us will do our best to educate this horde of fishermen, they are not anglers, to put back the undersized fish carefully, to lecture them on yanking fish off the hook instead of taking them off gently. To do all we can to put a stop to forest fires, for we all know that the forest cover, the green stuff, is necessary to keep up the water supply and keep the trout streams cool to help shade the banks, and that verdure does furnish trout food in the bugs that feed thereon”.

During those years, wood planks lined the sides of the ponds to stabilize the banks. Visitors can still see some of the original work done by those pioneer trout planters.

Their original purpose was to save the nearly extinct Grayling fish, once prevalent in the AuSable River. While that effort failed, the Grayling Fish Hatchery club did succeed, and members continued planting brook and brown trout in the AuSable River system. They hatched and reared hundreds of thousands of fish until modern technology dictated they build new facilities to better guarantee proper water temperature and aeration.

After 10 years of operation, the hatchery was sold to the State of Michigan in 1926 for $10,000. It remained in operation until the late 1960’s when it was abandoned to lay dormant, gathering weeds, mud and debris.

In 1979, another Grayling Fish Hatchery Committee was formed, this time to pursue reopening the hatchery. After four years of letters, meetings and phone calls, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources issued a use permit in May of 1983 to the County of Crawford “for the purpose of reopening the facility as a tourist attraction to view adult populations of trout”. It was also agreed that the many ponds lined with concrete caused the water to warm, which was not beneficial to the trout.
In order to reduce the number of ponds, it was necessary to haul over 5,000 cubic yards of fill dirt to fill half the ponds. To complicate the problem, the filling of every other one meant hauling thousands of wheelbarrows of dirt around one pond to fill the next one. That problem was solved when the local unit of the Michigan National Guard adopted the task as a civic project. Not only did the guard supply many hours of volunteer time, but also called on its many technicians to engineer the vast undertaking. With this expertise, portable bridges were brought into use to span open ponds to reach the ones to be filled. The guardsmen operated small front-end loaders inside the ponds to clean out sludge which had accumulated over the years. Massive five cubic yard loaders were utilized to fill the many trucks which transported the fill from a local sand hill to the hatchery.

4890 W. North Down River Road
Grayling, MI 49738

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Updates

  • Post Office Mural from Great Depression
  • Upcoming Hunting Seasons
  • Visit Hartwick Pines State Park
  • Local man wins Ore-to-Shore Mountain Bike Race
  • Fall is coming…
  • Keep updated with our Facebook
  • Fall Golfing
  • Canoeing & Kayaking

Events Calendar

Loading view.
  • October 2023

Calendar of Events

S Sun

M Mon

T Tue

W Wed

T Thu

F Fri

S Sat

0 events, 1

0 events, 2

0 events, 3

0 events, 4

0 events, 5

1 event, 6

8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

October 6 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

If you think Wellington Farm Park's corn maze is challenging during the day, try navigating it during the night with only the help of a full moon and maybe a […]

$12

3 events, 7

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

GPA Arts & Crafts Show

October 7 @ 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

GPA Arts & Crafts Show

$1
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Harvest Fest

October 7 @ 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Harvest Fest

8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

October 7 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

If you think Wellington Farm Park's corn maze is challenging during the day, try navigating it during the night with only the help of a full moon and maybe a […]

$12

0 events, 8

0 events, 9

0 events, 10

0 events, 11

0 events, 12

0 events, 13

1 event, 14

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

October 14 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

This is probably one of the most attended events of the year at Wellington Farm Park.  It represents everything fall.  Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins flying through the air catapulted […]

1 event, 15

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

October 15 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

This is probably one of the most attended events of the year at Wellington Farm Park.  It represents everything fall.  Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins flying through the air catapulted […]

0 events, 16

1 event, 17

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Skyler Day/Zie in concert

October 17 @ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Skyler Day/Zie in concert

Ausable Artisan Village Presents: Singer, Songwriter, Actress Skyler Day Date: 10/17/2023 Time: 6:00pm Location: Ausable Artisan Village 219 Michigan Avenue, Grayling, MI. Skyler Day is a singer, songwriter, and producer […]

0 events, 18

0 events, 19

0 events, 20

1 event, 21

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

October 21 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

This is probably one of the most attended events of the year at Wellington Farm Park.  It represents everything fall.  Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins flying through the air catapulted […]

1 event, 22

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

October 22 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

This is probably one of the most attended events of the year at Wellington Farm Park.  It represents everything fall.  Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins flying through the air catapulted […]

0 events, 23

0 events, 24

0 events, 25

0 events, 26

1 event, 27

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

October 27 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

Not only can you enjoy seeing Civil War soldiers re-enact battles, you can visit their camp and see what life was like for the Civil War soldiers on the front […]

1 event, 28

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

October 28 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

Not only can you enjoy seeing Civil War soldiers re-enact battles, you can visit their camp and see what life was like for the Civil War soldiers on the front […]

1 event, 29

11:00 AM - 4:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

October 29 @ 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

Not only can you enjoy seeing Civil War soldiers re-enact battles, you can visit their camp and see what life was like for the Civil War soldiers on the front […]

0 events, 30

0 events, 31

0 events, 1

0 events, 2

0 events, 3

0 events, 4

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
October 6
October 6 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

October 7
October 7 @ 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

GPA Arts & Crafts Show

October 7 @ 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Harvest Fest

October 7 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

October 14
October 14 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
October 6
October 6 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

October 7
October 7 @ 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

GPA Arts & Crafts Show

October 7 @ 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Harvest Fest

October 7 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Event Series

Full or Half Moon Corn Maze

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
October 14
October 14 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

October 15
October 15 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

  • There are no events on this day.
October 17
October 17 @ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Skyler Day/Zie in concert

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
October 21
October 21 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

October 22
October 22 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Pumpkin Chunkin’

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
October 27
October 27 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

October 28
October 28 @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

October 29
October 29 @ 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM Event Series

Civil War Re-enactment

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
View Calendar
  • Special Places to Visit
  • Things to Do
  • Events
  • Where to Sleep, Eat & Shop
  • Trails
  • Rivers & Lakes
  • Links
  • How To Get Here
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 Grayling Visitors Bureau

Designed & Powered by Ponder Consulting ®

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok