Meade Fish Rearing Station is located 8 miles south and 5 miles west of Meade in Meade County Kansas. This Department owned complex of 1,244 acres encompasses Meade State Park and Fishing Lake, Meade Wildlife Area and Meade Fish Rearing Station. Meade Fish Rearing Station is the only hatchery in southwest Kansas.
ABOUT THE HATCHERY
Initially constructed in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the hatchery now consists of seven ESS-13 lined ponds covering 10.9 surface acres holding a volume of 28.7 acre feet of water. The term ESS-13 relates to a soil sealant that has been applied to the soil in our ponds to prevent seepage. Meade Fish Rearing Station is the first hatchery in the nation that has used this technique to seal ponds. Additional construction began in the winter of 2002 to finish lining the remaining twelve ponds. When this project is complete Meade will have a total of nineteen ponds. Water for the hatchery ponds and Meade Lake is pumped from a 10” well that flows 1,500 gallons a minute.
Hatchery buildings at Meade include an Adobe office/workshop/auxiliary living quarters that was constructed in 1933. The hatchery manager resides on station in a two-story frame house that was constructed in 1918. Other buildings present at this facility include a 25’ x 50’ metal storage building constructed in 1983. The hatchery also has a cinder block fish house located in the park that contains four 700 gallon holding tanks and a walleye egg hatching unit.
Fish species cultured at the Meade facility include; intermediate channel catfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleye and grass carp. In recent years a program has been initiated for the establishment of a northern strain of native Kansas largemouth bass.