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Thousands of eyed eggs fill cooler trays, waiting to be boxed up and shipped to hatcheries across the country. These eggs are from the last spawn at Erwin National Fish Hatchery in the 2025-2026 spawning cycle. Spawning season at Erwin NFH occurs every year, beginning in early July and wrapping up in late March or early April. Staff work hard to produce over 19 million brook and rainbow trout eggs which help to support recreation, mitigation, and education across 17 different states, ranging from New Mexico to Massachusetts to Tennessee.
These eggs are part of the 60 million produced annually through the US Fish and Wildlife Service's National Broodstock Program, which provides federal, state, tribal, and academic partners with certified disease free salmonid eggs. These eggs help to support recreation, mitigation, and conservation all across the country.
Spawning will start again at Erwin NFH in early July, when the Erwin-Arlee hybrid strain of rainbow trout begin to ripen. Until then, staff will continue to care for the trout, perform maintenance on hatchery equipment, work to support non-game species conservation, and prepare for another egg-cellent year of spawning in the 2026-2027 cycle!
