Seven Pines Fishery -- Among The Oldest In Wisconsin
by Donna Sanders

David and Richard sorting trout

As you go north in Wisconsin, dairy farms become less frequent and the trees more dense. Not far from Lewis in northwest Wisconsin, there is a driveway that looks like it was just carved into the woods. Yet if you follow it for about a mile through the trees that touch overhead, you will discover Seven Pines Fishery, one of the oldest and largest in the state.

Nestled into the north woods are 19 spring-fed ponds covering about 10 acres. These ponds produce from 750,000 to one million fish each year, mainly rainbow and brown trout but also some walleye, largemouth bass and even some bluegills.

Fish have been raised here for over 100 years. First to supply fish for guests at a nearby summer home that is now a resort, then as a commercial operation. A building still on the property, called the new hatchery, was built in 1909.

Hugo and Ruby Ketulla, owners of Seven Pines since 1964, were recently inducted into the Wisconsin Aquaculture Association's Hall of
Fame.

We got started in 1956 at a different location over in Vilas County. We had just sold a furniture business. Hugo saw a sign on the road that there was a trout hatchery for sale. So we went and looked at it and first thing we knew we owned it. We didn't know a dam thing about it, Ruby recalls with a chuckle.

I don't know why we bought the first hatchery except that I was kind of interested for a long time, Hugo says. I had got different papers on minnow raising. I hadn't even thought about trout even though I fished trout all the time.

But that was quickly remedied as they took as many classes as they could. A strategy they recommend for anyone
interested in fish farming.

We started at an opportune time in the trout business, Hugo explains. Before that you had to grind horse meat and liver to feed the fish. We even ground some, but we usually used it for a starter feed. Now you can even start Out the trout on dry feed right from day
one. They are minute little things when they are hatched and yet they eat that dry feed and do well on it.

The Ketullas pointed out that trout have been domesticated for a long time and thrive on dry fish food, while other species like perch and largemouth bass have to be taught to eat pellets. They also pointed out that the quality of fish food has improved over the years. They now buy theirs from a firm in Utah.

If we didn't have to feed them, we would be very wealthy, Ruby says. However, there is no other animal in the world that grows any better than a trout. The conversion ratio is 1.2 pounds of feed to one pound of trout. For beef it takes 40 pounds of feed to produce a pound of meat, she says.

The walleyes they raise are simply put out in a pond and scrounge for themselves all summer long. At the end of the summer they are sometimes five inches long, and sometimes seven or eight inches long, Ruby says. These walleye fingerlings are usually sold in the fall to lake associations.

The trout are sold in a variety of sizes and to a variety of buyers including adult size fish for urban fishing programs and to fish and game clubs, lake associations and other hatcheries. The only restaurant they supply is the lodge next door.

When the Ketullas first moved to Seven Pines they would buy eggs from Washington state. Now they take their own. Or rather their sons Richard and David do, as the boys now strip the fish, do the hatching feed the fish generally take care of them. Hugo and Ruby are on the road delivering the fish from March through June.

Although some people come to pick up their fish, the Ketullas never allow them to dump water. Taking their own eggs and preventing the introduction of other water helps to maintain a healthy hatchery.

Another in maintaining healthy, fish is not to overcrowd them. When we came here, every pond was stuffed with fish, Ruby recalls. And
they started dying on us too, Hugo adds.

We tried to find out what was wrong, Ruby says. But we couldn't find out the problem until we found a pamphlet that explained that if they were too crowded, the ammonia from their own excrement would kill them. And it doesn't have to be very much ammonia to prevent the fish from using oxygen. Although there is a scientific way to determine if the fish are too crowded, we have never used it.

Actually you can tell when fish are getting too crowded without having to weigh them all and count them, Hugo adds. If you are starting to run low on oxygen you will notice it in the morning. You look at the ponds and the fish will be swimming with their dorsal fins above the water and they will jump and do everything they can to get out. That indicates that you need to thin them. If you don't, they will die and themselves.

Seven Pines' water is optimum for raising trout. When it bubbles out of the ground it is about 48-49 degrees. That is a good temperature for trout Ruby explains. Where we were before at our previous hatchery, the water was 42 degrees when it came out of the ground. The fish did not grow as well because it was too cold. Here we have enough flow that during the summer the bigger ponds only warms up five degrees.

Their biggest problem is predators. Besides osprey and heron taking fish, they often wound the larger fish. Then they can't be sold. Sometimes even otter and mink feast on the trout confined to their ponds.

The Ketullas get hundreds of calls from people interested in fish farming.

The most usual question people ask is if I go into fish farming how much money can I make. You don t know what kind they are going into. What species, what type of water or how hard they want to work, Hugo says with a shake of his head.

I would say if you have good healthy stock and good water, it is really not difficult to raise fish. But if you have marginal water or poor stock then it can be a battle. There are not very many chemicals to use to cure them if they get sick, Hugo explains.

From their living room the Ketullas look out over their ponds while several feeders attract birds and a huge aquarium with giant rainbow trout lines one wall. Its Obvious they found a profession that provides a lifestyle they still enjoy.

Donna Sanders is a freelance writer from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.