Seven Pines Fishery
HISTORY, FAME AND TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA
by Mary Stirrat

Ruby sorting fish

Seven Pines Fishery near Lewis enjoys the distinction of being one of the oldest hatcheries in Wisconsin. Not only is it a long history - it is also an interesting history, filled with well-known and wealthy people.

Owned and operated by Ruby and Hugo Ketulla, Seven Pines began in the late 1880s as a fish pond belonging to Captain Knapp. Millionaire Charles Lewis, a grain broker from Minneapolis, bought it from Knapp, constructing the fish ponds that are in use today and a feed mill/pump house that still stands.

Mr. Lewis owned all the property between the hatchery and Seven Pines Lodge, his summer home for getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The property has since been divided, and the fishery consists of 500 acres and half of the old pump house. According to Ruby Ketulla, a strange property sale was made which split the pump house between the fishery property and the neighboring property.

Hugo was born in Phelps, Wisconsin, and Ruby was from nearby Eagle River. They were in the furniture business, which seems to be a far cry from the fish business, when Hugo saw a "for sale" sign at a fish hatchery just west of Eagle River.

In 1956 the Ketullas bought the hatchery and began learning the business. They offered fishing experiences to vacationing families and individuals and would sometimes need more fish. Throughout their fish career at Eagle River the would often purchase from Seven Pines Fishery in Lewis.

They ended up at Seven Pines Fishery as the result of a swap when they heard that the owner of Seven Pines was interested in selling. In December 1964, Ruby and Hugo moved to their new fishery on Knapp Creek.

Nestled between undulating hills covered with maple trees are the fish ponds, continuously fed by multiple underground springs. Water is piped up from these springs into the ponds, where the temperature remains a nearly constant 48 degrees. Since the water can never freeze the fishery is in operation year-round.

The Ketullas raise some walleye and bass, but their biggest business is in rainbow and brown trout. With the help of their two sons, Richard and David, they raise the fish from the spawn stage to a salable size, keeping their own brood stock to produce more spawn.

Collection of spawn begins in November, and about 1 million eggs are taken each year. Once spawn is collected it is incubated in the hatchery built by Mr. Lewis in 1909.

Hatching out the eggs is an interesting and involved process. The eggs are spread onto a screen that measures about one foot by one and one-half feet. They are placed on top of a very fine screen in a battery, which is a low box with rectangular compartments. One fine screen then one spawn screen is placed in each compartment.

Water flows through the battery from one end to the other and through the screens constantly. After about 19 days, Ruby explains, you can begin to see eyes as the fish are forming. Another 19 days later they hatch.

After hatching each little fish, or fry, still has an egg pouch on its abdomen which provides its first food. Once its egg pouch is empty each fry will swim up to be fed. They are then moved into long, narrow tanks, about one foot deep, with water flowing through them. 'The water in each tank, says Ruby, flows at a rate of about six gallons per day.

As they get a little bigger and more eggs are hatched out, the fry are moved into another building and placed in round tanks, where they swim around and around. The water is kept circulating in these tanks by means of a pump, so the Ketullas have a backup generator. They also have warning lights in their home to indicate if the power has gone out.

Although they are only about one inch long a market exists for these small fry, and Seven Pines sells some of their fry stock to other hatcheries in Wisconsin.

"The little ones we feed many times a day," Ruby explains, "five or six times a day." Size of the food is relative to the size of the fish, ranging from silt like consistency to something the texture of sand and small pebbles. Feeding the smaller fish is done by gently laying the food on the surface of the water in the tanks.

When the fish get big enough they are moved into the ponds outside. As they reach different levels of growth they are scooped up from the pond with a seine and moved into a larger pond. Ruby estimated that one pond, about the width and length of one lane in a high school swimming pool, contains approximately 125,000 fingerlings, as they are called at this stage.

Each pond is aerated to induce oxygen into the water. They are all connected to each other so the water comes up from the springs, flows through each one and goes out into Knapp Creek. Screens between the ponds keep the fish from getting out of their home pond. Throughout the whole process the rainbow trout are kept separate from the brown trout.

Fisheries and hatcheries from the entire Midwest order fish from Seven Pines. They indicate the kind of fish, the size and how many pounds they want.

Since the fish can't be out of water the weighing process is somewhat elaborate. The Ketullas have a big tank on a scale, and they pour in a known amount of water, say 300 pounds, for example. If a customer wants 200 pounds of rainbow trout, the fish are seined out of the pond and placed into the tank until the scale reads 500 pounds.

These fish are then put into holding ponds, where they are held for three or four days without food. This is necessary, says Ruby, so they won't foul the water during transportation. The fish breathe the water and it is important that it is clean. The Ketullas then deliver the order to their customer.

Fish farming in Wisconsin is becoming a pretty big thing, Ruby observed. There are many varieties being raised, including walleye, catfish, tropical fish, and perch.

Most fish farms in Wisconsin belong to the Wisconsin Aquaculture Association, of which Hugo is the secretary/treasurer. They put out 800 copies of a quarterly newsletter called "The Creel," with Ruby as editor.

The newsletter and meetings of the association keep people in the fish industry up-to-date on problems and concerns, current and pending legislative action, and new concepts and methods.

At the last meeting of the association, March 17 and 18 in Stevens Point, there were over 400 people in attendance. This, Ruby says, is what used to be the Wisconsin Trout Growers, which boasted 25 members. Fish farming in Wisconsin is indeed becoming a pretty big thing.

With the growth came rules and regulations, which are certainly needed, agrees Ruby. Hatcheries need to be licensed, and licenses are given according to functions. Seven Pines is a Class A hatchery, breeding its stock. Type B licenses allow recreational fishing at the fishery, but do not allow hatching. Class C licenses are for fish ponds that raise fish for stocking purposes. According to "The Creel" in 1991 there were 98 Class A licenses issued, 218 Class B licenses and 1630 Class C licenses issued in Wisconsin.

Among the regulations fisheries are required to comply with is disease sampling and testing. Ruby is all for strict disease control but has found her fishery and the others in Wisconsin backed against a wall.

In the past, the state of Wisconsin was responsible for certifying private hatcheries. The Department of Natural Resources would collect the samples and run tests, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of LaCrosse running bacteria tests. If the hatchery passed these tests its certification would be renewed.

Budget cuts on the state level, however, have caused the state to discontinue its testing and certification of private hatcheries.
There is too much work and not enough money, they say, to test the state-operated fisheries alone.

Wisconsin's Animal Health Laboratory has agreed to do the bacteria testing but now there is no one to collect the samples. A veterinarian has been located who is willing to do the collecting, but he doesn't meet all the regulations in all states.

This issue has affected Seven Pines as well as other fisheries throughout the state. Testing conducted at the fishery found two cells containing stress-related diseases. "We wanted to run tests again because it was so minor," explained a frustrated Ruby, "and there are a lot of look-a likes for those particular bacteria. We never had that before, and we have the fish checked regularly.

Because of the changing regulations and lack of an adequate testing system the fish cannot be sold in Minnesota for one year and in Michigan for two years.

Through the trials and setbacks, however, the fame of Seven Pines Fishery continues. Its present fame is not necessarily through the wealth or renown of its owners, but through the world of art and film.

Walt Disney's "Wild Goose, Brother Goose" was filmed at the fishery, which is home to many Canada geese as well as trout. "We feed them, too," says Ruby. "That's why you see all the corn in the ponds."

The documentary "The Way of the Trout" was also filmed at Seven Pines, following the life cycle of a trout.

Artists have visited the fishery on many occasions to photograph the Ketullas' trout. From these photographs, images of the living creature, these artists make drawings and compete for the trout stamp.

One entire wall of the Ketullas' sunken living room is an aquarium, which gives artists an underwater view of the trout. The home is built into a hillside, and on the outside of the house the top of the aquarium is at ground level. The trout can be fed from up there but watched underwater from inside the home.

The fish in the aquarium are the result of experiments conducted by the University of Wisconsin and Southern Illinois University about two years ago. They were started from eggs, but, according to Ruby, the university has not shown any interest in the results yet.

Considering the many years the fishery has already been in operation, the university probably doesn't feel any pressure to
rush its experiment.