The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is stocking hundreds of thousands of catchable catfish at community ponds and public fishing derbies across the state this spring.
Warm afternoons are back, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is making sure Arkansans have a great reason to head outside after school and work. The agency is shipping catchable-sized channel catfish from its four warmwater hatcheries to ponds and fishing derbies across the state, giving families an easy, affordable way to fish close to home.
Where Arkansas Catfish Come From: Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery in Lonoke
Every channel catfish the AGFC stocks in Arkansas starts its life at Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery in Lonoke, the commission’s oldest and largest warmwater hatchery. Hatchery manager Chad Wicker has spent 21 years raising and delivering fish to anglers throughout the state.
“It takes 18 months to two years for those catfish to develop from fry to catchable size,” Wicker said. “We spawn the catfish and hatch all the eggs here at Joe Hogan. We’ll hatch more than a million.”…