Ten Sleep Fish Hatchery
HC 30 Box 2240
Ten Sleep, Wyoming 82442
(307) 366-2404

Located 8 miles east of the town of Ten sleep
on Highway 16.

Ten Sleep State Fish Hatchery was constructed in 1939 and is nestled in the beautiful Ten Sleep Canyon, 9 miles east of the town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming off U.S. Highway 16 on U.S. Highway 435. It is situated upstream form the confluence of Leigh Creek and Ten Sleep Creek at the base of the popular Big Horn Mountains.

Three permanent fish culturists, who are responsible for egg care and incubation, fish rearing, fish stocking, care and maintenance and the operation of the Ten Sleep Hatchery man the hatchery. Fish species raised at the Ten Sleep include rainbow brook, splake, Yellowstone cutthroat and Snake River cutthroat trout. In a typical year, the hatchery receives between 5 and 6 million green eggs, or eggs just fertilized, some of which are hatched at the facility, and others which are shipped to other facilities throughout the state and the country as eyed eggs. The eggs hatched at the hatchery are either stocked in area waters as fish or transferred to other state operated hatcheries. The hatchery is an integral part of the state’s fish culture system, providing approximately 1.2 to 1.3 million for other state facilities while also stocking approximately 250,00 fish into Wyoming’s waters.

The facility is supplied by three spring sources. The largest of the three springs provides 454 gallons/minute at a constant temperature of 60 degrees, while the smaller two provide 269 gallons/minute at a constant temperature of 46 degrees. The three can either be mixed or separated to provide a wide variety of hatching and rearing temperatures.

Finally, the hatchery will be the new home of the endemic Yellowstone cutthroat broodstock. The ground breaking of a new brood facility will begin in the summer of 2003. The Yellowstone cutthroat currently housed at the Clark’s Fork Fish Hatchery will be transferred to Ten Sleep upon completion of the new brood complex. Offspring from these fish will be used for restoration efforts as well as for stocking in popular fishing waters throughout the state.

The hatchery invites you to stop by and visit! Visiting hours are from 8am to 5pm daily, 7 days a week.