BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — Seven miles west of Mountain Home a truck broke down, and with it, a large amount of finned passengers.
Hagerman State Fish Hatchery was traveling to Mann Lake near Lewiston with 4,000 pounds of 12-inch rainbow trout when the transport truck broke down.
Fish and Game came to the rescue and luckily had empty stocking trucks of their own. They were able to transfer the fish on the side of the highway. Crews from Nampa, Niagara Springs, and Hagerman hatcheries were able to net all of the fish and put them into smaller trucks.
All of the fish were stocked into Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir which was also in need of 12-inch rainbow trout.
The broken truck was towed to Boise and repaired. Crews delivered the load of fish to Mann Lake a week later.
Idaho Fish and Games says spring is the busiest time for their stocking crews. They will stock about 1.7 million rainbow trout (8 to 14 inches) in 2018, in addition to 15 million fingerling (juvenile) trout and kokanee salmon for anglers.
The Fish Stocking webpage shows where and when fish are getting stocked.
