Nature Trails: Cikana State Fish Hatchery one of state's most prolific
Harold Allison
Special to the Herald-Times
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of columns on Indiana's state fish hatcheries.
In two past columns I featured the East Fork Fish Hatchery located in southern Daviess County in the Glendale State Fish and Wildlife Area. It produces a variety of sport fish that are then stocked in lakes and streams across Indiana. Among the fish that come from the East Fork Hatchery are common including largemouth bass, channel catfish, fathead minnows and also exotic species such as the walleye, one of our most popular game fish, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, muskellunge and even trout that most of us never have a chance to catch.
In addition to the East Fork, there are six other Indiana state fish hatcheries scattered across Hoosierland. One is Driftwood, also in southern Indiana; another Cikana, is in central Indiana; while four others are in the northern section of our state. I will feature all of them in a series of columns that will run over the next couple of months.
Let's start with Cikana, pronounced si-kag-na, which is a form of the Native American word that means bass.
Cikana State Fish Hatchery is located near Martinsville in Morgan County. Is name is quite appropriate as this fish hatchery raises a lot of smallmouth bass that provide many hours of quality fishing for Hoosier anglers who love to hook this great tasting game fish. A large segment of Cikana was acquired from Grassforks Fisheries, which for many years produced goldfish that graced many home fish tanks, including mine, all over the United States. Cikana has a total of 105 ponds that can hold up to nearly 30 acres of water when all of them are in use. However, only about 40% of the ponds are utilized.
The hatchery is divided into two units. One, known as the East Unit, is 78 acres in size and has a total of 22 ponds that range in size from three tenths of an acre to around an acre and a half in size. There are four wells in this unit that provide the water to fill the ponds. There is also a 10,000-gallon reservoir tank that provides water for the fish culture building. This water has a constant temperature of 54 degrees, which is fine for the fish raised at the hatchery. The second segment of the hatchery is called the North Unit and has 13 ponds that range from three tenths to a little less than an acre in size. This 40-acre unit is well fed except for one pond that is spring fed.
Using mostly well water in these ponds makes it necessary to use some form of fertilizer to allow zooplankton to thrive. The zooplankton provide food for the small fish in the ponds they need to obtain the size needed before they can be placed in your favorite fishing lake.
Cikana can really produce fish. A typical year's production will include 20 million walleye fry, 150,000 walleye fingerlings, another 25,000 saugeye fingerlings and up to 100,000 channel catfish that range in size from 2 to 6 inches in length. In addition, add in 20,000 smallmouth bass, which usually are released into the Indiana streams that still have the good water quality. That's essential for the smallmouth need to reach a size that fisherman and women enjoy catching.
Another fish, the saugeye, raised at Cikana isn't as familiar to most people. This fish is a cross between a female walleye and a male sauger. Combine the two and you have a really great sport fish that is good to eat and fun to catch. None of the fish raised at Cikana are for sale to the public. All are stocked in state managed waters across the Hoosier state.
Where do you think many of the fish you love to catch and eat come from? Natural reproduction in our lakes and streams only provide part of the total. The rest comes from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' state fish hatcheries.