Buford Trout Hatchery

The kids from our church love this place. They get to see how trout are raised and can fish in the back with the hatcheries catch and release pond. They picnic tables and benches as well as restroom facilities. Make sure to bring food and drinks as none are available here.

For a free outing with the kids, or just a day out of town to see something new. This is a fairly small hatchery as far as hatcheries go. I believe they have 4 employees. There is a tour each Sat at 100p and its free.
During the tour they will show you the food, and feed the fish, and scoop a few out if you have small kids so they can touch if they want. You learn that these fish here are fed a better diet than many hatcheries, and they have less waste in the bottoms to clean out by spending more for better food. They also don’t use color enhancers on their fish like some hatcheries do.
They call this a hatchery but it really doesn’t hatch anything anymore. They buy fingerlings from another hatchery in a neighboring state and raise them to stocking size.
There is one tank with extra large fish. In 2014 season they put in one for every 19 normal 8 – 9 inch stockers. These were 13 – 16 inches mostly. You catch one and people say oh you got a «holdover» fish. That means a fish that survived at least one winter to grow larger. Maybe it is, but it might also very well been thrown in last week from this tank.
You will see the electric fence to keep the birds of prey out of the tanks. In the river they dive after these trout all the time. You might even catch one in the river with bird claw marks, a lucky one that got away. Few do though as these birds are pros.

There is a family fishing pond on premises. There are cane poles back there, I guess first come gets those. The hatchery is for trout only, but in the pond are panfish and others.
You can also see the truck used to load up fish and drive out to do the stocking.
Its worth a visit if you just want a free trip with the family or friends and you find fish raising of interest. Its located in a residential area so when your in an area you thing is only homes, keep going and its at the end on your right.

This is what I call a true hidden gem — and it’s FREE too! I had asked friends for fun activity ideas for my 5-​year old nephew and one of them told me about this place. At this particular hatchery, they raise rainbow trout and brown trout which later get released to the lakes. We unfortunately missed the Sat 1pm tour where you can watch them feed the fish. But even if you miss the tour, it’s still interesting to walk around and watch the fish. I talked to one of the workers and he said they separate the fish by type and size. I also watched him remove the dead fish and then record it in his notebook, keeping track of # fish-​in, fish-​out. Seriously there’s a lot of fish — Luke T’s review mentions 75,000 fish.
They also have fishing incl. free cane poles for the kids. Next to the hatchery, just follow the signs to the pond. It’s a short walk thru the woods and then surprise, you’ll see this big green pond. It looks like it’s covered by algae but it’s duckweed, and when you look at duckweed closely, it’s just a bunch of really tiny tiny leaves. WEAR COVERED SHOES NOT FLIP FLOPS — THERE IS GEESE POOP EVERYWHERE AND SOME ANT HILLS TOO. WATCH YOUR STEP.
Next to the pond you’ll see a set of cane poles for the kids. You do have to provide your own bait — the worker suggested even taking pieces of white bread and rolling it into a ball works. So do hot dogs and earthworms. Sadly we forgot to bring bait but my nephew managed to catch two sticks :) I think they only have catfish in this pond. This is a «catch and release» pond so don’t expect to bring home any fish :) Also while young kids can fish for free, person 16 years and older must have a Georgia fishing license.
Open daily 7:30 — 4:30. They’re located up in Cumming near the intersection of Windemere and Buford Hwy — you’ll drive into a neighborhood and wonder if you missed the entrance but no worries, you’ll see the signs. Have fun!

Here fishy fishy fishy…
I am so glad to have found this place and I hope you will take the trip out to enjoy this facility as well.
This is a trout hatchery. It rears about 75,000 trouts for the rivers and lakes in Georgia. Try to come on a Saturday, as they have a tour starting at 1pm. The kids loved the tour. This is up and close to the fish and they even get to feed the fish. The fishes goes into a frenzy. and so do the kids
In addition, they have a family fishing pond. Its a small pond and its is stocked with a LOT of fish. A fantastic way to get little ones hooked on fishing. The fish will bite and you will catch a fish very quickly… there was a LOT of squeals of delight when a kid hooks a live one.
You can bring your own gear, (hook#6, bread + hotdogs) or use their free loaner poles. The area is well shaded, with benches and picnic tables.
Truly awesome for the little ones. you can hook a fish in 15 – 20 mins.