San Joaquin Fish Hatchery

A fun place to take the kids or for a cheap date. The atmosphere was quiet and tranquil. You can come and learn something about the hatchery and how they supply all the different lakes with trout. You can even feed the fish and watch them go crazy. There is a small trail for you to walk and a picnic area for you to enjoy. Looks like a place that is under utilized. It's a must visit and it's free!

I am always looking for some fun activities I can do with the kiddos. I have heard about this hatchery for some time and been meaning to go. Since the weather lately have been tolerable to do some outdoors activities, we came here for the weekend to check it out.This was on a Saturday, and it does not look like it's manned by anyone. There are long rows of the fish holding area that you can enter through the gate. Also, there are fish food you can feed the rainbow trouts with. It is one per person so please be mindful and not go get more. It is free to share so everyone can enjoy feeding the fish. Once you are done make sure to put the cup back where it came from. The kiddos really enjoy seeing and feeding the trouts. There are different sizes of trouts there. You can see some pretty small ones in the beginning, but more towards the back of the pond area, you will see the full grown size of them and they are massive. It is pretty neat to have something like this here in Fresno to check out. It is completely free and is open to the public. They also have a restroom area for you to use.We did not get to see anything inside one of the hatchery buildings because it was really dark and was blocked off to get closer to see. Nonetheless, seeing the fish in the big pond area was neat.

What a TREAT this was! Absolutely free to go to for your family to enjoy. Super interesting to see the different life stages of the fish and so fun for kids (little and big-like me!) to feed the fish and watch them get frenzied and splash all over. We spent a long time here just walking back and forth watching them swim. It was really a neat way to spend a couple of hours.

I had a great experience here. Since I fish for stock trout, I wanted to see the process of how they're raised. They had a section for baby trout, then the medium sized and larger trout. You can feed them too, which was the best part. They leave a bucket of fish food out for you. There's no lid on it so birds that can fit through the fence and ground squirrels will come in to eat the fish food. There's a sign where it says to only feed a handful to the fish and not to touch the water since that can affect the water.

Fun free activity to take kids/family to. Didn't see the trail wish we could have experienced it. We started at the office and the gentleman there was kind and broke down how everything worked. It's self guided which worked with my introverted side. The first raceway didn't have any food which was a bummer but we found some at the end so we were happy we got to try that. So much opportunity to bring in more people to visit.

Fun, free, and educational outing with the kids. Take extra time and visit the Small Fry Trail as well, for a very easy little trail hike with the kiddos. The hatchery has restrooms and a small grassy area with a couple of picnic tables, so you can go in the morning, and then have a little picnic lunch before heading home.

This is a fun place to go as a family. If you just want to get outdoors, I recommend this place. Not fancy but really fun!

I love coming here. There's something about feeding the fish and seeing my kids get excited that gets me every time. On this particular visit the food machines weren't working. A gentlemen working offered us a plastic cup to fill with food at a nearby area. My kids were so happy to be able to feed the fish. If you have young kids this is a must see. They have small baby trout as well as larger adult size ones. Inside another building you can see really tiny ones. It's cool to see the life cycle and how they mature over time. I can't wait to see what this place has to offer as it expands.

Very fun place to take your kids, you could feed the fish and there are so many different sizes of fish. Rainbow Trout mostly.

Amazing for kids to run around. Open space and safe to let the kids walk around and see the toddler walk thru with lots of things for kids