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Hello!  Last week I read an article about the cost to feed fish at the Mixsawbah Fish hatchery and I called Last Saturday and spoke with Ken the assistant manager about cost of fish food. I told him I buy fish food for my fish in my Half acre pond so I had an understanding of basic cost and Ken told me to call back today because there internet and others things had be destroyed by all the bad weather Friday night.

I called this morning and was able to talk to Rob at the hatchery. After taking for about 45 minutes he told me that there facility buy food every 3 months. The state sends out projected fish food needs for the year to several different fish food manufacturers to bid on then issue a contract to the company with the best pricing. Rob told me they are buying there fish food from Ziegler fish food and I told Rob that's where I've been buying my fish food for 16 years.
Rob said they just sent in a release for 357 bads of fish food and cost $15,062.00 for their facility.  Each bag weighs 44 pounds and the price per bag varies buy size of pellet. Rob said that starter, 1, 2 and 3 are all the same per pound and are the most expensive. Rob said 3/32 and up to 3/16 is less then 1/4 on up are less money per bag.

The $15,062.00 includes shipping too. So the price per bag averages about $42.00 a bag. Rob said the number of bags fed per day varies depending on the number of fish and growth stage but as I mentioned above, they release food orders every 3 months.

He told me that if the run short for whatever reason then they are buying outside the contract rate and the price is a little higher but that doesn't happen very often.

Rob told me that if the group wanted to donate money to the hatchery it would be best to call him and find out what they need then call Ziegler and order the food and ship it to him otherwise the money goes into the general fund.

Rob said if the group wanted to help the hatchery by donating money he suggested buying nets and other things and that would really help the hatchery. Rob is going to email me a list of items with item numbers and where they buy them and what they pay for them.

Once I receive that information I'll forward it to the group.

At the end of our conversation I told Rob I was Trent Wagner and gave him my email address and then Rob said,
Are you the Trent Wagner that used to live in Elkhart?  I said that's me, why did you ask? Rob says, I bought your boat Tackle Fever! I said, I cant believe it and we talked about that for a few minutes. Rob said he still has the boat but going to sell it because he bought a smaller Lund 18ft. Tackle Fever is a 22ft Starcraft offshore boat. He said he was thinking about selling it for a couple grand. If anyone is looking for a boat you may want to contact Rob at the hatchery! 

If anyone has any questions please let me know!

Have a wonderful day! 
Good Fishing! 

Thanks for the info Trent.
It's a small world, isn't it? That's something about the boat. 

Nice work Trent, thanks for taking the time with the call and feedback here!!

It sure is! Now I have a contact that fishes Michigan City and Portage on a regular basis so will be getting good info.

Have a wonderful day! God Bless

I enjoy trying to help our fishing industry and this group!

Have a wonderful day! God Bless

I visited the hatchery a few weeks ago, with Ed he probably is one of the most educated guys about the fishery that is still alive and trying to help the cause. Got a chance to visit with Rob and staff for a while. He is a great guy and answered any concerns or questions we had. Rob pretty much said the same thing about the hatchery needs. Most will need huge federal funding, but to those that are willing to give back to the fishery now is a great opportunity.  food donations and other small equipment could be used. Iam in the process of getting some funding together. 

Awesome! Please keep us updated as you pull this together! Thank for the report!