About Us

Our Family Farm History

Over Seventy Years of Raising Trout

Crystal Lake Fisheries was Founded in 1950 by Dwight and Marry Alice Emerson. It was their passion for aquaculture that fueled the hard work and dedication needed to turn a spring outside of Ava, Missouri into a thriving rainbow trout hatchery. Today the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a host of many wonderful employees carry on the legacy of Crystal Lake Fisheries. The business environment has changed much over the years, but our business model stays the same. We have a fully closed hatchery where we spawn, hatch, and raise our own Emerson strain rainbow trout. All the trout raised on our farm are carefully loaded onto our specialized hauling trucks and stocked live all over the Midwest and beyond (38 States and counting). We believe in the therapeutic value of fishing for our hard-fighting trout, and the numerous nutritional benefits of consuming them. The value of providing such a great protein and recreation to the people of this amazing country is what continues to drive our unwavering commitment to our customers.

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