Fish are biting at Century Trout Farm (con't)

Madison School District.  The fishing enterprise fell by the wayside when Sholts passed away in 1984, but Jean re-opened the fee-fishing enterprise in 1991, when she bought 60 acres of the farm and stocked the pond with trout.  (Her brother, Bud Sholts, now retired from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and a key supporter of the Wisconsin Aquaculture Association, bought the rest of the farm.) The next year, Jean's mother, Beulah, now 92, moved to a senior living-center in Oregon.    Jean retired from Madison La Follette High School in 1999 and Mark, who taught English and journalism at the same school, retired six months later.  They married in 1989.	While the farm's corn and soybean acreage is rented to a nearby farmer, the Hansons raise alfalfa for their horses.    The Hansons view their fee-fishing enterprise as a supplement to their retirement incomes.  Just as important though, they see it as a way to put the farm's resources to work and to continue an enterprise started by Jean's father.    Three times a year, they restock their fishing pond with 1,000 pounds of fish–half rainbow trout and half brook trout.  (A 10-inch fish weighs half a pound.)  By the time anglers and blue heron capture their bounty, the fish range in size from 11 to 19 inches, although 12 to 14 inches is most common.	The spring-fed pond at Century Trout Farm is well suited to trout production.  Trout thrive in cool water, ideally 52 to 60 degrees F.  The Hansons aerate their pond at night in order to add extra oxygen into the water, something required when stocking rates are higher than nature intended.    While Jean was teaching, Century Trout Farm was open to fishermen on weekends and summers only. Once retired, though the Hansons expanded their hours.  They're now open year-round Tuesdays through Sundays (except major holidays) from 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.    While Mark is a relative newcomer to the Century Trout Farm, he and Jean share a love
FEE-FISHING ENTERPRISE - Jean and Mark Hanson operate Century Trout Farm in Oregon, a family farm whose fee-fishing enterprise dates back to the 1960s.		of the fishing enterprise and the farm.  Eight horses graze on lush pastures.  Mature maple, oak and weeping willow trees shade the fishing pond and the farm's original block milk house, while cottonwood trees frame the traditional red dairy barn.    "Everyone that comes says it's so beautiful," Jean says.    Maintaining the beauty of the farm, though, is no small task.  The dairy barn and outbuildings are freshly painted, and Mark and Jean mow a large area around the fishing pond.
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