After more than 50 years, Dexter’s Spring Valley Trout Farm sees a new generation take over with big plans for hatchery growth and farm-to-table fish.
Photo: Two generations of Spring Valley Trout Farm owners Patrick Kaercher and his father Jim. Photo by Pat Schutte
Though there was no puff of white smoke signaling the new leader of Dexter’s Spring Valley Trout Farm had been named, there were plenty of smiling young faces, cheers, overjoyed parents, and the seemingly never-ending shouts of “I GOT ONE!”
Dexter’s #1 tourism destination opened its doors – before it even had doors – back in 1970. And through all the years, since handling the customers as a ten-year-old for the farm’s founder and “project guy,” his father, Robert Kaercher, farm owner Jim Kaercher has been at the helm of Dexter’s spring-fed fishing treasure.
A lot of fish, specifically Rainbow trout and Gray Channel catfish, have been caught, cleaned, and bagged on ice by Kaercher, 66, and his team at the farm, a family-centered business that includes his wife, Jeanie (a longtime math teacher at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School), daughter Maggie, and son Patrick, both of whom started cleaning fish at the farm at the age of five. And after all the hard work and immeasurable rewards associated with generations of families making the farm an annual pilgrimage, it’s time to pass the Spring Valley Trout Farm leadership torch, or rather, the fishing rod, along to Patrick Kaercher.
“We’re so thrilled that Patrick has grown up with all of this and it taking over,” said Kaercher, looking out proudly from the porch of his rustic log cabin that serves as the headquarters for Spring Valley Trout Farm, noting the nine Rainbow trout and Channel catfish-filled spring-fed ponds on his 20 lush acres of Dexter farmland. “While Jeanie and I are ready to step back a bit and let Patrick do what my dad did with me, we’ll also look forward to Maggie, who is a pediatric surgical nurse, returning for busy weekends when her schedule allows. Spring Valley Trout Farm has been a family business since my father founded it, and we look forward to keeping it that way. I hope my dad is up there smiling.”
Patrick’s plan
Dexter football fans would, and should, remember #74 Patrick Kaercher. He was a powerful offensive lineman for Coach Jacob’s team. Kaercher, now 23, would go on to further his football career at Hope College, graduating recently with a degree in finance. And as one could imagine, his love of fishing and working the family fishing farm meant that he was pretty much ordained to follow in his father’s footsteps and take over the reins of Spring Valley Trout Farm.
Patrick’s plan is to change Spring Valley Trout Farm’s reliance on suppliers to stock their ponds with small, fingerling Rainbow trout and Channel catfish. His plan is to create their own fish hatchery, where they could purchase the fish eggs and raise their own fish, namely the Rainbows, from the egg to larval stage, all the way through to the big ones people catch on Thursday through Sunday during the summer in Spring Valley Trout Farm ponds.
“Creating our own fish hatchery allows us to control costs and inputs,” he said. “It’s been a dream of mine for a long time.”
Another byproduct of this enterprising addition to the farm, which is in the early stages of working order already, is that Spring Valley Trout Farm fish, which you had to physically go out there and catch yourself, or preorder to take home or have cleaned right there on the spot, will, as soon as the spring of 2026, be available at places like Dexter’s Farmers Market and numerous retail locations (grocery stores and restaurants) that have been begging the Kaerchers for years to supply them with their spring-fed trouts and “cats.”
“The goal is to offer a very good price for a tasty and responsibly raised fish,” said Patrick, who says he’s on course to have 10,000 growing hatchlings by this fall and be able to produce, once up to speed, from 20 to 30,000 fish a year. “From egg to trout to table.”
If you dig it… they will fish it
Jim remembers when his father put a dragline into the dirt for the first time on the property he purchased, curiously enough, from actor Jeff Daniels’ grandfather, Lee Ferguson. The thought was, at the time, that his dad “just wanted a pond to fish,” said Jim.
But what Robert didn’t know was that dragline would strike a natural spring that, to this day and in the same spot, allows clean, cold (constant 51 degrees), clear freshwater to percolate up through the bedrock and sandy soil, which filled that new fishin’ hole to the brim with Michigan’s finest, naturally filtered fresh water.
“When my dad struck the natural spring, he found that the natural river he created on our property was constantly cool enough to sustain trout, in a farm pond, and to this day,” said Jim.
He added, “A fast-moving underground river that runs through a farm pond. Virtually pollution free and with no chemicals whatsoever added to our water. It makes these fish as pure as humanly possible, as well as a sustainable crop that’s as excellent to eat as it is good for you. And that’s what has sustained our business all these years.”
Jim’s Spring Valley Trout Farm guest list is vast. Fishermen have arrived from all of the continental United States and Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and much of Europe. A Japanese TV program even came to Spring Valley Trout Farm to do a story on based off a recommendation from a University of Michigan student. And don’t forget the constant stream of bus-filled kids from daycare centers and public schools from Dexter to Detroit.
“It’s the universal love of fish… especially fresh fish,” said Jim. “And we always hear, ‘We’re so glad you’re still here.’ To which we answer, ‘Thank you for coming.’”
Fifty-plus years in business and the Kaerchers still get a charge out of the returning customers. “We have relationships with the fishermen, their kids, grandkids, and now their great-grandkids,” said Jim. “We introduce young people to a sport that they’ll be able to enjoy for a lifetime. The entire Spring Valley complex is used by people and families. They come, spend a relaxing and fun day in the country, fish, and then, the best part, enjoy barbequing the fish they just caught. Truly farm-to-table. And this isn’t Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks. This is the real thing.”
Fun facts and general Spring Valley Trout Farm info
What’s the biggest rainbow trout and biggest gray channel catfish ever caught here?
Rainbow: 10 lbs., 2 oz. (2024)
Catfish: 19 lbs. (2002)
Question: How many fish do they lose to racoons and mink and local predatory birds, including Great Blue Herons, Osprey, other raptors, as well as two resident nesting Bald Eagles named “Reginald” and “Martha?” Answer: About five percent, despite their best efforts to net the areas above the special concrete holding channels where the young fish are being raised.
Spring Valley Trout Farm quote: “We guarantee a catch on every outing!”
- Current Michigan market price on rainbow trout (per pound): $15.99
- Spring Valley Trout Farm rainbow trout price (per pound): $9.89, plus .40 to clean
No fishing license needed and Spring Valley Trout Farm provides the fishing poles (but you can bring your own pole if you’d like).
Website with all the info: www.springvalleytroutfarm.com
8123 Main St Suite 200 Dexter, MI 48130
