It was a big day for small fry yesterday as about 35,000 baby rainbow trout were released into Dingman Creek by members of a local anglers' club.

The 2.5-centimetre-long rainbows were transported by pickup trucks from a hatchery near Komoka in tanks and released from pails into the creek at the Brigham Road bridge east of Echo Valley Golf Course.

Last month, members of the same club, the Thames River Anglers Association, released about 40,000 brown trout small fry into the river's watershed.

Since the club was founded about 23 years ago, members have released more than a million hatchlings -- rainbows, brown trout, bass and walleye -- in an annual stocking program.

What started out as a fishing club quickly evolved into an association that's also an environmental organization, said Randy Bailey, president of the 40-member association.

"We originally got together because of our common love of fishing, but that quickly morphed into hands-on environmentalism," Bailey said.

"The Thames River is one of the most diverse fisheries in North America and we were concerned about the state of it.

"We started out with a small incubation box on the side of hill and we were soon operating a hatchery on the Glendon Road farm of Billi and Dana Haklander."

It can take five months for fish eggs to grow into small fry ready for release, and the hatchlings have to be monitored on a daily basis, Bailey said.

"At least one club member has to visit the hatchery every day."

The survival rate of hatchlings in a hatchery is about 90 per cent compared with 15 per cent in the wild, he said.

Paul Noble, vice-president of the association, said some members spend almost as much time on the club's environmental projects as they do fishing.

"To go from fisherman to steward of the streams or lakes isn't such a big step," he said.

"When you spend a lot of time in the same environment as the fish you catch, you look at things differently. For one thing, you see what's going on and you want to make things better. You want to see bigger, healthier and more fish."

People who don't hunt and fish don't develop the same kind of bond with wildlife, Noble said.

"They may still be concerned, but it's a different kind of concern."

Noble said club members spend time improving the watershed by restoring flow, removing deadheads and planting trees.

"We get out there with chainsaws, bow saws and shovels."

Archie Graham, the club's treasurer, said its activities are supported by the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources, the federal fisheries department, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, among other funders.

Bailey said small fry released into the Thames watershed spend about a year in it before working their way down the river into lakes St. Clair, Erie and Huron.

They return in about five years as mature fish to spawn, he said, adding their original home waters become "imprinted."