The Big Spring Fish Hatchery was originally constructed as a private hatchery and fishing club in 1938. The facility was operated for a number of years with very mixed results. Inclement weather and floods eventually led the owners to sell the facility to the Iowa Conservation Commission in March of 1961. The Commission decided that heavy silt loads in the feeder stream made the facility undesirable for a hatching facility; therefore, the facility has been used only for trout rearing since. The hatchery was completely renovated in 1974, when old ponds were filled and the original limestone buildings were replaced by the present structures. The hatchery is located along the Turkey River 10 miles northwest of Elkader in Clayton County, just off of Big Spring Road. The station is home to the largest coldwater spring found in Iowa, with flows ranging from 15,000 to 25,000 gallons per minute.

The Big Spring facility serves as a trout rearing station and receives fish as fingerlings from the Manchester hatchery during the spring and early summer months. The trout are fed a specifically prepared diet consisting primarily of fish meal at a computer-calculated rate. All fish are fed according to their body weight to achieve catchable size trout throughout the stocking season. Trout (brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout) are reared for nearly 12 months before being stocked as catchable size fish or being transferred to the Manchester Hatchery for their stream stockings.

The Big Spring Station annually produces 200,000 trout in 24 raceways and 4 ponds. During the early 1990's, flood waters from the Turkey River nearly destroyed the hatchery and, as a result, a new levee and pumping system will be completed in the near future.

Fish originating from this facility are stocked in streams located in Blackhawk, Dubuque, Clayton, Allamakee, and Fayette Counties.

Hatchery personnel participate in the Big Spring Study, which links impacts on ground water by land use and agriculture practices. Since 1984, Big Spring has been testing a site for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program to track acid rain trends throughout the United States.