THATCHER — Sherman Wright, Franklin County’s sole commercial aquaculturist, owns Wright’s Rainbows. He said 2012 wasn’t a banner year for his certified disease-free trout. But it wasn’t a bad year either.

    He has raised and sold his fresh-water rainbows to restaurants for years. However, as his children grew up and found other employment, Wright started looking for other, less labor-intensive ways to market his fish. He’s been in the business for 22 years.

    As he began to look for additional ways to sell his fish, he found what he was looking for. There was a good demand for recreational fishing and he went after it. Last year he sold fish to ponds in Arizona, Utah and California.

    “I have people call me and tell me they like the Idaho-raised trout I stock their ponds with. I’ve met some good people over the years,” he said.

    The Thatcher rancher gets eggs from a commercial egg producer and hatches them. Then he sells them to owners of fishing ponds. Some of his rainbows need to be shipped in the winter. A customer in Yuma, Ariz., has a pond that can only be stocked in the colder months. The warm summer days bring water temperatures too high for the fish to survive.

    Some years Wright will sell everything he has and then has to wait until some of his other fish get big enough to stock area ponds and lakes. Write sells more than fish. He sells experiences.

    “My goal is to get fathers, grandfathers and boys to fish together. Some guy will call me up and tell me about the big brown he caught on the river when he was a kid. I tell him the brown isn’t there anymore, but the experience of catching a fish still is. It’s a wonderful thing,” he said.

    He went on to say what a great thing it is for a young boy to be taught how to fish by his grandfather or father.

    “There is nothing better than to watch the boy catch his first trout,” Wright said. “That can only be created with a boy, a rod and real with his father or grandfather.”

    Wright said he has sold more trout this year than last. Some people got their trout somewhere else a year ago and are back getting his Thatcher-raised fish.

    “I sell certified, sterile rainbows. They can grow to a pretty good size,” Wright said. “I know of one guy who caught one of my trout that was over 24 inches long. It was a big fish!”

    There aren’t very many guys, even in Idaho, who sell trout. He said he is one of the last. There may be one or two around, but not many. The trout man also raises a few beef cows and has a trucking company.

    At 61, he hopes to slow down the trucking part of things. He’s not crazy about going to Canada in the winter. Going south when it’s below freezing still has it’s advantages, he quipped.

    “Who doesn’t want to go to Arizona in the winter, especially this year. It’s been a long, cold one this year.” Wright said.

    Idaho trout sales increased in 2012, up 14 percent from 2011. Twelve-inch trout and longer generated a total of $42.8 million in sales up from $37.6 million in 2011. National trout sales of 12-inch or larger fish generated $72.7 million, up 6 percent from 2011.