Raising Fish

We're taking a leap and have decided to try creating a sustainable food source for our family by raising our own fish. This spring we will be populating Andrew's parents pond with a combination of Large Mouth Bass, Blue Gill, Red Ear Sunfish, & White Amur. White Amur or Grass Carp is not for eating, but for keeping the plant growth under control - sometimes people use chemicals to keep their plant growth in check, but we definitely don't want any chemicals in our pond since this is one of the reasons we want to raise our own food - to avoid chemicals!

This is an idea that Andrew and I have been tossing about for some time now. But finally, today Andrew spoke to a local fish propagator who said we can have our fish delivered sometime between April and May. Since we are starting with full-grown fish that are ready to spawn instead of fingerlings, it will only be a year before the population gets stable enough for us to start fishing. Fingerlings are cheaper, but they take a long time to grow and you risk them getting eaten by other things that live in and around the pond (turtles, other fish, blue heron, etc.) since our pond is already established.

Of course, I don't expect that the fish will just be jumping into our nets. Especially since Andrew and I are no expert fishermen. So, I'm fully expecting to rely on all my family members (namely, my Dad) and friends who know waaaay more about fishing than we do to help us figure this one out. I don't even know how to clean a fish properly! No better time than now to learn, I guess.

Here's to trying new things!

-c.