Drought brings Dunn's Fish Farm to town
Staff reporter
A semi pulls up at Countryside Feed, Inc., at Hillsboro, and within minutes there is a line of men waiting to place an order.
This truck looks different from the agriculture trucks that line the driveway.
It's a flatbed with 20 fish tanks and three bottles of liquid oxygen.
It looks like a fish truck.
Dunn's Fish Farm delivers live fish to Marion County at the Hillsboro location several times a year. The latest delivery was Thursday.
Rocky Van Tassel and his teenage son Rocky II get out of the cab and begin their jobs. The son, with precision, expertise, and professionalism takes the orders and the father fills them.
"How far are you going?" the fish man asks his first customer who ordered grass carp and fingerlings.
Grass carp? What's that?
"It's a fish that only eats grass and other vegetation in the water," Van Tassel explains. "The fish will eat up to five pounds of the vegetation a day."
With that the fishmonger pulls out a net, plastic buckets, and plastic bags that resemble trash bags.
He scoops a bucketful of treated water and begins to fish for grass carp — by hand.
The observer quickly realizes that these aren't minnows or fingerlings. Most of these fish weigh more than a pound — and they're feisty.
"How would you like to catch one of those on the end of a line?" I ask a customer as he waits for his fish.
"Nope, can't catch him. He only eats grass. Doesn't like bait."
Van Tassel moves on to the next tank and dips a net in the hole. Out comes a load of fingerlings — some fish about the length of, well, a finger.
He quickly counts out the requested number over a bucket of the treated water, dropping the counted fish into the waiting bucket.
When the task is completed, each bucket of fish and water are dumped into a plastic bag. The bag then is pumped with oxygen for the ride home. A large rubber band assures the bag will remain closed for the trip.
Van Tassel hands down the bags from the flatbed truck to the waiting customer.
It's getting warm. The sun beats down on the fish man, his son, and the customers, but there still is work to be done.
Rocky II hands the next ticket to his father and that order is filled.
And so it goes until all of the customers are served.
So, how's business?
"It's different this year. Usually this time of year people are adding fish to their ponds but right now there are a lot of people totally restocking," Van Tassel said.
Recent droughts have killed much of the pond-life, leaving empty ponds.
Stocking the ponds
As customers place their orders, a flyer is distributed to them, explaining the ratios to stock ponds and how to release the newly-purchased fish to the pond without harming them.
Several options are listed for stocking ponds with and without channel catfish, and whether the owner intends to feed the fish with commercial fish food.
It is stressed that only a certain number of fish per acre should be in the pond to allow sufficient room for fish to live.
More than guppies
Dunn's sells a variety of fish. Some of the more popular species are large mouth bass, hybrid bluegill (the number one stocked fish for sport fishing), coppernose bluegill, redear bream, fathead minnows, channel catfish, black crappie, and grass carp.
The company also sells aerators, fountains, fish and wildlife feeders, turtle and fish traps, and liquid pond fertilizer.
Tempering fish
To assure survival, the fish farm recommends the purchased fish are taken immediately to ponds. Bags should be in a shaded area during transportation and while tempering the fish in the pond.
Tempering means to acclimate the fish to the pond water by opening the bag in the deeper part of the pond, and slowly adding pond water into the bag. This should be continued until the water in the bag is the same as the pond, which takes about three to five minutes.
Another rule of thumb is to release two fish into the pond. If they swim off, release the remainder. If not, additional tempering is necessary.
About the company
Located near Ada, Okla., the fish begin with brood fish laying eggs.
"Our customers are farmers, ranchers, and various property owners," Lisa Phillits, owner, said. "People like to stock their ponds for recreational purposes, vegetation control, and it does increase property value."
Not sure what you need and how many?
"We can help to determine the number and kind of fish needed," she said.
Pond dimensions, information about the natural habitat, and the customer's lifestyle are taken into consideration.
"We try to fit the fish into the family's lifestyle," Phillits said. "We don't want to stock a pond and the family have to wait two or three years before they can fish."
Drought and flooding conditions affect the fish population in ponds and lakes because the food chain is affected.
"This year we've been meeting ourselves coming and going to meet the needs because of the drought," Phillits said.
