About Us

Heritage

The main farm at Fishers Pond Fishery is based on a 60-acre medieval fish farming complex in the
Itchen catchment, near Winchester. Fish were first farmed on this site more than 900 years ago.

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From the outset Fishers Pond Carp grew fast and John was determined to improve the strain so that now , after more than 40 years of selection at every stage , starting with choosing brood stock for the hatchery and ending with hundreds of 20-30lb fish for sale every year, Fishers Pond carp make up almost the entire stock of very large English reared carp in the UK fisheries. 

Fishers Pond has been owned by the same family since 1934. In 1976 – the year of the 
drought-ownership was transferred to John Paton who started to create the farm in its present form.

During the 1980’s Fishers Pond was producing a wide variety of fish, including ornamental fish for
the pet trade and hatching salmon eggs to produce smolts for the embryonic salmon farming
industry in Scotland. The site was ideally situated to the production of Carp and by the end of the
decade the farm was dedicated to Carp and course fish production.

The business is now comprised of ponds ranging from 10 acres down to 300m, spread 
over four sites.

Expertise

A lifetime interest in fish and fishing was no help to John when he set about building his fish farming business, but energy, knowledge and being in the right place at the right time was. Starting in 1976, the business is by far the oldest business in the country, still producing and selling our own highly sought-after strain of carp and course fish.

Most of the early commercial Match Fisheries were supplied by Fishers Pond along with most of the country’s canals and reservoirs. Nowadays most Big Fish venues are stocked with fish which originated in our hatchery

In 2010 Rob Baker joined the firm with a First-Class Honors degree from Sparsholt. Rob is now responsible for post Hatchery fish husbandry at Fisher Pond.

John’s insistence that best quality should always be combined with good value permeates every aspect of the business, so you can be confident that you will be happy with the service and quality you will get from Fishers Pond.

Husbandry

Regular sample netting during the growing season ensures that there is early identification of any difficulties for the fish. All fish are carefully graded at the end of each of their growing seasons to ensure that only the very best go forwards to the next year class, so by the time a fish has reached its fourth year it will have been seen by Rob, John and the team at least five times! They are grown on in ponds suited to their year class and species.

The habitat around the sites is grasslands, with woods, teeming with wildlife. Natural foods are abundant, supplemented by carefully regulated feeding.

All the fish sold by Fishers Pond have been produced in our own hatchery from our own brood stock. The brood stock are kept in specially built ponds and are managed exclusively for the production of eggs and milt.

In the spring the brood stock are taken into the hatchery and stripped. The eggs are incubated in special jars. Once hatched, the little fish are kept in the hatchery until they are ready to feed and then they are moved to the nursery shed, where they are fed on artemia for up to 10 days. After that they are stocked into the nursing ponds where they grow during the summer.

Biosecurity

Bio security is taken extremely seriously on all sites, with at least daily monitoring of each pond with frequent water quality checks. Early identification of any stressors is vital to the health of our fish, whatever their age. All Ponds are drained and limed after each Harvest, ensuing each new growing period has the best start.

When fish are grown on a fish farm they are stocked densely and would not survive in economic numbers unless segregated by year class and supplied with good quality food and water.

Parasites and disease organisms, such as bacteria, are present in all healthy open water systems including fish farm ponds. Fish thrive in these ponds unless they are allowed to become stressed. If the fish do become stressed, whether in a farm environment or in a fishery pond, its ability to withstand ordinary disease organism is greatly reduced and the fish may die.

At Fishers Pond all fish are checked for health, condition and growth on a frequent basis.

We are subject to regular checks by CEFAS and operate to an approved Biosecurity Measures Plan.
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