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We sell many types of fish such as trout, catfish, walleye, perch, fathead minnows, and triploid grass carp — but out specialty is largemouth and smallmouth bass.

Hickling's Fish Farm, Inc. is a family owned and operated business that has been supplying fish for stocking and wholesale since 1986. Vincent and Linda Hickling started the business after selling the dairy farm that they had worked for 27 years. Since then, they have evolved from hatching trout in the basement of their home to raising fish in over 40 ponds and in 2 climate controlled buildings containing approximately 13,000 sq. ft. with a capacity of nearly 150,000 gallons of water. Vincent and Linda's son and daughter-in-law, Darin and Bonnie, came into the business fulltime in the spring of 2003. Darin grew up on the dairy and fish farms, then received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering technology. He worked as a staking engineer for the local electric co-op for nearly 6 years before realizing his true calling and returning to the business

Family is a priority for the Hicklings. All of Vinnie and Linda's children live within 2 miles of them, which is a blessing as it keeps their 11 grandchildren close. Two of their grandsons, Chris and Little Dave, work on the farm whenever they aren't in school. One of Vinnie's brothers, Lawrence, also lives within 2 miles of them and works the original dairy farm that has been in the family for over 100 years, with his wife, Joyce, and son, Paul. Everyone gets together often for pizza or barbeques, and it is unusual to have less than a table full for lunch at Vinnie and Linda's.

Our bass are raised in two climate controlled buildings in which the water is recirculated through our own custom built sludge traps and biofilters. We are now offering this technology to you. Check out our Hickling Sludge Traps and Biofilters page.

In our experience, one of the best methods of weed control is the triploid grass carp. They are a very effective alternative to chemicals and in the end probably more affordable and hassle-free. The carp are fairly expensive but the recommended stocking rate is only about 10 to 12 fish per acre. So, when you divide the initial cost by their useful life of 4-5 years, it really is a good option. Most weed control chemicals are expensive and need to be applied multiple times per year. Triploid grass carp are genetically altered so they will not reproduce in your pond. Regular (diploid) grass carp are illegal in New York because if they were to get into public waters they would wreak havoc on the vegetation. For this reason you must obain a special permit from the DEC in order to purchase triploid grass carp. You can get contact information for your regional DEC office at http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/255.html. There is no cost for the permit, but you will have to answer a few questions about your pond, and they will determine how many you may stock.

Hickling's Fish Farm sells Silver Cup Fish Food. Raising fish in a system in which we recirculate the water requires that we use the best food on the market. That is why this is the only brand of fish food used at our farm. In fact this is the brand used by most large fish farms. The fish food is a floating pellet sold in various sizes depending on the size of the fish that you are feeding. The cost is $32 plus tax for a 40-pound bag.

Inside view of climate controlled building

Large raceway used to grow bass

An example of bass grown at our facility