Inslee Fish Farm: A Family-Run Aquaponic Operation Produces Chives and Fish
As the pickup truck noses over the levee, a shotgun blast booms and a fat cormorant beats a hasty retreat across the expanse of fish ponds.
“Damn, the boys missed him! Those scoundrels can eat $10 worth of bass in a few minutes. One year, I sent a bill to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for losses of $103,000 from those sorry birds. Never heard back, of course.” Theop Inslee explains that he and his sons have a permit from the Oklahoma Game and Fish Commission to control the fish-eating birds that are understandably attracted to the 32 acres of fertile ponds filled with more than 230,000 tender bass, Grass carp, Koi, and goldfish.
I was visiting Inslee Fish Farm, the self-proclaimed “Bass Capital of Oklahoma,” owned and operated by Inslee and his sons, Donald and Glen. Located in the rolling hills of rural south Oklahoma just north of Lake Texoma, the Inslees have created a unique, innovative, and successful aquaculture and hydroponic enterprise.
