20k pounds of catfish donated to state fishing ponds

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) Family and Community Fishing Program locations saw some bonus catfish stockings this past week, thanks to a generous donation by Baxter Land Company Fish Farm in Desha County.

Thousands of catfish ranging in size from 5 to 45 pounds will be hauled to program ponds. The total donated weight of catfish is expected to exceed 20,000 pounds.

Dick Baxter, who was named the Arkansas Catfish Farmer of the year by the Catfish institute in 2023, says “I really just think it’s important to get new people involved in conservation, and you have to get people excited about hunting and fishing to do that. If you take a kid to a pond and they don’t catch anything, they may not know how fun the outdoors can be, but if they go to a public pond and they hook into one of these fish, we may have just created a future biologist or supporter of the outdoors. I think we need more of those experiences everywhere in the state.”

This is the fifth time Baxter has donated fish to the AGFC.

Jason Miller, AGFC Assistant Chief of Fisheries, says “These fish could still bring Baxter some good profit, but he’s always had a great relationship with us and these donations give us something that we don’t provide through our hatcheries. He’d donated well over 100,000 pounds of fish over the years for people to catch.”

For a full list of Family and Community Fishing Program locations, visit https://www.agfc.com/fishing/where-to-fish/family-and-community-fishing-program-stocked-ponds/.

WebReady^TM Powered by WireReady^® NSI