A million new fish to be stocked into venues nationwide

Over a million fish will be stocked into venues nationwide this winter.
Whether you’re into running a stick float down your local river, targeting big carp or filling your net at a commercial fishery, the news that 2015 has seen the UK’s biggest fish farmers sell out of stock to meet the demand for new fish will come as music to anglers’ ears.
Over the coming months, huge numbers will be leaving the stock ponds of some of the most well-respected fish suppliers and arrive at more fisheries than ever before.
The need for big specimens continues to gather momentum as the likes of legendary supplier of specimen carp Heather Fisheries in the south has revealed that it will soon undergo a huge operation, which will see the stocking of over 40,000lb fish of ranging between 10lb and 30lb.
“It’s going to take us two months to get all this stock out as carp have never been more popular. We have orders from all over the UK,” said Heather Fisheries owner Mark Simmonds.
“This year has been incredible as we, along with so many other farms, have been sold out for months and have already got 50 per cent of our 2016 stocks spoken for.”
But it’s not all about carp, as more than half the total number of fish stocked this winter will be made up of such species as roach, tench, bream, skimmers, crucians, chub and barbel.
Leading UK fish suppliers  Quiet Sports Fisheries Management in Suffolk and Gloucestershire’s AE Fisheries have also revealed that this winter will see them stock huge numbers of species other than carp.
“We will be delivering well over 100,000 roach and skimmers to angling clubs throughout the country,” said Steve Barnes, owner of Quiet Sports Fisheries Management.
“Species other than carp are growing in popularity because they really give anglers another alternative, plus it creates a competition in the water that can really improve sport.”
And the Environment Agency is hoping to have 400,000 fish available for a host of winter restocking programmes .
Fisheries experts at the Agency’s Calverton Fish Farm in Nottingham are currently harvesting their stock which, they say, will be available for rivers, canals and stillwaters to match what the organisation introduced last winter.