Jerry and Will Nobile do a lot of fishing in the late spring months, but it’s not always recreational.
The father-son duo operate Nobile Fish Farms, which is located between Indianola and Moorhead, and it just so happens that their busy season falls between April and June.
That’s when millions of fish go from the egg stage all the way to the pond. They’ll tend to grow six or seven inches, and then they’ll be sold off, mostly to out-of-state fish pond operations.
The Nobile hatchery is equipped with innovative technology, some of it built by Jerry Nobile himself.
Only about 1 percent of fish that are laid in ponds naturally survive, due to natural predators and other factors, but the rate at the Nobile hatchery is much higher.
“The idea is to trick mother nature,” Jerry said, speaking about the fans that are used to rub against the fish, replicating the otherwise natural touch of fish fins.
The temperature is kept between 70 and 80 degrees, no lower and no higher.
Some of the fans are powered by a chain that came off a piece of cotton equipment used decades ago by the Nobile family.
Jerry himself got his start in farming cotton, though he was forced into it rather early in life.
He was in college at Mississippi State, and he lacked only a few courses to graduate, but the farm back in Sunflower County was in need of attention.
“My daddy told me, ‘if you’re going to farm, you better come on home and do it,’” Jerry said.
He left school early and came home to the family farm, where he used an innovative method of planting cotton every other row to help the cotton breathe easier.
“I hit a homerun,” he said.
The success he saw that harvest season led to more big crops, but about 30 years ago, he decided to diversify into catfish farming.
For his son Will, there was never much doubt as to what he was going to do.
“It (farming) was always what I wanted to do,” Will said.
At first, Will wanted to go right into farming, without attending school.
“I thought, well, he (Jerry) had done well without finishing school,” Will said.
That was when Jerry decided that he was going to go back and finish his bachelor’s degree, as Will pursued his own degree in engineering.
“He went back to school to prove a point,” Will said, smiling.
Jerry finished his degree in 2003, and Will finished his shortly after that.
Today, they run a successful catfish farm operation, to go along with some row crops and even some cattle.
Like most fishermen, it’s hard to track these two down in the spring, but they won’t be in a boat, on a lake. They’ll likely be in the hatchery, making sure all their fish make it from the egg all the way to market.
