My Story
Just a little background information on myself: My name is Stephen White and I am the owner and founder of White Water Fisheries ltd. My passion for fish started at the age of 9 when I would spend all my time fishing for Roach, Perch and Gudgeon down at my local reservoir.
As I got in to my early teens I started to take an interest in catching the bigger specimen fish that lurked within my local reservoir so I took up specimen carp fishing. Through my early and mid-teens I spent most of my spare time trying to, and succeeding in, catching the biggest carp at the reservoir, instead of being the stereotypical teenager hanging around on street corners like a lot of my school friends.
When I came to my last school year all I knew was
that I loved fish and I maybe wanted a career working with fish. I searched the internet for colleges which ran fishery courses in the midlands area and came up with Brooksby College in Leicester. I booked a taster day in the winter before I left school, this comprised of netting a small fish farm pond for the carp in freezing conditions. Most of the lads helping out just couldn’t deal with the cold weather and water but I was in my element, counting and grading these lovely 3 inch carp all different scale patterns and shapes. Even though I couldn’t feel my hands I couldn’t have been happier and I knew I had found what I wanted to do when I left school.
However before I could get on the course I had to get 4 GCSE’s C and above which wasn’t going to be easy because I hated school. The day came for my GCSE results and I ended up with 1 B 2 C’s and the rest D’s so which meant that I hadn’t got the grades I needed to get on the course. I rang the college lecturer Ian Welby and explained the fact that I hadn’t got the results I needed but I was really keen to get on the course, and after a 5 minute conversation he made the decision to allow me on to the course with the proviso that I kept up with the class! Long story cut short I spent 2 years at college studying fish and having the best time of my life, but I think I had better leave these stories out of this, you get the general gist of it… 18 years old and living away from home etc. etc.
After my graduation from college my passion for fish had only increased to new heights so I looked for employment in the industry and luckily landed a job working with a local fish dealer. I worked with him for around 5 years when I decided it was time to move on, so I took a job working with a type of fish called tilapia. My job was to grow on hundreds of thousands of tilapia from small fry up to 5-10 grams. I did this job for a couple of years, but my heart still lay with
coarse fish, so I took the plunge again and decided to set up my own business, White Water fisheries Ltd. Since setting up the business I have been developing the purpose-built fry hatchery and stock ponds to grow a variety of coarse fish for sale to the general public.
All the fish I produce are still grown with the same passion that I had when I was a kid, they are my babies. Sounds sad I know but you do get an attachment to them after you’ve spent night and day spawning them and sleepless nights worrying about power cuts. I only grow the best coarse fish and they are fed on a specially formulated diet to optimise growth and health.
