2015 - Volume #39, Issue #5, Page #07
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Teen Entrepreneurs Start Fish Cleaning Service
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The opportunity was available; their parents, Mike and Jessie Norder, own Bridge City Marina and Resort. And though the boys help with jobs that are part of the business, Josh came up with the idea to make extra money cleaning fish. He and his brother learned to clean catfish when they were just 8.
“They are hardworking boys and have a great work ethic,” says their father. “They came up with this all themselves.”
“We had a little sign for the first two years. Josh says. “A lot of our customers were surprised that we could clean fish that well to start out.”
The brothers filet bass, walleyes and panfish and have started to clean large northerns and remove the Y-bones, as well. Their station is a folding table with a cutout with a garbage can below and access to a water hose. Filets are rinsed off and bagged in Ziploc bags for customers.
Business fluctuates according to the season and whether the fish are biting. Spring was good this year, but late summer was slow. Spring tournaments are the busiest, Kregen says.
At 50 cents per fish (plus tips), the twins have managed to save up to buy items such as a laptop. Half the money they make automatically goes to their college fund. Josh has plans to be a nuclear scientist, chemist and engineer, while Kregen is looking at biochemistry, robotics or computer science.
“We get to talk to a lot of people,” he says, adding he especially enjoys joking with the firefighters who put on a spring tournament.
“Start small. Don’t go full bore,” Josh suggests to others considering starting a similar service. Start with quality filet knives and invest in quality cordless knives once you can afford them. The twins like Berkley and American Angler electric knives, but also use hand knives on bass.
As the 2015 summer winds down, the twins don’t have any special item that they are saving up for. But Kregen has a practical suggestion.
“Maybe we should start saving up for gas,” he says. “We’ll be driving soon.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, K&J Fish Cleaning Service, Bridge City Marina and Resort, 12918 288th Road, Mobridge, S. Dak. 57601 (ph 605 845-9129; www.bridgecitymarina.com; bcmarina@westriv.com).
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