Well, the mud pond harvest
is over, and all the koi are back in their owner's ponds. Thanks
to the Oklahoma Koi Society for all their help during this years
pull! We were all rookies, but ended up harvesting like the pros.
A few notes: most of the koi grew tremendously. Even koi that
went in over 27 inches long grew at least 1 inch over the summer
(mid May to mid October). With one exception, these were 'test'
koi that were test piloting the pond this year.
Nearly all koi that went in with hikkui came out with hardly
any traces of hikkui!
We noticed that most of the hi was quite faded, and we're
suspecting that this is due to the mud pond being VERY muddy, and
not letting much light through.
However, the whites were fantastic, even immediately after the
harvest.
The following are pictures taken at the harvest.
The pond about a month before the harvest
Now
we begin, this is about a 100 foot by 8 foot seine
About
to begin the pull
Not
too bad, IMPORTANT: Make sure your seine has a 'mud line' on the
bottom
If
only I COULD part the 'red sea' by waving my staff this would be
much easier!
DON'T
try this without kiddie pools! Maybe the Japanese DO know
something...
Starting
to get the first ones out
That
mud is REALLY, REALLY thick!
Michael
K is showing off! I can't even find any koi anywhere!
Got
a full load
We
formed a line to 'shuttle' the koi up to their receiving
tanks
More
activity
These
koi are fresh out of the pond
Michael
K showing off again! They just lay perfectly still for
him.
Just
about have the first load out.
More
of the first koi
Pictures
inside the garage where the koi ended up
We
knocked each one out, and removed all anchor worm.
More
pictures of the indoor holding tank. This tank holds 2200 US
gallons
This
tank held the koi that were 'for sale' after the pond
pull.
Imagine,
adding salt to this tank will KILL YOU!!!!
