Established 1995
outings & events: ray's harvest
 

Every Fall Ray Abel of Nishikigoi of Niigata seines his large mud ponds in Midlothian, Virginia. The growth of conformation on these fish is nothing short of spectacular and it is a site to behold. I have visited Ray for the last 3 mud pulls and enjoyed it very much
   Ray's Mud Pond Harvest 2007
Nov 2007 - Clarke and I once again made the trek down to Virginia for the harvest. Unlike last year when we were in shorts, it was actually quite cool

I brought my newly purchased Canon XTI, Clarke his new Nikon D40. Combined we shot over 1,000 pictures and it was a great time

to read more about photography, check out our new page

 
 

   Ray's Mud Pond Harvest 2006
Nov 2006
Clarke and I headed down once again to experience Rays Koi Harvest. We were blessed this year with almost record him temperatures in the mid to high 70's

The fish were once again amazing with bodybuilder type conformation which put my collection to shame

A video is available for download of the 2005 Harvest

   Ray's Mud Pond Harvest 2005
Nov. 2005
Ray has several mud ponds on his property, the larger 2 holding about 500,000 gallons of water each

They measure over 130 feet long by 40+ feet wide and 10 feet in depth. Fish are grown on in these ponds from May until November each year

They put on astounding length and girth in this timeframe - up to 10 inches for the tosai

Download a free video of the 2005 Harvest on our Videos Page

Once the ponds are drained, a seine net is utilized to drag the pond to sequester the fish which facilitates easy injury free capture. A nice showa is being netted and will be Wintered in one of Ray's greenhouse tanks
Wow...A fantastic start to any koi collection featuring "The big 4"
The fish are placed into a floating dingy and then moved to shore for easy transport up the pond bank
Fish are efficiently bagged and moved up to holding tanks for observation
This "smallish" kohaku is being placed in the holding tank for closer appreciation



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