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

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Ray's Mud Pond Harvest 2006
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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Last Modified: November 18, 2009