• Amused
  • Angry
  • Annoyed
  • Awesome
  • Bemused
  • Cocky
  • Cool
  • Crazy
  • Crying
  • Depressed
  • Down
  • Drunk
  • Embarrased
  • Enraged
  • Friendly
  • Geeky
  • Godly
  • Happy
  • Hateful
  • Hungry
  • Innocent
  • Meh
  • Piratey
  • Poorly
  • Sad
  • Secret
  • Shy
  • Sneaky
  • Tired
  • Results 1 to 14 of 14

    Thread: Ray Abell's Mud Pond Pull Heavy on pictures.

    1. #1
      richtoybox's Avatar
      richtoybox is offline Administrator
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      Awesome
       
      Join Date
      Feb 2005
      Location
      Sandston, VA
      Posts
      14,343

      Ray Abell's Mud Pond Pull Heavy on pictures.

      Today we went over to watch the 3rd pond be pulled. This is the pond with the big ladies in it. They pulled the first pond with the smallest koi on Thursday in the very cold, very wet, very windy aftereffects of Ida. Just about 6 inches of rain that day. They pulled the second pond yesterday.

      You can see how he calls the fish to him, reaches into the muddy water and comes out with a koi, picks them up and puts them in the boat to await the bag to go up the bank, pics them up from the transport tank and carries them across the yard to the holding tank. 30 fish and none got away or dropped.
      Attached Images Attached Images              
      Zone 7 A/B
      Keep your words sweet. You never know when you may have to eat them.
      Richard

      • Remove Ads
        Advertising from Google
        Promoting Koi and Pond
        keeping since 2007

         

    2. #2
      sundan's Avatar
      sundan is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Jun 2004
      Location
      Lake Wales Fla
      Posts
      2,000
      great pictures..thanks for sharing. Ray is the only person I know of that can get away with rocks in his mud ponds. Keeps the koi from digging out the sides.

      Click for Lake Wales, Florida Forecast

    3. #3
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511
      This was my 4th year attending Ray's 'Pond Pull', as he likes to call his fall harvest. With all the high wind and rain hitting the coast of Virginia, we were far enough inland to only get a lot of rain the first two days on Thursday and Friday. Saturday was pretty nice.

      Here is Ray getting started to take the fish out of his pond #2 on Friday. The water level was pumped down to the point that you could see the backs of some of the big females that got in shallow water.
      Attached Images Attached Images     

    4. #4
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511
      Ray Abell has the touch..... over and over you see him walk over to where he sees a koi in the muddy water, reaches down and picks it up, walks back over to the rubber raft with water in it and puts it inside until he has 4 or 5 fish. I've never seen him drop one. Unbelievable how good he is when handling these large koi. There's a man in the pictures with a net, but I don't think I ever saw it used..... Ray just walks up to the koi and picks it up from the water. You almost have to see it to believe it.

      Once several fish are in the floating raft, he slips them in a plastic bag and hands the bag to a series of people who hand the fish up the bank to a big blue tub on a trailer that is pulled by a golf cart.
      Attached Images Attached Images              

    5. #5
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511
      Once the tub on the trailer is full, the golf cart pulls up to the area where he has holding tanks to put the fish in. Many of these fish belong to his customers who have had Ray put them out in one of his three mud ponds this spring for a growing season. A lot of the people you see have traveled to Ray's to watch their fish come out of the pond and to see how much they have grown and developed. About half of the fish harvested are in Ray's inventory for sale.

      The master fish handler picks the fish up and walks around deciding which tank to put it in before dropping it in a holding tank.
      Attached Images Attached Images     

    6. #6
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511
      Some of the fish harvested this past weekend.....
      Attached Images Attached Images               

    7. #7
      birdman's Avatar
      birdman is offline DIY Savant
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Jun 2005
      Location
      Palm Springs, CA.
      Posts
      21,812
      It looks like his pond is lined with rocks? How does he keep the Koi from getting beat up?

    8. #8
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511
      Quote Originally Posted by birdman View Post
      It looks like his pond is lined with rocks? How does he keep the Koi from getting beat up?

      The side walls of his ponds were lined with large limestone rock several years ago. As I understand it, it was to prevent the koi from digging out the side walls and causing them to collapse and fill up the bottom with mud. The rocks must be covered with algae or something that prevents sharp edges because I've watched big koi come out of these ponds for several years without any injuries.

    9. #9
      Jeff Speck is offline Supporting Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      May 2006
      Location
      El Cajon, CA
      Posts
      872
      Thank you for the pictures. This is a delight to see.

    10. #10
      koiNva's Avatar
      koiNva is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Feb 2008
      Location
      Southwest VA,
      Posts
      653
      wow- thanks for posting the pictures. I especially liked the shots of the koi that were harvested.
      Mike


      • Remove Ads
        Advertising from Google
        Promoting Koi and Pond
        keeping since 2007

         

    11. #11
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511
      Some random shots taken during the four days I was there. Lots of beautiful, unique stone on the property and many different types of Japanese maples.
      Attached Images Attached Images                  

    12. #12
      slmtrm's Avatar
      slmtrm is offline Supporting Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Jun 2008
      Location
      Hayden Alabama
      Posts
      2,232
      PROUD LIFETIME MEMBER

      American and British Troop Out Of Afghanistan.....


      After you DESTROY all the Taliban and AL-QAEDA still breathing


    13. #13
      andres58's Avatar
      andres58 is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Oct 2007
      Location
      Palm Beach, Florida
      Posts
      3,352
      Some pictures from last year's (2008) Ikeage.....................
      Attached Images Attached Images         
      Jorge

    14. #14
      Dale is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Lexington, KY
      Posts
      511

      Ray Abell's pond

      If you have ever wondered what Ray's personal pond is like at his home, here are a few pictures. The crossed bridges are really neat and allow you to walk out over the water for great viewing of his fish.
      Attached Images Attached Images        

      • Remove Ads
        Advertising from Google
        Promoting Koi and Pond
        keeping since 2007

         

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •