[HenryC]

The Floridians invaded New Jersey today. In previous years at the Nisei Koi Farm harvest event, we could arrive on Friday and get a lot of time with Mat and Ross, but it seems the secret is out. When we arrived today it was hard to find a place to park due to the crowd already here. Before we got here, Mat, Ross and Bobby had already seined a sansai pond. There were some really nice Koi coming out today. After each Koi was photography by Bob Brudd, Bobby would measure them and take them to the 85,000 gallon greenhouse pond. This year, they allowed hobbyists to reserve the Koi they were interested in which gave them the right of first refusal once the final price had been set. JR beat me to one nice Kohaku, but I did get a very nice sanke reserved. Excellent skin, thick beni and soft shiroji. The sumi will be several years in the making. Later I learned that the sanke I reserved is Mat's favorite so I am a bit nervous about what the price will be. I did not get a shot of her will in a show tank, but here she is in the 85,000 gallon tank: