Our first Mud Pond Pull

[PapaBear]

Getting ready to gather ourselves together for our first ever pond pull OKKS annual pond pull at Chuck and Kimberly Downs place and we're really excited about it We'll be taking lots of pix and will try to get them posted this afternoon when we get back home.

[dick benbow]

I think why we got no comments Larry was folks may not be aware of the Down's and their annual pull. I went on a shopping trip with them back in 2000 with the waddington Group...Chuck and Kimberly are definetely Koi- Kichi and really know their koi. The mud ponds are brick red clay...the koi they extract are super nice. I remember when they first started doing this the concerns they had over Turtles, not the fun little guy types but the big
snapping types....Yikes! They had to do some serious fencing!

Thanks for volunteering to cover the event for us. I think many will be suprised to see the high quality koi in Oklahoma. It's been a few years for me to see what they're up to so I'm definetly interested!!!!!!!!

[Russell Peters]

This is the first I have heard of this event. I am looking forward to pictures.

[jesusb]

I'll let papabear post the other pictures but here are a few pictures to show how the mud pond has changed in the past 4 years 2003,2005 and 2006(today),a couple of trucks of black clay and see the difference.

Thank you for coming to the pull, and thank you for all the help

Jesus

[PapaBear]

You are definitely right about the Down's Pond and fish. Excellent quality. They did add a layer of dark clay to the red base and we only got one bullfrog and 2 turtles
I believe the largest fish (kohaku) measured 97cm.

[PapaBear]

Just for the fun of it here's a few more of the lovelies OK... The first one isn't so lovely
The last one is a Koi born in the Downs pond a few years ago that now resides in ours

[PapaBear]

I was just getting ready to upload some pix to you in an email when I saw you had posted. You should have them before long We had a great time and really enjoyed meeting a few more people from the club.

[mitten]

Howdy, I have some comments and questions.

Larry, Is Mr Downs pictured? Point him out, maybe. Any one else to ID for us? Maybe in the shot of the not so lovelies. You? Jesus?

Lil' Dude- Check the pics of the chagoi and the ogon's skin!

In the first set of pics there is a pic of a goromo/goshiki that shows well what JR was talking about in another thread today or yesterday, that these varieties have blended a bit- asagi skin on a koromo.

In the second set, pic #10, showa has hi and sumi that is either on the way in or the way out. Anybody say which? Did these fish grow enough to stretch out colors?

Cool sanke pecs on the shiro utsuri.

And if these are fresh from the mud how much might they change? Do you think they were being fed and housed for growth or maintanence? None seem to have muddy faces. They did wear out one feeder and at least one chair, though.

I know that these fish of Mr Downs are mostly or all show fish. I believe that there are fish of other club members in the pond also if I remember correctly from past postings. I wish to make no offense (a little flinchy after Kevan stuff) and I wish to compliment their beauty and their care. It looks like you've had great fun and gotten a little dirty for the cause.

Mickey the windowman

[PapaBear]

You are very observant
To help identify a few of the people first.
In the first post (#709) In the first picture you see Jesus Brito (our club pres.) is in the foreground, Michael Kimberling (RGC Kokaku owner last months San Antonio show) in the water on the left, and club member Darryl Welch also in the water in the background.
In pic # 6 of the same post you see Gene (yes, Dan and Gene are real people who make a habit of only raising GC Koi GC at OKC and San Antonio A & B) carrying one to the holding tanks.
In the next two pix you see Chuck Downs holding up two fish for pix.
In post 710 I'm trudging up the hill with another one (hint, the good looking one is in the bag, I'm the not so lovely )
Your observations on the Goromo/goshiki were exactly the same as mine and I was also thinking of JR's timely post while we were looking them over. It is a great example of the genepool overlap. A very large fish. We didn't tub for a measurement but it was every bit of 90 cm.
The showa you mentioned as coming on or fading out were both Bradygoi. I didn't see them before they went in so I can't tell you which way they are going. I hope you notice the outstanding Sumi on the other Showa and the Sanke. Several were very nicely laquered.
All in all they were an outstanding group and I think everyone was pretty pleased with the results.
In September we put some of Jesus Koi in his new mudpond (maybe he'll post some pictures ) and when the time comes it will be interesting to see how they fare.

[Russell Peters]

Thanks for the pictures, I really enjoyed seeing the fun.