In a big pond of small koi, about 5cm. Have managed to catch 5 so far. Any suggestion / ideas how to catch them?
They have as they grow just become faster, would need to remove / sell etc some so how do I catch them, any ideas?

drag net or you have to learn to be faster than them.

Drag net. Easy to DIY. Buy Anchovy net from All-Net, poles on the side, chain at the bottom and empty 2l cooldrink bottles at the top. Also put a rope at the bottom along the chain to enable you to pull in the bottom after you have dragged.

any ideas where in JHB I can get netting to build a drag net that would be small enough to catch 5-10cm koi's?

There is also an All-Net in JHB. http://www.alnet.co.za/fishing-nets.shtml

Image of mine:

Can you try and repost picture not showing. See the JHB branch is in Midrand, will pay them a vist.

now its showing, think this could work....will drag the one half of my pond, making sure the big koi are on the other site. that half is sqaure and 1.5m deep, so it should work easily.

Just chatted to them, Paul how big are the net openings on yours? Smallest they have here is 15-20mm. Not sure if a 5-10cm koi will not slip through that

That will be too big. You need the Anchovy net. At the Cape Town (Epping) branch you buy off-cuts and pay by weight.

See the size of mine compared to normal koi net:

Have a look here:



Just two poles with net fastened to it. The net is fastened to the bottom of eact pole and a bit above the water level. If you tie the net to the poles above the water level then you won't need the floaters on the net if you pull the net tight. Just make sure you put some sort of rubber or soft material at the bottom side of the poles so you don't damage the floor of the pond.

I've done this and it works wonderfully...

Need to find the right size net now, then do with poles should be easy to get them all out. Will phone the CT branch now maybe the can post it.

Builders Warehouse sells the net. It's called bird netting but there are two varieties. One has bigger holes and then there's one that has smaller holes, which would be perfect for you. It's 4.5m wide and costs R40 p/m. A piece of 4m x 4.5m will cost around R160.

will have a look, at Builders in Sunnighill, currently around the corner from there. Just hope the holes are small enough....

The birdnetting sold by our Builders Warehouse comes from Al-Net and should never be used for dragging koi.

I am using it to cover my ponds:





They cut the pectoral fins of the fish. A dragnet should be soft with small holes and leightweight. The white achovy is soft but too heavy.

By the way, Servaas De Kock just brough in a few of the proper Japanese dragnets from Japan but it is going to cost you an arm and a leg.

Drag net, 6x2x3 m, complete
7,331.09

Drag net, 9x2x3 m, complete
10,263.52

hahaha thats more then the entire pond cost. Ok, here is a thought, large mosquito net? will that not work?

Just a thought but why not just use shade net with 2 poles to make a false wall to reduce the size of the pond and catch them with a normal net.

Cheers
Lee

Have Brenda at Allnet looking at off-cut netting for me.....they might be able to post.

Thought about that still a challange, pond is almost 3m wide and almost 12m long, with a depth of between 1.5m and 2.1m. The koi are between 3-5cm big now, all babies mixed with teh bigger ones. have caught 6 so far with lots of patience, but there are still plenty more, would like to catch around 30-40 to raise in the other pond....

Jip, Brenda is the one to speak to at Epping. Just tell her that it has to be the green one and not the white one.

Will do, let me give her a quick follow up!

The net for your pond should at least be 6 x 2 x 3 (3 in the middle, two on the sides) and not only a straight 3 x 2. The net should form a bag at the back when you drag or else the fish jumps over.

Net is ordered now, being sent to JHB......

Awaiting the net, its in the post will post some pictures of the net in action.....