Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Koi Eradication?

Early on in my pond days, I put 5 or 6 koi into my pond. I learned afterwards that they are bottom feeders and live their life on bottom eating the eggs of my BG and LMB. I have no interest in them now and I want to get rid of them. The problem is that I never see them. Last year I had an oxygen problem and when I did, I saw them on the surface. There were probably 2-3 different koi that I saw.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to get rid of them? Are there traps that I can put on bottom that will catch them with any reliability? Would they eat catfish bait if attached it to a hook and set it on bottom?

Thanks!

The koi that I saw looked to be around 15" and were probably a couple of pounds

I doubt that they'll eat catifsh bait. If you have a feeder, are they coming to the top to feed? If so, either pellet flies, Stubby Steve's, or bowfishing equipment should work.

If not, take a 16 oz can of whole kernel corn and throw 1/2 to the full can in 3'-5' of water every day for a week. If that's not possible, do it as often as you can, in the same area. Just throw it out in handfuls. After they get used to eating the corn, throw out half as much and watch for bubbles coming up to the surface. Take a #2 Aberdeen hook on 8# or 10# test line, thread it full of corn (no weight or bobber) and cast it about a foot past the bubbles. Let it sink with slack in the line. When the line gets tight, set the hook.

Koi are just fancy colored carp through selective breeding, so the fishing methods used for them are the same as carp. How big if your pond Makoclay?

Thanks guys. My pond is 1.25 acres. I have 2 fish feeders but I have never seen them come to the fish pellets. Hopefully this summer when the water warms and the fish start coming to the pellets, I'll be able to see them. I think if they come to the feeders I could shoot them. I've continued to feed throughout the winter because the feeders are keeping my ducks fed and happy.

re: shooting them. Archery works MUCH better than firearms, and it's safer as well.

I agree about the bow. I have friends who are bow hunters and they would love the opportunity to use it on my koi. That being said, I am confident I could shoot them without any safety issues. I blast turtles with my AR-15 all the time. I have a silencer so it doesn't make any noise and doesn't disrupt the fish. I do think though that the bow would work better. I am concerned that the repercussion of the bullet hitting the water could affect my BG that are feeding on the pellets.

thanks all for the advise

I would worry more about the chances of a bullet ricochetting off of the water than its effect on the bluegill.

I think bow fishing for them would be your most effective method.

I would think Koi would be easy to spot because of the color. You can also try to snag them with a big friggin treble hook.

Are 2 or 3 koi really causing that much issue in a 1.5 acre pond? What exactly are they doing?

I don't buy it. I've heard the same about common carp but it's never been proven. I say live and let live.

In big enough numbers koi/common carp will muddy the heck out of a pond... But 2 or 3 in a 1.25 acre pond isn't gonna cause much if any issue. I have personally never seen a koi/common carp ever raiding a sunfish/bass nest in my life. I have spent hundreds of hours observing sunfish/bass nests in ponds, lakes and rivers with common carp/koi in them. One would think if it was a major issue, I would have observed this behavior by now... I have however seen many other species raiding nests of sunfish/bass. GSH are top on that list... Spotfin shiners are also big time nest raiders as are other smaller sunfish and crayfish.

I've seen carp cruising thru BG beds when they are in pre-spawn mode, but never stopping to feed. Carp do feed on the bottom, and I believe they do contribute to reduced water clarity due to suspended solids.

If these koi are second generation or later, they probably don't have the bright colorations anymore.

Yes, it is possible if the brightly colored original stockers spawned, most of their offspring were also brightly colored, but a few had the more mute coloration of wild fish and that made their odds of survival a bit higher and also tougher for them to be seen... Young koi/common carp can easily be caught with corn after some chumming and if there were many, even with less bright colors, you'd think they'd be seen around the feeder.

Common goldfish can revert to old blah colors but Koi have a long term genetic change that holds up generation after generation. I did some work at a koi nursery and even watched a koi master photographing and breeding them. And yes, they will eat the hell out of other fishes nests as they will pick up a mouthful of nest gravel and filter it out keeping the eggs. They target gravel and rock over mud and sand, but they will suck that up to.

I love the AR15 with silencer. Sure the ATF would also. Too big of pond to snag a couple of koi. You could try an algae or moss ball bait. Or wait til they comeback to the surface and practice archery. I would personally try to live catch them and find them a new home. Might even be able to sell them. Aquatic nursery i work with just sold a butterfly koi shipped from Japan for $500.