"Derek Broughton" wrote in message
...
~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:

Maybe I read Ann wrong, but I think she was saying, don't use a net to
catch and carry them in. I know I don't even net my goldfish, I herd
them
into a bucket and carry them out of the pond. With koi, I herd them into
a
big tub and bag them from that tub, water & fish as one. ;o) ~ jan

That's how I read it, too. I have fortunately never had to catch a fish
in
my large pond, but I learned long ago, with aquariums, that it's a whole
lot less stress on both me and my fish to do the herding trick into an
appropriate sized container.
--
derek

I suspect my newsreader is omitting posts again. I just get these gaps
in threads with references to other messages within the thread. Anyway,
what brought this back up, and in a different thread at that? Out of the
blue, I saw Jan's reference to the OP, and a speculation as to the point I
was making. And, yes, she read me right. We do use a large mesh net to get
them, but we don't use it to lift them out of the water. We slide a tub
under the net and carry the fish, with the water, over to the new pond.
Sometimes the fish don't even seem to be aware of the move. They just seem
a little disoriented at the new surroundings. Then, they seem to recognize
their former pond-mates and settle right in.
I hate to use the net to capture them, but we have never been successful
in herding them into a tub. We seem to be able to herd them into the net,
because it's less visible. We hold the net down in the water, just long
enough to get the tub under them, and then lift them out. I addressed it to
new ponders because I didn't know anyone did it any differently for quite a
while.