Life of a Hunter: Building a Koi Pond

November 10, 2007

Building a Koi Pond

Believe it or not, I really do have a real job that doesn’t have anything to do with hunting. So in between hunting trips, I really do have to work. This past weekend a co-worker of mine was asking for volunteers to help him put in his new Koi pond at the new house that he just had built. Unfortunately I didn’t have a trip planned so being the good co-worker that I am, I volunteered. Now living here in Colorado, when I think of a pond in the back yard, I am thinking maybe an 8’x8’ or maybe even a 12’x12. So when I noticed all the people that were invited to attend on the email, I figured that we would have this thing knocked out and sipping some suds in about half an hour. Boy O’ Boy was I wrong!

When we showed up and walked into the backyard I almost fell over. The hole was dug, which was a good thing, because the pond was about 40’x50’ and 5’ deep in size! Holy cow! It wasn’t a pond but a reservoir! I had never imagined that it would be that big.
The email had said that he needed help moving a 600 pound Koi pond. What I didn’t realize was that was just the weight of the Koi ponds rubber liner. However, John had a good plan and quickly put everyone to work before they could turn around a run off! In no time at all with proper supervision from the program manager (John’s wife Tammy), we had the landscape fabric down and were ready for the liner.
Fortunately for us the liner came rolled up on a roll that was about 6’ long. After a little debate we shoved a piece of PVC through the center, picked it up and people started to pull it towards the hole.
Once unrolled it was determined that we had the short side going the wrong direction. So, with a little muscle we were able to get it orientated in the right direction and started unfolding it. At last it was in position and with a little push and pull here and there we had the liner in place.
The last that I heard was that it was about 6 inches from being full, can’t wait until next summer. It is always nice to have a new place to fish!