YOU Gotta See the *BEST KOI* in the WORLD!!

look at that I'm gonna guess that's a 50-pound fish Wow look at that Gendron on that oh my god straight up it's jungle nice that looks good dad do you like sushi I'm gonna find out foreigner box bought-sold merry Christmas to me merry Christmas to me I've got a golden what do you call it getting written chocolate what that's your aqua no sir Merry Christmas everybody it's Greg Wittstock the pond guy this vlog is my first ever trip to the mecca of koi Nagata Japan the coolest thing about this trip I got to do it with my dad yeah where are we off to Japanese voice never done anything like this didn't expect to ever would do it like this is my lifetime [Music] Airport on our 13-hour flight to Tokyo joining me on this trip were two young kids that I was excited to bring over there with me Jorge who runs the coral 12 G and his mom we have the mom who's picking out the koi for our aquascape pond and we have coral 12 G himself who surprises mom 10 hours before she got an airplane yes second one was Franklin from raw fishing so this is mine below incredibly both of these guys we had built ponds for that they were both wanting to pick out koi for their pond once we landed in Tokyo we were able to take a bullet train 44 miles an hour and it's smooth as glass about two hours up to the beautiful mountainous region in Japan that's where we basically met up with him our host for the week for the first time clay trips that cam look at that learning how was the pig intestine hurt what do you think vinegar you know what it is it's pig intestines I thought it was Tim Waddington who runs coy Tripps calm he is out of the UK tim has been going to Japan for over 20 years he knows all of the farms out there the best breeders we also met up with brine from Fitz's fish ponds who has been going over there for a couple of years with ten that was when we began to travel we are in the koi town look at that you [Music] [Music] so this is the first stop of the day right Brian yeah my favorites right here lies is your favorite I have 18 fish here okay I got two in here over this tank here when did you get them the two in here I got two and a half years ago really 15 in here 16 here I got eight months ago so that's the reason you keep them over here because they're grown out then eventually you're Salim will bring them over to the States okay Brian which wishes you to fish in this tank so and it softly well that pretty much looks like every single one in here that point right there right there right there the black on its nose yep so this guy Tim specializes in showing sake so I'm showing to Hoffy amazing some of these fish in Arizona for over 20 guns you know that's a nice one right there beautiful shape sabooms yeah which one right there in the bottom yep [Applause] [Music] what do you think that there's over 200 Kauai farms and every single one of them is unique they all specialize in a few particular breeds of koi we were going about and visiting the different koi breeders that are multi-generational there was one reason only one reason that we were there and that was to see the unbelievable koi this is just incredible first you disinfect your feet walk in some of the biggest best koi you'll ever see anywhere in the world live in here look at these guys look at how awesome just spectacular giant koi and all perfect I mean look at those tide shows right there like the Japanese flag perfect symmetrical red dots there's probably a million dollars of coin in here what would you say easy more than a million you come here and really see what they're supposed to look like what's the name of this place Nerra hero and he's probably the only one who has this much selection in jumbo-sized I would say that is the best type of each boy just terrific I took joy too and then okay that's one of them oh gods the orange they're just in written RNG Oh God there you go go go happy are each 4 feet long give you a perspective at the Corporal boiling everyone in here is war that can show over there or four foot long toy there's some small one and not only are they that big they're absolutely spectacular the season Bianchi choice one of the top top toy breeders in the absolute world and they have some incredible monsters here ha 10 50 to $200,000 baby a lot of these fish probably right he won awards Oh them at this point a fish like that sometimes too hard to ship I think it's crazy to own cor that you never actually bring home who am I to judge this is the culture that's what people do every day was a little bit like Groundhog Day we woke up early in the morning we would be hitting koi places by around nine o'clock we not only got to go where the fish were where they were being displayed in the display tanks but we actually got to go out with Missouri koi farm and go out and go into the koi ponds the grow-out ponds where this fish spend every summer up until the fall rolling out and getting bigger you're ready to do this is it this pond down here Koston this pond okay oh there they are there's a beautiful Kohaku [Music] so they just pull up in their truck within 10 minutes of getting out of the trucks but nets are in the ground Hans had been pre drain already the day before they've lowered the water every one of those fish you never know how many fish are in there completely because they've been putting in there six months ago every one of those fish gets pulled up into a little area look at that monster so they don't jump out [Applause] [Music] I'll go yes watch the pro we have a bunch of koi already in our little kiddie pool and what we're gonna do we're gonna just get every toy like this one like this one Oh welcome back this is Gregg Wittstock the pond guy well George whatever what we'll sort it out late for now watch Greg he's about to get some monster koi hey Greg I'm holding this for you Bubba Wow I love my job I love your job too but just last week in the face mister boy get him Greg oh yeah this is kind of where the fun process begins you get to see how the fish's colors have developed a fish have grown over the years all of these koi farm Paul clay bottom pond were filled with not only clay but rock and gravel natural substrate one of the things that people don't like about aquascape ponds they say you can't put rock and gravel on the bottom of a pie this is a clay pot but it's equal parts rocks and gravel and it's the perceptions that I want to change about people you don't have to make this copy complicated you don't have to listen to everything that you hear on the Internet I love my art I love my job and I love exposing more people to what living the aquascape lifestyle is all about this hobby is all about this is the mecca this is Japan unbelievable for me to see where this really all-star tear is the man the myth the legend himself Tim is one of the few koi experts that's really embraced the Aquacade methodology with the ecosystem philosophy because the fact that these fish are outside for the entire growing season then inside in the winter or getting shipped away they're growing year round [Applause] hold the one that got away help you've got it keep cutting [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] look look at that beauty that's in Tarot quarry farm there is mr. Shintaro himself and look at that they just got a beautiful it's like a show these are the male fish which are slightly smaller than the females that we caught out of that pond right there but we had to say in that pond here they're just catching them by hand you could see him going in there and now we're gonna actually take these fish so we're gonna move on from this table to the holding facility the holding tank that will take them to the holding facility where they will spend the next five months they've got a film crew out here from Japanese TV that are recording this entire thing this is the second day in a row that we've been harvesting fish both of them from Shintaro this is his ace second generation that is his son who is the third generation that's taken it over it's just been absolutely spectacular or out here in the mountains not exactly sure of the elevation change you have any idea how high we are up that I would say to feedback there were above some of the clouds anyway one of 45 pounds that quintero koi farm pulled from now we're going to move them we're gonna put them all the way back in with the rest of the fish and there's George from Karl 12g what have you thought of this all experience buddy this whole thing has been incredible two pawns right here magical so it looks like you got a what is that a show-off the baby meal as a Kohaku okay no black on it mm-hmm some of the biggest fish are probably 40 pounds it's amazing how many they put in there because they did pump it with pure oxygen you know these are going back about 45 minutes and that's their headquarters and we would follow them back to the actual facility where we got to put them into the indoor ponds and actually start to observe and see for the first time amongst all of their peers which the shining stars are so he's gonna grab them gorgeous unless you have been to Japan and seeing how beautiful the koi are pretty much indescribable there's a couple of things that really really stand out about the koi over in the godom one is the size how do they get such big size they're bred for that these are selective breeding you might only be seeing one or two percent of the overall population gets bred it's only a few percentage points of the koi that are hatch that actually make it into sellable core so this is how to explain what he's doing he thinks just a little koi that exponent just looking in that he's gonna see if there's anything that you worth keeping this is how they call the OI these are very young koi yeah they're looking for colors yeah like look at how beautiful that blue one is and if it's black it goes into fertilizer there's a master at work there and there's all the ones that'll make it and there's all the ones that don't only the very best of the best actually make it up to sale and into the hub imagine it having shaquille o'neal's all over the place and it becomes normal to see this 80 centimeter 90 centimeter koi all over the place you've never seen koi that big over here in the state what you're looking forward to colors textures patterns ice shaped coil a nice pattern koi and you're looking from a quality breeder somebody that really kind of specializes in that this is where Tim really shines he knows exactly where to take you to about what kind of fish that you're looking at even if Tim had been there the week before he doesn't know what fish are coming in from the field it's always a new visit the thing that really impressed me that I didn't really know that I would get was the the hospitality not only we go out harvesting fish with them but he invites us to his house every single day for lunch this is not just their business and their livelihoods these are the relationships they rely on every single day we would have lunch a home-cooked meals authentic Japanese meal sitting in their living room talking fish and just talking life and getting to meet the people of God a whole area kind of evolves around the koi world she's stocking up on the toilet paper seeing people from all over the world picking out their koi it was just an absolutely spectacular time for me to finally be able to have things you know full circle with my father be separated for a few years in business came back together again in 2006 working together ever since him as a contractor down in Florida felt like it was really coming full circle we work together in Japan just like hobbyists again looking at cool fish with cool people bonding over a mutual shared hobby that we've had pretty much our entire life since I was a little kid just the water gardening hobby so for my dad and I not to have to deal with some of the issues that happen in the past be able to just celebrate our mutual love for the hobby together and to do it in that the coolest place ever it was truly the best Christmas gift I love my job yes you do the fact that I was able to provide that experience for my dad is something that I will cherish forever I'm really upset at myself for spending 49 years of my life to get here I could honestly say I'm gonna keep coming back here there's too many beautiful koi to check out it's truly awesome to had turned my hobby into my profession to be able to introduce a whole new generation with these young youtubers that I'm traveling with Jorge from coral 12g Franklin from raw fish and it's just fantastic spectacular I cannot believe that I get paid to do this I feel like I totally arrived coming to a place like that I hope you enjoyed this video with all these beautiful fish if you love anything about this hobby I couldn't recommend highly enough koi trips comm because they knew the inner workings because they've grown up that area so much and when you find a job that you love to do you never have to work another day in your life and this is the exact kind of thing that I can easily forget about doing cool stuff like this when you're dealing with the grind of business I love coy I love my art and I certainly love my job Merry Christmas everybody [Music]

Channel: Greg Wittstock, The Pond Guy

Views: 141,230

Keywords: Aquascape, Ponds, Waterfalls, Fountains, Water Garden, Garden Pond, Backyard Pond, Certified Aquascape Contractor, Outdoor Living

Id: pzQQn4s4E3I

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 25 2019