Not many anglers even think about targeting koi fish, which is understandable because the domesticated Japanese carp fish are used mostly small garden ponds and pools. They are also often stocked in fountains or pools strictly for ornamental purposes because they are essentially giant goldfish. They take on beautiful colors that are easily visible to anyone walking past the pond. But what happens if a pool or fountain is abandoned, and someone forgets about the koi fish left behind? One might assume the fish would quickly die due to not being fed or cared for. After all, they have been domesticated for thousands of years.
However, the koi is much hardier than many people realize, and this impressive video proves that. YouTuber Wild Life has found a large fountain that has obviously been abandoned for quite some time. The water is quite murky, and it appears the woods are quite overgrown all around it. Despite this, and the small size of the fountain, it's loaded with large koi fish. The only problem is the koi are quite skittish, so catching one is easier said than done.
It took many hours before he was finally able to get this brilliant koi to take his bait. Fishing an abandoned fountain proved to be more challenging than one might think due to all the debris that had fallen inside. These fish have had a long time to become wild again while surviving in a place like this. Fortunately, that piece of cloth the koi got tangled up in came loose and the angler was able to net this koi for a better look at it. Koi fish do grow much larger than this, but for a fish that is essentially now wild, that's an impressive catch.
These fish have also been shown to be extremely long-lived, so the koi in this fountain could be there for decades after the fact. It appears as though they have already endured several years judging from the state of the fountain. We can't blame him for keeping this location a secret. That's a unique fishing experience that you cannot get in many places here in the U.S. We're already looking forward to seeing how things go when he eventually returns to this location to give it another shot.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
