Any ideas for koi traps?

[fishbone]

Well, it's that time of year again, when my old man and I try to catch some of our pond koi and give them away. Alas, they're smart and hard to catch, although they eat right out of our hand, as soon as a couple disappear, the rest are gone.
"Hey Jim, have you seen Bob?
As a matter of fact no, Eric
Oh God, they've come for us again!
Quick, everybody hide!"

Any ideas or tips on how we could perhaps build some koi traps? We've got some nice large rubbermaid containers. The koi are about a foot long.

[Ripley]

Not sure what kind of pond of holding pen they are in but I would just drain the water.

[Scuba Kid]

Our koi catching usually goes something like this:

"There's a big one!"
*Chase around with a net*
*Koi swims right past the net*
I commence the swearing marathon.
*Slips and falls in the water*
Repeat the process.

Have you tried "herding" the koi into a large container or net? Perhaps you can put one of the large rubbermaids sideways on the bottom and you can try chasing them into the container or into a large net.
Or.....
If you want to make a fish trap of some sort, maybe this could work...
Try cutting the bottom of a large pladtic container out placing a large net where the hole is, so you have a rigid container the koi may attempt to hide in and then they continue to swim into a net.
I'm just thinking outloud though. My personal koi catching process has been explained above.

If I recall correctly, you have a huge pond, right? So draining is probably impractical in this case. Unless I'm confusing you with someone...

[fishbone]

Originally Posted by Ripley

Not sure what kind of pond of holding pen they are in but I would just drain the water.

50 koi or so. 6000 gallon pond. We actually do plan on draining it but will never manage to do so more than 50% at most. I figured I'd ask and see if there was a widely used DIY trap of sort.
http://picasaweb.google.com/fishbon3/HomePond

Scuba kid: our routine very much goes like yours. Then the fish go into hiding for days if not weeks. When fed, they just show up like sharks out of nowhere, grab the pellets and disappear

[emc7]

I'm thinking you need to plan ahead. Make your pond a triangle with a shallow point. Seine from the wide, deep to the narrow. I think thats what the early fish-farmers in SA did.