Wednesday

The hidden creek.



Dr. Shin invited Jon and I out to fish a secret creek, one that was perfect during this busy summer season where the other creeks are filled with families and more people than the creeks can handle. This creek is one that is not too far from a major town, yet because of the small and hidden entrance, it’s not one that is easily discovered. As soon as we entered the creek, the untouched nature awed me. The road stops short just after you enter the creek, and from then on its climbing through a narrow and deep valley. The fish there are not shy and seems to take the larger flies. There is a mix of rainbows and cherry trout in separate pockets, and the size of the fish are perfectly sized. We were lucky this day because the water levels was at an ideal level which allowed the fish to be active & wading to be possible. Such a narrow and deep creek can fill up with water very quickly and it becomes pretty difficult to navigate around once the water rises. The 8 hour hike up the creek was pretty intense and my legs still hurt from the trip, a very satisfying hurt that is. It was a time for us to catch up, share a lot of thoughts and see a lot of fish. We lost count after a while, and only remembered the extremely pretty ones or the larger sized fish. I have to say, this was a perfect day.

신박사님, 정말 그림같은 계곡을 대리고가 주셔서 감사합니다! 언제나 풍부한 배려, 진심으로 감사합니다.






































9 comments:

  1. I envy you guys!!
    How about bring me to the same spot this Sept. ???

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  2. Great trip!!! Decent size fish considering the size of creek. My back aches just by looking at the trails. 윤호야 모자큰거 하나 사줄까?

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  3. it was a great trip, very different looking scenery from what we are used to on Korean creeks. We thought it looked so different because it’s so heavily wooded and there is a lot of cover with trees. You definitely need a short rod and lots of flies, I left a lot of flies in those trees that days. 진짜 함 가볼만 하더라, 다음에 같이 가자. ㅋㅋ – 모자 고맙지…. 난 머리가 작아서 모자 찾기가 힘들텐데…히히.

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  4. The creek is near the northern border in Kangwon-do, but I can’t recall the exact town name. I am sure that Dr. Shin will provide the directions if we decide to go there. I can’t imagine how beautiful the creek is with the changing seasons. The beauty is that it is so untouched by people, which also makes it slightly dangerous (the phones don’t work here). I can’t wait to revisit here with our club friends.

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  5. 옳지않아~ That's what I'm talkin about!

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  6. Great. I suppose those rainbows are imported from the states and released in the mountain streams?

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  7. That’s correct, rainbow trout are not native to Korean waters. Rainbow trout have been introduced first in Korea around 1965 (as a food source) and currently there are a number of hatcheries (most of them private) that harvest them. They escape by floods & illegal stocking and have since established themselves in local waters, mainly in the Kangwon province. Recently KBS filmed a documentary on Dong-Gang (East River) and for the first time scientifically proved that rainbow trout are reproducing in the wild in Korean waters. There are many non local game fish in Korea, including largemouth bass, blue gills, a wide variety of carp, and rainbow trout.

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