One last broken hook:

Thinking about the past when I first started fly fishing, I often was in situations that I had shortage of flies to use in my fly box. With more experience and tying that I do now, I do have more flies in the box and I do get better result. But time to time, there is always the one hook that work in the water at the end of bad day but that hook has some quality problem. I had that problem recently and I'm determined to better equip my box better for next trip.

RainbowFly has updated website!

Our friends RainbowFly has launched their new website, which combines the club site & on line store into one. Looks great, congratulations EnNu! Check out more at: http://www.rainbowfly.co.kr/

692km.

* this is a birthday wish for my friend. This one’s going to be in Korean.

오늘은 유난히 잘정리된 작은 Blue River 에서, 이쁜 고기를 잡을수 있었다. 늦은 아침에, 오후에 낚시를 하겠다는 느긋한 마음으로, 커피를 들고 음악들으면서 출발했다. 시골길이라서 그런지, 너무많은 벌래가 창문에 붙어, 아무리 닦아도 소용이 없다… 그냥 벌래를 달고 달려야 한다. 언제나 그렇지만, 강가에 도착해서 낚시 준비하는 마음, 아주 오랜만에, 좋아하는 친구를 만나는 기분같이 들뜨고 설레인다. 여기는 내가 좋아하는이쁜 고기가 많이 살고 있나보다, 작고, 이쁘고, 개성있는 녀석들. 오랜만에, 아주 먼 캐스트를 던져본다. 강아지 두마리를 대리고 산책하던 동내 사람과 이야기를 나누었다, 어제밤 처음으로 서리가 내렸다고 한다. 이제, 오는 겨울이 아주 조금 느껴진다.

강가를 걸으면서, 여기저기 물고기 있을듯 한곳에 fly 를 던지고, 거기에 반응해주는 녀석들이 반갑기만 하다. 오늘 잡은 이렇게 이쁜 고기들은 언젠가 친구에게 보여 주고 싶다는 생각이 들었다. 내가 좋아하는 고기를 잡아서 보여주고, 그 고기에 대해서 설명해 주고, 또 잡아서 또 보여주고. 같이 강가에 앉아 이런저런 살아가는 얘기하면서, 맥주 마시고, 날아다니는 벌래 구경하면서, 해가 질때까지 앉아 있으면 좋겠다. 혼자 낚시를 할때면 한가지에 대해서 깊게 생각할수 있는 시간이다. 오늘은 친구에 대해서 그렇게 생각했고, 그렇게 생각할수 있는 친구가 있어서 감사하다고 생각들었다.

생일 축하한다 친구야.

chasing chrome.

I will be soon. Can't wait till mid Oct.

slow fishing Japan.

One of my favorite fishing photos sites on the web. The photos are elegant & creative, not the same old trophy shots we are used to. Check out the other sections beyond fishing – really interesting. Thank you for the awesome photos Slow Fishing.

Please check out more at: http://dyun5.exblog.jp/

500 miles with no fish.

In the past couple of days, I drove nearly 500 miles and still I have no fish photos to show. I went to Pike River, Root River, & Petrified Spring Creeks in search of salmon and there was not enough water flowing yet. It was like arriving at a scheduled party days before it actually started. I went to Otter Creek, Blue River, & Castle Rock Creek in search of trout and there was too much water (which left the water stained). My ipod broke down (probably from dropping it in the water one too many times) but fortunately I had my U2 Joshua Tree album in the CD player. If I have too listen to one CD over and over, this was the correct one to have. A lot of driving, a lot of staring at highways, and plenty of coffee.

Still, I’m pretty sure I’d do it again. Next time, I’ll pay better attention to the water flow charts. I wondered if there's a fly that is better to throw in stained water...I tried the usual but had only one strike all day. I tried dark & light wolly buggers but nothing. When the water is stained, do I go top water or below?...just imagine how many times I thought of such questions all day... too much.

Here, you guys look at some muddy water too.

start of a season

With the vacationers back to work, the fall lenok season is in full swing at the creeks of Korea. Here are some beautiful photos from our friend Mr. Bae. Nice sized lenok & cherry trout.

Two Seasons Angling...

Well, the trout season will come to an end at the end of this month in Wisconsin. With a lot of overseas travels this year, I didn’t get to visit the WI creeks very much, in fact I can count exactly how many times I’ve been up here. Wisconsin isn’t world famous for trout creeks or nothing, but I’ve fallen in love with the small creeks that’s set in backdrops of small farms. There is something sober & humbling about it, which goes well with the reasons why I like fishing in the first place. So with 10 days left in the 2010 season, I took a stroll up to a creek I’ve never been to – Otter Creek. I've been busy with work all weekend and pulled an all nighter last night, so after a shower & double shot of coffee, I was on the road by 4am.

The early morning was kind of slow with fishing, but I kept myself occupied with taking a good look at the surroundings & all the things that live there. Soon this whole place will be covered in white, and I’ll have to wait till next spring to see all this again. As the sun rose, so did the fish food (insects, bugs) activity, and I started to see a few rises here and there. I caught plenty of smaller fish, and some medium fish. There was a lot of browns and I was happy to see a rainbow among the mix. I was most pleased to catch a creek chub – I haven’t seen this guy in a long while and it brought a smile to my face. The fly in the photo was my go-to fly for the day, everything was caught on that fly.

As I reeled in the line from the last cast, I looked down on my feet and thought that I wished I had spent more time up here. As I drove home, I kept the window open to keep myself from dozing off, and when I looked out – I saw a landscape that was plain & flat – somewhat empty, even sad...and it could not look more beautiful than it did. I drove a little slower to try and implant that image into my heart.

I really like fishing in Wisconsin.