micro nymphying

I miss fishing...

Warm Wishes for my Friends

It's hard to believe it's already the end of 2011. It's not a feeling that the year went by any faster, it just feels like with all the giant changes happening all around the world, I should have also been doing something (although I'm not sure if more or less). Watching these changes makes me feel hopeful, fearful, ashamed, small, connected and old at the same time. Maybe this is just part of reaching midlife, noticing the waves of change around me, wondering (and worrying) how those changes will affect the world my children will live in. Maybe it's something more simple, like the fact that I fished a lot less than I should/could have, which provided too much time to dive into the crap, none of which made me any more informed or wiser. All I know is that spending way more time in airports than on streams isn't good for me.

I am deeply thankful for a lot of things. Above all my family, our health, and time with good friends. This year, I'm espcially thankful that I was there when my son caught his first cherry trout, that I had a chance to fish in Colorado, and that I got to catch some steelheads for the first time. I guess it's such moments that I will remember about the year (and all the times I got drunk with Soboro). I look forward to 2012 ... like a stream that changes with each season, I hope next year will be filled with lots of good changes that we can laugh out loud about.

I wish you & your family the best in 2012. Thank you for being such great friends.

Happy Holidays.

Closing Statement

2011 fishing experience has been particularly good to me as I think I made the most improvement with my fishing skill. The most of my fishing hours were spent on this small mountain creek in New Jersey with one specific pattern (Ausable Bomber) mainly to improve my casting skill.

Come to think of it, I've started the season at this creek and I fished it yesterday to be my last fishing trip of the year makes this creek somewhat special for me.


I pretty much had a whole creek all to myself. Not even a single hiker to be seen on trails leading to the creek.

I hope everyone made their good fishing memoirs this year as I have and hope to see you guys next year with even bigger smiles (from fishing of course) from pictures you will post.

Tightlines...

ㅋㅋ

from my friend Pete, The Esoxman...

Each year about this time, hear from my friend Pete/ The Esoxman, about his annual Canada trip. This year Pete had 8 Muskie and 6 of them were over 40 inches and one at 48inches. As usual, his son Matt also accompany him on the trip and adds to the count of Muskie encounters. An annual fishing trip like this, with your family is something I think I can get into now, now that my kids are a little older. Pete continues to be a mentor to me beyond fishing.

Looking forward to catching up soon Pete. Seems like we're crossing paths in the air.

Beginning of New Experience

Since my last saltwater fishing trip, I've tried to tie some flies for stripers. Surf candy is to be exact. The first one I've tied as seen below came out like a fat goldfish with a long tail. Eventually I was able to simulate the fly good enough to fool a striper so I hoped...

With much anticipation along with my newly tied flies, I hit the beach by 4am last sunday only to find that the section where I needed to be is barricaded with a park ranger on guard.


I've decided to stay and practice cast as I know I will be coming back first thing next spring. Striper season is officially over as of this week but I am glad that I was able to take my first step to new fishing venture I am sure I will enjoy.

I like this beverage...

I love it that America has good beer named after a famous river and has a trout on it. And it's nice and potent too. Cheers from Hong Kong.

Rainbow Fly Fishing Club Winter Outing

Lee, Soboro, Dr. Shin, Prof Huh, and I attended the Rainbow Fly Fishing Club winter outing at a local trout pond. It was great to see many friends faces we haven't seen in a long while. Prof Huh & Dr. Shin did a lot of work to prepare lunch & drinks for everyone and the meat & fresh oysters brought in from KangHwa were delicious. People fished throughout the day and some caught some big hatchery rainbows but by the afternoon everyone stopped counting (probably from the buzz from all that soju drinking). I personally got skunked by these clever educated trout but I was happy all the same. Good day, good friends, good food all equals good time.

Thank you Dr. Shin & Prof Huh for getting everyone together. 형들 진짜 수고 많으셨습니다.

cricket trailer flipbook.m4v

The coolest thing I've ever seen. My next fishing vehicle.

next time we go fishing...

We should do this next time we go fishing. Damn they look like they're having a good time.

Brown trout from Mt. Fuji.

I received these photos from a good friend of mine. He spent a few days on a private membership pond on Mount Fuji in Japan. Looks like a beautiful winter is there. Thanks for the photos...cheers!

Fall Run of Herring and Stripers

Herrings are running strong in NY Bight area and stripers are at the tail end of their fall run. James Cape from Autumn Brook Angling and I decided to hit the Sandy Hook National Park to take advantate of the situation.

"Surf fly fishing for striper is never about the accuracy nor the distance of your casting. It's all about understanding bottom structure in relation to wave movements and putting your fly right in the middle of the structure" James said with smile.

For someone like me who are not used to swinging a 10 wt rod with sink tip which has a heavy weighted fly at the end of line, it is all about the casting without hooking my body parts...

The weather was beatiful. Birds gave us good indication where the bait fish are located. The location of Sandy hook is a perfect location for fishermen for stripers as it is a strategic location to find our target as swift tides are present along the bayside and brings the bait fish with it.

My first striper on fly rod!

It's good to be back doing some saltwater fishing. Most of my saltwater fishing was done on boat but being on surf was definitely different experience. You get to be more aware of the water you are fishing as you really need to study it as to rely on your fishfinder device.

Updates from Nathan

Nathan hit the waters in Taebaek, South Korea with Matt Awalt for some winter lenok action on drys & nymphs. Nathan - Looking forward to your Red Fish photos from New Orleans! Good luck.

Thanks for the photos & Happy Holidays.

Muskegon drifting with Cusey.

Drifted down the Muskegon River again today with Phil Cusey. I failed to hook into a steelhead but found few chunky rainbow trout. It was a beautiful winter day and drifting with Phil is always a pleasure. We talked a lot about fishing the Pere Marquette River in the coming weeks. We caught up on our regular rant about the economy, desire for fair weather, and lives as fishermen. Steelhead or not, drifting the Muskegon with Phil is fun. Steelhead will come soon enough.