Wednesday

hey look, we have a open day!

Hey guys! looks like sat is gonna be a break from the rain. Do you think:

1) there are any creeks that's worth trying? 비가 오긴 왔어도, 혹시 가능한 계곡이 있을까요? 긍정적인 마인드를 최대한 발휘하고 있는 중입니다.

2) hit the bass? Low waters made bass fishing poor last time but perhaps it's better now? I'll call the bass boat guy to check. 배스나 때리던지요.

3) give up and meet somewhere and get trashed on tequila and talk about how we wished we were fishing? 술이나 때리던지요.

Tuesday

flyfishing season at hokkaido in japan

flyfishing season at hokkaido in japan
- green colour: sea amemasu(this amemasu is a homing fish)
- light blue colour: brown trout
- dark green colour: cherry trout
- strong purple colour: iwana(amemasu live in the valley)
- orange colour: rainbow
- light orange colour: taimen
- blue colour: amemasu(amemasu is fish-like creature from Ainu folklore.
It lives in Lake Mashu in Hokkaidō)
- red purple colour: karafutomasu












Monday

Fancy Tree House for Kids Who Love Fishing:

I thought to share this fancy kids' tree house concept with the fishing. It had very nice details.



Sunday

I was just happy to meet fish:

After about 20 trips to the shop, local fly shop friend told me about a small creek nearby where I live. I keep thinking to make some big long and fancy weekend trip to Sierra but not thought about going to that small creek. Past weekend realizing that it is going to be take some time to make a long tip, I decided to drive to look for that small creek near by my house. Since there were so many off roads in that mountain area and didn’t have a specific directions, and drove round for awhile, I almostgave up and came backhome.When I approached one small off road with a small picnic area, I saw a small stream running right next. The size of that creek was so tight that my 8’6” #5 rod was just fit to swing. With my experience from this kind of creek and thanks to my fly fishing teacher GF, I was able to throw first cast successfullywith the side casting. With the first cast, I was able to catch about 9” baby rainbow. I was able to catch with the every cast in every pocket of water. I was just happy to meet fish.




There were purple butterflies all over when I walked down to the water (If you look carefully).


Saturday

monsoon is here.

It's been raining straight for the past 3 days...and the rain is here to stay for another 15 days. The rivers are already blown out everywhere and it's going to be a long while until we see a trout around here.

Wednesday

Change of Scenery

Finally able to dock the boat last week. Hosted my cousin's family for little bay fishing. Bluefish are everywhere chomping on anything they can get their razor sharp teeth on.

The kids had a blast and it was nice for me to change scenery as well.






Tuesday

Love of Fishing is Contagious

Since one of our beloved dog passed away, Patty and I have a lot more time to fish together. As GF mentioned in the prior writing, the right company can make a fishing trip more memorable...

Akan Lake, Hokkaido Japan.














Our friends Mr. Bae & Prof. Huh just returned from their weeklong trip to Hokkaido. They fished for Amemasu (sea run Iwana) at Akan lake and rainbows in the valleys. They were joined by Mr. Bae's friend Michael from Singapore. Thanks for the great photos Prof. Huh, looks like you guys had a great time.














Monday

fishing in the right company


















We left early, just past 3am. All throughout the 3 hour ride, I went into zen mode to keep from vomiting the vodka that I'd been drinking till two with Soboro. One of our kind friend unpacked the breakfast & drinks he prepared for us, so we ate that during the early morning drive. Stepping out of the rest stop with coffee in hands, we saw the day break.

We paired in twos, me with mrlee & Joon with Insup. For the first hour or more, I just kind of followed mrlee as he fished up the creek, still trying to sober up. Perhaps due to the high level of alcohol in my blood, watching mrlee's super long casts seemed like I was watching a movie. However, instead of one single long video, things appeared in frames ... the line gliding gracefully through thick cover of trees, the fly turning gently on the water... and mrlee missing several strikes. By the next few cast, mrlee had figured out that cherries took the fly and turned a little slower than rainbows. He also figured out that with cherry trout, you generally get one shot at each pool.

The fishing was slow in the morning and the fresh footsteps ahead of us suggested that there might be fishermen in front of us. As mrlee and I made our way towards the road to get to the lunch house, we ran into a group of local vacationers sitting at the waterside, barbecuing some pork ribs and taking shots of their homemade liquor... we soon found ourselves taking shot after shot with them, and we felt the buzz as we stood up. We had country chicken for lunch, and this one was big enough to feed all four of us. We sat around drinking beer and casting some fine rods in the lawn. I sort of volunteered myself to fish with Joon's nice Kineya bamboo rod in the afternoon. Lee agreed but said he would blame me if the thing broke.

We fished the lower section in the afternoon and by this time mrlee had the fish & creek figured out. There were several moments where I would say to him, "I bet you can't cast into that shit", and mrlee replied "watch and learn". The bamboo was casting nice, fish were taking flies, and the conversation was getting more honest. Joon caught his prize fish this day, a cherry over 30cm and mrlee matched it with a nice cherry trout of his own. It was nice fishing next to mrlee, learning about fishing and about mrlee's colorful history. Just as I passed out on the drive home, I found myself thinking ... a measure of a successful fishing life is probably measured in days like this one, fishing in the right company of friends.

Joon - thank you for driving us all day and for letting us use the bamboo rod.

우리가 나중에 생각해보면, 좋은 낚시인생을 살았다는 증거는, 얼마나 큰 고기를 잡았거나, 얼마나 좋은곳에서 낚시를 했느냐가 아니라, 얼마나 좋은 친구들과 낚시를 했느냐일것 같습니다. 함께 조행해서 너무 즐거웠습니다.