Advanced Trick Casting: The Shadow Cast

I really like these guys.

Jesus fish...

big lenok are here

Nice to see all the Korean sites posting bigger lenok. This one was caught by our friend GoDo. Winter nymphing always produces the largest lenok, just need to find open waters and be ready to brave the harsh winter in KangWon.















Below photos: South Korean lenok (photos from other sites: Spiderfly, Princefly, Trutta and others).

365fish.net

I was glad to receive a note from Blake (illinoiswisconsinfishing.blogspot.com) on the recent launch of his fishing forum 365fish.net

It's a fishing forum geared towards the blogging community, and from what I have seen from the success of illinoiswisconsinfishing, I think it will be a great source to share, learn, and discuss all things fishing in the Midwest and more. It has just begun so there's not much there now, but check it out from time to time and register to write on it.

Greeting from Italy

Greetings from our friend Fabrizio Gajardoni in Italy. I always dream of fishing in Italy one day, and meeting Fabrizio. Dry fly fishing on the Nera River. Check out his innovative and fun flies at:

http://www.gajaflies.it/

LEGO trout

I visited LEGO LAND in San Diego with the family this past week. While walking around, my son called to me "hey dad, I think there's a trout in here!". I walked over to see what it was, and indeed, it was a LEGO trout. It made me smile in two ways, one because of the fact that my son knows I like fishing and he looked that way. Second because he saw it as a trout. It was a nice day.

South Korea: Char fly fishing

Hatcheries in KangWon/ Hwa Chun has preliminary success in reproducing the char, "Gon-Deul-Mai-Ki" (곤들매기/Salvelinus malma). The fish disappeared in South Korea during the early 1970s due to overfishing. The eggs were imported from Japan and they grow to about 20-30cm, sometimes larger. If the program continues to succeed, they will introduce the fish to such festivals as Hwa Chun Trout Festival, and create paid streams for fly fishermen.

Although the thought of a million people catching and eating these hatchery Dolly Varden Char makes me uncomfortable, I also think it takes events like this to create funding to reproduce (and reintroduce) these fish into the streams. Unfortunately, the efforts to reintroduce fish like this into the waters based on pure conservation goals alone is always underfunded and the odds of success is marginal at best. Since Korea has only limited cold water species to fly fish for, any news like this is a good one (I think.)

Our friend EuNu ( http://www.rainbowfly.co.kr/) fished near one of the hatcheries and found a few that escaped the hatchery. I can't wait to find one of these at the end of my line.

Good old neighborhood creek:

Past Saturday, I visited the creek near by my house. Maybe becasue of the cooler weather, much smaller ones are the one that was greeting me. When I was at the only deeper part of the wather in the creek, I was able to finally meet slightly larger one with the nymphing.

nice to meet you GF...

I met Gone Fishing in a long time.
We were fishing at seohwa creek,
There is a military area near the DMZ(demilitarized zone).
The sound of cannons and soldiers can hear you,
but there is no problem for fly fishing.

We enjoyed fishing, and
Fly-fishing may ease the spirit.....
It was a pleasure meeting you GF.


Walk through the valley with time and lenok ...


Flowing water and time ...

casting..

lenok

holding a lenok....

winter is comming in the valley...

Nathan from Osan

Nathan is a fly fisherman from Northern California stationed at Osan, where he works in the Emergency Department. I was glad to hear that a few weeks ago, he finally find time to go fish the east Korean creeks. Good to hear from you, Tight lines Nathan!

Fishing near the border...

I had a extra day during my trip and so I went fishing with Dr. Shin to fish for lenok near the border. It's peaceful there, other than the occasional ringing of firearms going off nearby (military base), as well as an occasional cannon. As we fish near the bridge, soldiers marching in line watch on. The big lenok hasn't yet fully started their journey down south in this creek, but the smaller ones were present, which signals the start of the migration. It's cool thinking that these fish travel up and down the border, free from all the nonsense that humans/ nations fight about. Reading the caution sign for land mines is a little nerve racking, and you do walk a little slower in areas with thick cover. We bothered a lot of smaller lenok this day, and it was just nice sitting at the banks eating our lunch.

형, 오늘 같이 가서 즐거웠습니다, 그리고 감사합니다. 곧 또 봐요.

My First Bamboo Rod

For our 15th year anniversary, Patty ordered me a bamboo rod from Oyster Fine Bamboo Rod Company. I will get the rod sometime in January. I feel like a little boy who is about to receive the best gift ever!

A letter from Ulan Bator.

I received a warm letter from my friend S.H. Yoo from Mongolia. He just returned from his early winter float trip. I like the fact that weather can push back trips in Mongolia for 2-3 days, waiting for the temperature to rise, and water levels to go down. In our world of exacting schedules, it's refreshing. He spoke a lot about the friendship that builds up over the years with the guide & navigator, even with limited communication in words. Thank you S.H., I look forward to seeing you again soon in Korea or China, but preferably in Mongolia.