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.

Family gathering

My cousin Michael had hiked pretty much all over the world only armed with a backpack. I've invited Michael to join me to go fishing at my favorite stream. Even as a someone who've seen many beautiful scenery, he truly appreciated the beauty of the Northeastern mountain stream.

Giving in to temptation... giant lures.

It's the fall season here in the Midwest and many species big and powerful are lurking in the waters. I should be chasing steelheads, but so far I'm having difficulty finding quality time to go out. So instead, I am hitting closer waters and in closer waters, the prize fish is the northern pike and if lucky, the good old mr. Muskellunge. I recently visited the local lake near my house and threw out the biggest lures I had (big for bass standards), and hooked a few small bass and a northern. Then on one particular cast, I saw it... a big dark shadow chasing the lure right up to my feet, then dropping and fading into the deeper water.... I've heard that I am supposed to do that figure 8 with the lure, since they often strike at the last moment, but the sight of the big fish had me too excited to do anything. I was able to repeat this (chase but no take) a few more times during the next couple of hours and that was exciting in itself.

As I was about to leave, I ran into a fellow fisherman with one of them giant lures... the kind that I pass by at BassPro Shop and think, "is that for decoration?". He cast the giant lure, splash, slow/ medium retrieve...then the 2nd splash... he had a big fish on. The 2nd splash turned out to be a 39" muskie... a very angry one. The guy is one of the board members at Muskies Inc in Chicago, the same group my friend PeteK is active in. He was friendly to give me some pointers on lure fishing for muskie and we spoke about Robert Tomes (Muskie on the Fly), who gave a talk at Muskies Inc. Fast forward ... I find myself looking at these big lures & steel leaders next to my coffee cup and thinking... wow, that just happened.

I love a little lure fishing action once in a while...

Matthew Awalt - an American fly fisherman in South Korea.

Matthew is the guy I saw camping out in a one man tent on the DukPoong Valley creek. I was happy to see his site launched. He is an American freelance writer living in South Korea and a highly experienced fly fisherman. His site has a great summary of what to bring to fly fish in Korea, as well as summary of the target species. He is a friend of James Card, and in many ways continuing and evolving the spirit of what James did in Korea. Check out more about Matthew and his fishing adventures at: http://awalts.com/

Beautiful site Matthew! Looking forward to following your adventures.