perfect.

Sometimes in life there is a brief moment you forget about everything and feels perfect. I had one of those today.

Seoul - local waters

It’s been raining a lot here. The water levels are very high so creeks are out of the question. I hit a lake just out of Seoul for some nearby 'river herring' & largemouth bass action. I was wet all day from the rain, but it was enjoyable to explore this lake and catch a few small ones.

Korean Fly Shop Series #5. American

If you haven’t already checked out the only American fly fishing guide in Korea, you must. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to go out with James yet, however a friend from Chicago Orvis had gone out & had a great time fishing the back creeks with James. His writing and photography is world class, and gets to the heart of matters. Check out his website for samples of great writing, stories on fishing in Asia, and compelling photography. ( http://jamescard.net )

From website:

“James Card is an American journalist and fly fishing guide living in South Korea. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Monocle, National Geographic News, Travel + Leisure, Salon, the Christian Science Monitor, Wired News, the Guardian Weekly, Field & Stream, Outside's Go, ESPN, the Asia Sentinel, Asia Times, and other publications….”

Happy to meet again:

I and my girlfriend went out for drive on one Saturday morning. My main purpose wasn’t fishing, but as always, I had my favorite creek rod #000. This month is Korea’s vacation season, and there will be so many people on the road either heading to ocean or to creeks picnicking, wresting, and playing in the water trying to cooling down from the hot weather. I left my home knowing all that and I was just hopping to enjoy my day with my friend relaxing and maybe eating good country side food. When we found a restaurant right next to the creek and sitting down outside wooden platform, we saw so many family playing in the creek water. Seeing that, right away I gave up the fishing. After a good lunch, there was a little rain and I asked my girlfriend to drive up slight higher to get away from the people. There was one are that less people were in the water. We parked the car and went down to the water. For half an hour, I couldn’t get any feedback from the water. One area that we saw one family put up the camp, but I saw no people moving: I suppose they were taking a nap. It was a quiet moment. I slowly walked up to the creek near the camp and I throw my first cast. There, I met a small Yullmok trout. It has been almost 3 to 4 months that I haven’t seen them. I was quiet happy to meet again.

Finding Treasure:

My club went for fishing to east part of Korea to catch some escaped rainbows from fishing farm which now living in the creek as natural creek fish. Since a lot of vacationing people in the creek and there have been many constructions in the creek, we had to move to third spot to look for fish. This small creek had so much water and no walking space to walk up to the stream for casting. I and my partners had to separate ourselves and try to find the spot neat the casting point each time. Before feeding period, I was so desperate to see any fish at that point since we hadn’t seen any fish over an hour. I positioned myself and looked at one spot that has slow current right behind the rock. Since I noticed that if I cast to there in long casting, I would have experienced too much drag, I decided to somehow drop my fly instead, so it would be almost like skating motion. There I saw black shadow appearing from the bottom of the water like in a second. I was able to catch many yet feisty small cherry trout. This sure was a treasure finding.

Korean Fly Shop Series # 4. Prince

I had a chance to stop by Price Fly Shop in Seoul, and it was everything I expected a fly shop in Seoul to be like…stylish, professional, and fully loaded. I met with Mr. Young Park, who is the owner and head guide at Price Fly ( http://www.princefly.co.kr ) and he introduced me to his shop and services his shop provided. Price Fly is probably the most global fly shop in Korea, providing guide services for English, Spanish, and Japanese speaking clients from around the world. Prince Fly carries a full line of apparels, fishing gear, and tying materials. They are special in the sense that they carry not only the high end premium gear, but also gear for the starting angler who wants to try fly fishing without having to pay an arm & a leg (which is unique in Korea where most shops only carry super high end stuff). However, it does not mean Price fly doesn’t carry the best stuff, they are an authorized dealer for fine brands like Sage and Thomas & Thomas. They also carry other fine brands like CF Burkheimer, Cortland, Filson, Rivalley, Varivas, and Little Present. They also carry a full line of fly lines & tying materials and is an authorized dealer for Whiting Farm. They also carried the Korean Lenok brand landing net, which is something I have been looking for a long while (which of course I bought!). Prince Fly guides in all types of waters in Korea, and reservations can be made through their website (which also has a English section). Price Fly is a friendly shop for visiting foreigners, women, and will soon start programs for children. Price fly also has a staff of professional guides who can arrange group or individual trips, tailored to the clients desires. Mr. Park is a veteran fly angler who started fly fishing after reading a Gary Borger book on conservation. He has served as floor leader for Korean Fly Fishing Federation and has previously been an educator of English for many years.

If you are a visitor planning a trip to Korea for work or pleasure, I would definitely get in touch with Prince Fly & Mr. Park to arrange a day out. He plans on creating trips that not only include fly fishing, but cultural trips where visit to the historical temples and fine foods of Korea are part of the trip. Thank you Mr. Park for a great chat and for showing me around the shop!

Matching the Hatch

To a fisherman, nothing is more important than matching the hatch when you fish. But what happens when there are no hatch to match? This is exactly what happened to me this weekend when I went up to catskill to fish.

There were some brown caddis were around the water but not significant amount to be called hatch. So I immediately tied size 14 brown caddis to end of my fishing line and began fishing. Since the water was crystal clear, I was able to see trouts going after my fly and rejecting it once they got near the fly. After being rejected numerous times , I've asked fellow anglers but they all told me that they couldn't match the hatch either. Only handful of fish were being netted out of apporx. 10 anglers around the pool.

Funny thing was fish were rising everywhere. I even saw a fish rising a few feet away from me. I must have gone through 30 different types and sizes of fly.

When I was about to give up and headed home, a local old timer came up to me and told me to use copper john dropper tied to a stimulator. He told me times like this, it is better to stimulate their instinct by using dropper method. Guess what? It worked. I was able to catch three significant size trouts.

Thanks old timer!

wood duck from a friend

After seeing how my son liked canoeing so much, my friend Charles has started to make the Wood Duck canoe for him. I think it can also be used by an adult (me), so I am as thankful as my son for this wonderful gift. My son and I are thinking about what is a good gift to make for my friend, something handmade but useful. Thank you Charles.

break away

I made a morning break away from the family vacation to fish Jinbu stream. There were supposedly rainbows here, but I only caught some pretty creek chubs called galgyuni. Still, it’s nice to discover a place on my own, and to catch something. I definitely plan on being back to fish the upper portion of the creek called Odaechun, which is more famous for rainbows. Soon.

fifty stream - summer

I went back to fifty stream in eastern Kangwon Korea. The last time I visited, the waters were infested with algae which locals say was due to the lack of water flow. It was good to see that the waters were fresh again. I fished for a few hours and caught some “yellow fish” as they are called. A nice day to think about things.