four seasons angling club

Saturday

Dr. Shin's fall trip

Dr. Shin shared his photo from his trip close to his parent's resting place. It's fall in Korea and Chuseok (autumn holidays) is just around the corner. It's a time to gather with the family, celebrate the harvest, and also a time to visit ancestor's graves to take care of the grounds. He did that and spent some alone time to fish.

Wednesday

Family vs Passion

Recently, I had a pleasure to host both Patty and my family at the upstate cabin on two different weekends. I didn't realize how difficult it is to create an itinerary for a large group of people as my typical itinerary for a weekend since I've entered the world of angling doesn't involve anyone but myself and occasionally Patty...

I think that my fairly new found life style (angling, particularly fly fishing) is a blessing as it is a perfect way to enjoy outdoor which was my passion for as long as I can remember. I guess it can also be a curse as I've been labeled as "loner" amongst my friends and family as I spend more time chasing trouts

Through recent trips, I was hoping to make up for lack of my attention to my family. I tried very hard planning this trip to let my families know that I still exist and my love for ~~fishing~~ them is still strong.

The strong family bond was felt in the deep forest of the Adirondack, along the hiking trail which runs parallel to a creek ultimately leads to a beautiful waterfalls which seemed damn fishy as I hoped during my planning of this trip for me EVERYONE.

Arrived at the falls just in time for everyone who needed to cool off and have a lunch in presence of awesome waterfall for at least an half hour.

The half hour is all I had to explore this creek so while my family is having a lunch break, I managed to setup my rod in record time. "Focus!" said Patty while gave me a stink eye as I was rigging the rod. She already knew what I was up to. Said to myself "I am honey, I am so focused"

My tyranny was rewarded with beautiful, wild, acrobatic and hungry creatures. It was the shortest fishing trip I've ever had but I've enjoyed every second of it.

For the rest of the trip, I didn't get to fish. However, I had a chance to really enjoy my family's company. A little girl (Noelle) in above picture is my niece. After our long canoe trip, Noelle whispered in my ear to tell me how she enjoyed being with me. Made me feel guilty but soon realized that I can help her become youngest fly fisher. Hmmmm....

I guess with all the busy schedule I've had, I forgot how much I love spending time with my family. This trip definitely made me realize there is nothing more important than pursuing love for your family and your passion.

Tuesday

Nymphing the big river

Midweek, during a meeting with a client of mine, a sudden urge came over me. The urge to swing my wet or nymph flies down stream and see the flyline cross the seam and feel the tug... So on Saturday, I went to the Neversink gorge to satisfy my tugging urge. I realize that I haven't fished sub surface flies for awhile and explains the emotional outburst.

Pulled into the parking lot around 5am and was still dark. Then found out that the batteries for my headlamp are dead. Purely based on visual impairment, I've waited ~~impatiently~~ patiently until I was able to see the trail.

It was a nice feeling focusing only on fishing and not negotiating any tree branches while casting. Fishing in very rocky open water can be a little more challenging compared to tight quarters of small streams I've been accustom to but after a couple of nose dives into the water, I've became very comfortable.

The tugging was there for me! Started with the three fly rig and a beautiful brown graciously tugged my line.

Throughout the whole trip on the gorge, I haven't seen a single fisherman. It was eerie but nice feeling to have the entire gorge all to myself.

I couldn't pass on an opportunity to fish the small stream that feeds into the river so I rigged my 1wt rod and the feeling of familiarity settled in and made me more at ease.