PHEW!!!

Finally! It's ready to paddle .  I'm not doing this again...

Indulging

It was one of those days you just want to indulge yourself.  Just wanted to catch some trout so I decided to try one of my favorite creek because I know the creek never failed me before.  Once I arrived at the creek, routinely rigged my rod and started to fish.  The first 1/4 miles or so, I couldn't connect with any trout which is highly unusual. I see them hugging the bottom but no rise.  "Did they get smarter?"  while I was scratching my head, I see a huge shadow move across the creek.  When I looked up I see a huge vulture trying to perch on a tree branch with it's wing flapping.

 Immediately, I see three additional vultures moving tree to tree.  They were all looking right at me as though they were waiting for me to collapse so they can finish me off.  Never seen these birds in this neck of the woods.

 I'm not sure if they are capable of snatching trouts out of the water but the way they were moving around from branch to branch, I figure it will be spooky enough for trout to not feed so I hiked on hoping those massive flying turkey looking bastards will remain where they are.

 As soon as I felt as though there were enough distance from those birds, the creek started to yield some trout for me.

Came very personal with this rattlesnake as I almost stepped on it.  The distinct rattle with aggressive coiling posture made me leave the spot in a hurry.

It was a one of those days I indulged myself.

Fancy Pantsy

Dr. Shin has been getting fancy with his gear lately.  Bamboo and silk lines.  He says it time he grew up and started using some fancy stuff once in a while.  I don't use that stuff but I get where he's going.

Fishing Spots_South Korea_Jang Jeon Creek

I'm going to start posting many (not all) of the places that I fish and it's worth going to.  I don't know why I didn't do this for so many years when there are good people out there who want to find places to fish.  I think it was mostly out of greed, and some false sense of responsibility that I am going to help protect these places by keeping it a secret.  I trust that people who will read and search through such blogs will be just as responsible as me, if not more.  So here is the first one.  My descriptions and photos will get better as I write, so bear with me a while.  Go catch some fish, keep the creeks clean, and share your experience with others (and us too if you want).

Jang Jeon Creek (about 3 hours from Seoul)

Small but long creek, feeds into the Odaecheon.  This creek holds medium sized cherry trout.  There is another creek just a few km up the road called Makdong Creek.  Both creeks have heavy cover so bring a shorter rod, likely a 2-3 wt will be fine.  Short leader, lots of pocket fishing.  I fished both creeks and they both hold cherry trout.  At Makdong creek, travel up the road a little further before fishing as I had no takes at all near the mouth (where it connects to Odaechen).  Odaecheon is a larger creek, and holds lenok and other species (but no cherry trout).  I've heard of people catching rainbows here but I have never caught one.  I've only been to these creeks 2-3 times and each time did great.  I am sure the character of the creek will change with seasons.

You can copy past this into google maps:

장전계곡  218, Jangjeon-ri, Jinbu-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea ‎

Family in Eastern Korea

The family did a little fishing and a lot of eating out in Eastern Korea.

Early fall fly fishing in Korea....

Headed out to a different creek with Mr. Takahara, Dr. Shin, and Jonathan.  Trips with this group is always fun but it was especially nice with Mr. Takahara, hearing stories about the early days of fly fishing in Japan.  The man is approaching 90 and he's still out there throwing flies and walking the creeks with us, that alone is pretty special.  It was a good day with low overcast and cool fall winds.  It was a perfect day for dry flies, although most of the fish were taken on nymph/wet flies.  Fishing is cool but I always enjoy visiting small Korean towns in the countryside, having a good country meals.  Once it gets a little cooler, I look forward to doing a little steak cooking during the fishing trips.  I sat and prayed to thank the Big Boss upstairs, for this wonderful day among other things.  Fall is soon approaching, probably the best time to fish in Korea, I look forward to the weeks ahead.

I messed around with the filter on the phone camera.  It degrades the quality but it represents this day better.