Catches from A River Somewhere.....

[trouty]

Dear all,

With a stroke of luck, I managed to go on my yearly fishing trip in Korea. I was there last Wednesday and Thursday for a business trip. So I decided to take the Friday off and extend the trip to come back on the Sunday which allows me a 3 day fishing trip.

After my meeting on Thursday, I quickly went back to my hotel, pack up my stuff and checked out. Took the metro to my friend's place and wait patiently upon his return from work.

After a sumptuous dinner cooked by his wife with lots of different kimchi, we packed our stuff and dumped them into his car and off we go, stopping at a nearby grocery store for some instant shincup noodles, instant rice as we brought some bulgogi to cook, a couple bottles of shoju and half a dozen cans of beer.

After 3 hours of driving we arrive at Gul River and start searching for a lodge to put up for the night. Luckily its just pass the holiday season so it's not crowded at all and we found a lodge right beside the river. We unpacked our stuff, set up the small table for some fly tying. After some shoju and getting cross-eyed from all the tying (or is it the shoju?), we finally fell asleep at almost 2am in the morning. Tomorrow we fish.

"Buzz buzz¡­" the alarm goes off at 5.00am in the morning, with half open dreamy eyes, I nudged my friend on the butt with my feet. With just a grumble, he totally ignores me. I drag my half asleep body to the nearby window and look out. I can't see a thing out there, it's still very dark. Good I say to myself, let me sleep another 15 mins more. I crawled back to the warmth of the floor as the lodges here are floor heated and we just sleep on a thin mattress with blanket on the floor.

After a short time (I thought), I suddenly jumped up. Looked out the window, its already getting bright. Looked at my watch its already 6am, it feels like I only slept for 10 mins!! The hard thing about fishing the morning rise is the getting up part. I quickly washed up and make coffee while my friend waits for his turn to wash up. After our morning coffee and cigarettes by the verandah that over looks the river, we gather our gears and suit up for the day fishing.

Early in the morning....


Coffee and cigarettes on the verandah....


Rods ready to go....


We decided to venture upstream before we start fishing. We walked down the timber staircase behind the lodge that leads to the river and wade along the crystal clear water and rocky terrain. The sun starts to breakout, as we are in a valley it will take sometime before the sun hits the water. We are shelter on both sides by mountains and the wind blowing can be very chilly.

Stairway to heaven (to the river actually)....


In the valley....


Rocky terrian....


More rocky terrian....


Fishy spots....


cheers
trouty

[trouty]

Dear all,

Back to continue the rest of my trip. Sorry can't do it at once, need to resize my pics and write the report (as well as do my work).. ;D

Anyway to pick up where I left off...

We decided to venture upstream before we start fishing. We walked down the timber staircase behind the lodge that leads to the river and wade along the crystal clear water and rocky terrain. The sun starts to breakout, as we are in a valley it will take sometime before the sun hits the water. We are sheltered on both sides by mountains and the wind blowing can be very chilly.
There wasn't any rises as we walk along (maybe we miss the magical time).

Gul river is mostly occupy by cherry salmon. Both of us were taking each side of the river to fish and at certain places we'll leapfrog each other from pools to pools.

Soon the sun was starting to shine down on us. We came to a nice peaceful calm piece of water, missed some fishes as there are also some local fish called chub that takes dry flies as well. My friend move upstream while I keep on trying.

Sun shining down on the river....


As I drift my fly over a rock I saw a cherry follow my fly and rejected it at the very last moment. I thought I saw it return to its place behind the rock and start to cast above and let the current catch my fly and drift over the rock. I saw the tail of the fish behind the rock but it keeps rejecting my fly. I decided to wade closer. With a change of fly, I started casting again. It's still not taking my fly.

After numerous change of fly I gave up and decided to wade closer as I keep seeing the shadow of its tail swaying behind the rock in the water and it pisses me off. I slowly bend low and start to approach it from the back. Every inch I took I stop so as not to scare the fish or let it know of my presence. I was like so close to it that it was just still swaying its tail. I stood up and walk over and look in, it was just some weeds swaying in the water, but I swear I saw the fish took up position at that spot. I feel so foolish but that's flyfishing. Haha.

The "fish" behind the rock....


The "fish" behind the rock (polarised)....


It was mid day and the sun is shining down directly on us, its getting hot actually. Very beautiful weather this year, cold in the morning and night, hot enough during the day. It was hardcore fishing this time with all the walking, climbing, jumping from rocks to rocks and wading through waist high water at times. For lunch, we only packed a choco pie (some muffin chocolate coated snack with marshmallow in between) each and drank water from the river.

Beautiful scenery....


Soon we were able to read the water and know where the cherries are mostly hiding. We start to get fish in pools that's about the size of a normal round table. We would stand on the closest rock we can get to the pool and keep casting to minimum. As with this kind of pools the water is deep and current rush rapidly at very high intensity.

We would cast the dry fly up above the current and drift for like 30-50cm downstream before the current starts to pool your fly down. Either on the first cast or second cast will get fish, if you try more than 5 times and there is no take that means there is no fish or the fish is spooked. All our casts are short and quick, cast, drift, and lift and cast again. For the size of the pool it only takes like 3-5 seconds before your fly will be dragged down by the current. We would move on after every 5 casts or we missed a strike after a few times. Due to the fast rapid currents, it doesn't give the fish much time to consider, as long as the fly presented is close to the size they will come up and grab it.

A nice run....


Friend trying his luck....


one of the small cherry taken along the run....


Close up of the small cherry....


The next pool....


Taken while waiting taking a rest....


A small local fish on nymph....


One of the smallest fish caught....


Me trying my luck....


Closer shot of me trying my luck....


The result....


A small cherry caught on dry....


Stay tune...will post up more pics from the rest of the trip
Got to run now.

cheers
trouty

[alberto]

Hi Trouty,
A great report, nice scenery and superb pics.

Its not the size of the fish but the journey you have made to catch the trout.

I'm really looking forward to your next installment ;D

regards
Alberto

ps - finally got to see your mug

[trouty]

Dear all,

Back to continue with the trip and photos.

It was past mid-day, a short rest after all the walking, climbing and wading. We continued on upstream. At times the pools only allow one person to cast, while 1 person fish, the other will become the photographer. We came to a nice run, rapid flow up front, bubble line through the rocks and deep water. There are bound to be some fish hiding behind these rocks.

I tied on a foam post parachute, dry my fly with powder desiccant, lift my rod, with one false cast, let the fly line slide through my fingers and the fly whizzed through the air. The fly landed softly in between the rocks just where I wanted. The current caught the fly and drift towards me. As the fly drift towards the "calm" spot, my fly disappear with a tiny splash, I thought it was another small cherry destroying my fly again. But as I lifted my rod, a heavier weight was pulling at the other end of my line. Brought in the fish, a nice little 19cm cherry salmon from tip of head to tip of tail. After taking some snapshots, the fish was released and it swam away gracefully to fight another day.

The spot where the cherry salmon took the dry.....


The 19cm cherry salmon.....


Cherry salmon and my gears.....


Cherry salmon and me.....


That fish just made my day. A nice run, the right fly, the first cast. It was just perfect.

The technique to this kind of fast rapid river with huge boulders in between is to keep your cast short and accurate. Seldom do we need to do long cast. A nine feet leader with one feet of 6x or 7x tippet is sufficient. Try to get as close to the spot you intended to fish to keep casting to minimum as with long cast, a lot of flyline will be on the water and this is prone to the current flow that will pull the flyline down thus making the drift of your fly un-natural with the presence of drag which is quite undesirable.

We moved on ahead upstream. Walking on the loose rocks, climbing big boulders, even bashing through the hillside forest to move upstream can be quite tiring. As certain areas are not wadable due to deep pools and huge boulders, the only thing to do is climb the hill through thick undergrowth and come out the other side to move on ahead. That's the only way to get to a spot where the fish are not disturbed.

Nice runs.....


Another nice run.....


After some misses and small cherries, my friend hooked up this nice 23cm cherry salmon on a blue bodied CDC dun. A nice specimen that put up a good fight. After some photo taking, the fish was on its way back to where it came from.

23cm cherry salmon.....


Close up of cherry salmon.....


Taking measurement.....


It was late afternoon and we decided to call it a day. Hungry and tired we climbed the side of the hill that leads to the road. With our weary feet we dragged ourselves back to the lodge on a long walk.

The long walk back.....


Self portrait.....


The walk back to the lodge on the road wasn't so bad, at least its on flat ground and the walk back does not seems so long like when we were on the river. We did a calculation, we actually walked 3.5km through the meandering river.

After an afternoon coffee break and a rest back at the lodge, we start to prepare dinner. A simple meal of pork bulgogi, sausages in ketchup sauce, radish kimchi and instant rice, wash down with beer and shoju.

The resting place.....


Friend cooking bulgogi.....


Pork Bulgogi.....


A simple meal.....


After dinner and a quick shower, we sat down to tying flies for next day fishing with the TV on with some Korean entertainment program and my friend laughing at it. Soon we were drifting into dreamy land. Tomorrow we are heading for another river for lenoks, The Naerin.

Will continue again...

cheers
trouty

PS - Alberto, my mug not nice to see lah, I'm just a nobody. Will keep you update on the fishing scene here. May go someplace here this weekend.

[alberto]

Dear Trouty,
Please do not say that you are a nobody. I believe that fly fisherman are a special breed.

You could easily have just stuck with spinning or baitcast fishing. But you took the fly fishing route - which require more effort to learn and master and tying flies as well. With that, it makes you and all fly fishermen a somebody.

I hope that some day, I'll pull on a pair of waders (if I can find one with my size ), wade the stream and catch some trout like you did. ;D

regards
Alberto

[trouty]

Dear all,

Adventures on The Naerin

Its 7am when we woke up, had our coffee and started to pack our stuff. Dumped the stuff in the car and checked out of the lodge. A 40min to 1hour drive over the Nine Dragon Mountain from where we are to The Naerin.

Another nice and beautiful day greeted us as we snaked through the mountains with glimpses of the river at times. The Naerin was as beautiful and grand as I remember it. There was heavy rain last year which flooded the river system making the water, high, fast, dirty and unfishable. This year was the opposite, Korea is going through a period of dry spell, which makes the upper reaches too little water to fish in but the downstream is in perfect condition.

A beautiful day with The Naerin.....


A section of The Naerin.....


We arrived at the lodge we stayed in last year. Nothing has change. Time seems to stood still in this places. The huge snow white fluffy guard dog is still there to greet us. As the place is empty of holiday goers, we were allowed to choose what accommodation we prefer. We choose the old traditional mud brick house.

The "white house" we stayed last year.....


The mud brick house we stayed this year.....


We unload the stuffs from the car and suit up for some lenok chasing. We took the car upstream to search for some nice runs. But the water upstream is too shallow and dry, there is more rocks than water. So we make a U-turn and venture downstream. Downstream was more promising.

Soon we found a spot to park the car by the road making sure it's not blocking any traffic. Climb over the safety barricade that prevents car from toppling over the cliff edge. We made our way down the cliff edge climbing down the big boulders. We hit the water and start to fish.

Glimpse of The Naerin.....


On the river.....


Rapid runs.....


Stamford Raffles impersonation.....


Colourful wildlife.....


Wolly bugger.....


Will be back with more......

Cheers
trouty

[trouty]

alberto said:

You could easily have just stuck with spinning or baitcast fishing. But you took the fly fishing route - which require more effort to learn and master and tying flies as well. With that, it makes you and all fly fishermen a somebody.

I hope that some day, I'll pull on a pair of waders (if I can find one with my size ), wade the stream and catch some trout like you did. ;D

Dear Alberto,

I fell in love with the trout species 10 years ago when I was still in Australia. It spurred me on to take up flyfishing and since then I have never looked back. I will try to go for them as long as financially and time allows.

I'm sure someday you will put on the traditional costume of troutania (waders, boots, gravel guards, and vest) standing on a beautiful river casting to rising trouts with hatches of dancing spinners around you.

Of course there are waders that will fit, mainly its the size of your feet that is more important. If you are really getting one, get the Simms latest version of waders. It comes with attached gravel guards and the cutting makes you look slimmer. ;D I always misplaced my gravel guards and my waders makes me look even fatter. ;D

Cheers
trouty

[trouty]

Dear all,

Adventure on The Naerin continue.....

The lenoks are different in their behavior to the cherries. While the cherries will stay in the pools with rapid current and riffles and behind the bubble lines, lenoks tend to be more laid back. They stay deeper in deep pools and stay beside bubble lines not in the rapid as it will take too much energy for them. They will stay behind at the calms and cruise on their beat in search of food.

That's why the cherries feel more muscular and energetic and put up a good fight even for a small one. The lenok on the other hand feels more limp and fragile, their body is not so tone up like the cherries. I was informed that a 35cm cherry is consider a super size, a lenok needs to be 50cm before it's consider a super size.

We were fishing with dry flies. Only the local small chub fishes keep smashing our flies, no lenok took any notice of our flies at all. Soon we came to a nice run. Rapid headwater above, bubble line and the flats. We couldn't wade through the water as the flats are too deep. We can only climb on to the rocks on the cliff side and go forth from there. I jump on to a rock closest to the water and fish the flats while my friend moves on forward to fish the headwater rapids.

The Naerin.....


After sometime with no action I proceed to join my friend but he wasn't at his spot but closer to where I was fishing between the rapids and the tail water flats where I fished. He beckoned me over. I climbed over to the rock which he was on. The rock we were standing on was like 3 m higher than the water surface below. He pointed towards the water just 2 feet away from the bank, a lenok was swaying its tail and moving back and forth going on its beat. He told me he saw this fish and has been trying and trying for it with no luck. The fish were moving upstream at times, staying still at its original position at times and sometimes moving downstream when it sense that something is not right.

We decided to team up, I will remain on the rock while he moves closer down the river bank. From his angle, as he needs to remain low, he can't see the location of the fish which is good meaning the fish can't see you either. I will be his "eyes" from the top. I will tell him where the fish are, where he should cast his fly, when he should lift up his rod to recast, I will informed him when the fish saw his fly and follow but rejected it at the last moment.

After numerous rejections with his dry fly, he climbed back up to where I was. We decided to use another strategy. This time it's my turn to have a go while he will be my "eye" from above. We observed the fish for sometime and it seems like its not taking from the surface so it must be nymphing. I put on a deadly rig, a big caddis above and a wet fly below. The dry fly will act as my indicator if it does not take the dry fly.

Slowly crouching down I climbed down the rocks. I went down to the spot near to the water edge. The fish is about 2m in front of me on my 10 o'clock. I'm in a very vulnerable position as the lenok may see me anytime and get spooked. Keeping low, I pressed myself as close to the rock besides me as much as possible and try not to have too much big movement.

Once I'm ready, I shouted to my friend ¡°Where's the fish?¡±
"Original spot!!" came the reply.

As the fish is going on its beat we need to know exactly where the fish are before we make the cast as it's quite critical that if the cast was made too early or too late or when the fish was moving around, there is a very high chance of spooking the lenok.

I cast directly in front of me. The fly landed on the water and starts to drift towards where the lenok is.

From above, my friend was shouting "Coming....coming..... Nooooo......"

The fish notice my wet fly and was following it until the last minute it turns back to its spot. I let the fly past the fish totally.

"Cast again!" my friend shouted. I lifted up the fly as lightly as I can without disturbing the water too much and re-cast again.

"Nope....again...." shouted my friend. The fish didn't even notice my fly.
"Wait!.." my friend shouted again. "It's moving!"
"Ok, it's taking something from the bottom and moving back and forth."

I slowly retrieve my fly, keeping my rod out of sight, I changed the wet fly to a beadhead pheasant tail. Dry the caddis with powder desiccant.

"Where is the fish?" I shouted.
"About 2 feet in front from its original position." came the reply.

I cast slightly further and more to the right to allow enough time for the nymph to sink to the correct depth when the fly drift towards the lenok.

My level of sight is very close to the water surface about 1 foot higher. I was eyeing my dry fly intently as it's the only connection and signal to tell me what's happening beneath the water.

I was holding my breath as it drift pass where the fish were. My caddis dipped, I strike, friend shouting "Got it!!", all happening at the very moment.

Sight fishing at its best!!

I brought the lenok in after some acrobatic feat. A beautiful 30cm lenok. A prize catch in these rivers. The lenok doesn't seem so big when it's in the water. Took some photos and released the fish unharmed. We watched in silence as the beautiful creature swam away.

A nice creature landed.....


Phototaking.....


My prize catch.....


Lenok released and swimming away.....


We moved on ahead. Lots of misses and broken tippet later (yes I lost fish due to careless handling of tippet. Sigh). Evening soon arrived. There are some rises and splashes. After spending sometime in the water we are able to tell the difference between the lenoks rising and the small chubs having fun with your fly.

We came to another nice run with huge boulders on both sides creating a fast rapid and nice flow. My friend told me he wants to give it a try there. I said sure as I took a rest at the nearby rock. He started to jump from rock to rock with ease to his intended spot. I always wonder why he can move so quickly among the loose rocks without losing his balance. Must be his big feet.

He was casting and casting. Some misses. He knew very well that there must be a good size fish there. It was starting to turn dark. He put on a size 20 extended body mayfly. He cast beautifully into the air, the fly landed where he wants it to be. Just after the fast rapid run on the far side of the river. Before the current can dragged his flyline down, his fly disappear with a splash. Strike! Seeing all this happen, I quickly race over to him with my camera.

A nice prize catch surface. A 32cm healthy bouncing lenok. Why are his catches always bigger than mine by a couple of cm. Haha. He is a fine flyfisherman.
After some photo taking and measurement, the fish swam back to where it belongs and we called it a day.

A nice specimen.....


32cm Lenok.....


A wonderful prize catch.....


Will continue the last day of the trip soon.

cheers
trouty

[trouty]

Dear all,

The Last Day......

Next morning I woke up at 6am, asked my friend whether he wants to go fishing. He replied no as he was too tired. I let him sleep in and rest more as he is the one driving us around and he needs the rest. Anyway I'm just going for a short session behind our lodge.

Went out and sat at the porch overlooking the river sipping on my hot coffee. The air was crisp, clean and refreshing, it's so nice to get away from the city pollution especially from where I came from. A slight breeze, the leaves whispers, I could stay here for days, enjoying the peacefulness and calmness the mountains and rivers offer. It can be kind of cold sitting out there. Quickly finished up my coffee and suit up.

Morning fog was still hovering above when I hit the water. Saw a couple of tiny splashes. Wade across to the middle of the river and start casting. I knew very well there wouldn't be any lenoks at this section of the river only the small local chubs.

There are 2 resident lenoks further downstream from 2 years ago and was told by my friend that they are still there. But I'm too lazy to go there. I just want to cast in the middle of the river surrounded by lush green mountains taking in as much what Mother Nature can offer.

It was fun casting to the rises and missing some and hooking some.

Soon it was time to leave. I went back to the lodge to find my friend watching TV. We had shincup noodles for breakfast and started to pack up for the trip back to Seoul. We planned to drop by a trout farm along the way back

Morning fog hovers.....


Local chub on dry.....


We arrived at the farm just after mid day. Had lunch there cooked by the owner of the farm. There was a handful of people doing fly fishing and luring. Another pond with people doing pole fishing. These farms are not suitable for dry fly fishing. We used egg flies or streamers. We put on an egg fly with strike indicator on the leader, cast out and wait.

We cast out and waited, cast out and waited no takes or strike at all. On the other side we saw a 50ish years old auntie keep getting fish. She sits on the chair cast out and waited, 10 minutes later she got fish. My friend decided to change spot and fish beside the auntie. I remained park where I was. From my spot I can see the auntie still getting fish and my friend none. Haha. I walked over to my friend. He told me the auntie can really talk. She was like chatting away to my friend and getting fish at the same time while my friend just listens with no takes. She was using egg fly as well. Wonder why the fishes like her fly more.

It was late afternoon and turning dark. We had to called it a day so that we can go back to his place pick up my luggage and sent me to the airport in time. We decided to give it a last shot. We went to another spot. I took out the indicator and tie on a wet nymph.

Cast out, figure of eight retrieve. Feel something nibbling, strike, the fish splash and went havoc swimming left and right in search of cover. These rainbows are real powerful. Brought in the fish for some photo shoots and released and cast again. Got a second one, the rainbow was splashing and swimming for cover and it jumped on to a nearby rock. As I was reaching for it, it unhooks itself and wriggles back to the water. It was quite a funny sight. My friend was also having a ball with fish after fish. We really didn't want to leave but I have a plane to catch.

With that I say good bye to Korea and hopefully someday I will return again. Well there's always a river, a lake, the sea somewhere.

A rainbow hooked.....


Good size rainbow.....


With this I complete my 3 days hectic fishing trip. Happy fishing to you all.

cheers
trouty

[Qwek]

Hi Trouty,

Beautiful reports, is just like being there with you. Hope one day we will put on the "traditional costume of troutania"and stand on a beautiful river casting to rising trouts with hatches of dancing spinners around together with you.

Well at least we know now that flyfishing in Korea is not exclusive and difficult as what we had been told.

Thanks for sharing, Ken.

Cheers
Qwek

[trouty]

Hi Mr Qwek,

My pleasure to share with everyone what I experienced.

I won't say that it is difficult to fish in Korea. Going there won't cost an arm or leg only thing are the living expenses are on the high side. For me its the closest place within 2 hour flight that I can get to a trout country.

The only problem is to find a local that is able to bring you up there to fish. I'm not sure whether you can just rent a car and drive up on your own, probably can but I'm not sure. Moreover there are certain sections of the river that are protected all year round so you can't fish there. It's better to have someone with local knowledge about it. I'm just lucky to have a good mate there that flyfishes too.

cheers
trouty

[trouty]

Wow...looking back at this its been a year...how times flies.

Have not been doing much fishing here except for some bass fishing in Jiangsu region and in some paid pond for topmouth and american catfish during summer.

But with a stroke of luck after searching for the past 3 years manage to find out a fantastic spot in Shaanxi mountain region. Decided to make a weekend trip there during the 1st week of November.

All I can say it was just a FABULOUS weekend. It was Lenoks' Paradise. The place has been untouched for a number of years and the lenoks there have not seen an artificial fly in their lives.
Between 3 flyfishermen for 2 days 100 over lenoks caught and release. Largest at 37-38cm, smallest 8-10cm but mostly average about 15-22cm.

Enjoy the pics.

On the way








Beautiful runs
















Clear water...Deep pools














Some close ups...
















































A small baby


A bigger specimen




cheers
trouty

[trouty]

More nice pics













A good size specimen from my friend on a 2wt






















Some of our gears


Another good size fish


















Released...


cheers
trouty

[WEI]

It looked as though u are having a great time over there.
Your pictures looked so clear.

Cheers,
WEI

[alberto]

Hi Trouty,
You have finally hit paydirt in China ;D ;D ;D

To fish at a river where the fish has not seen a fly before is stuff that dreams are made of.

Congratulations ;D

regards
Alberto