Having a small float tube that you can fit in a checked bag provides fishing opportunities wherever you find yourself. Catching a spotted bay bass was my goal for this trip. I rolled out my Outcast Trinity (no longer in production) float tube, found the nearest boat ramp, and strapped on my fins. In the morning there was an incoming tide, so that made me confident. I started off fishing buoys, rock walls, and dock slips. Those didn’t produce, so I checked my google map and found some grass flats. This was the key. I quickly landed several fish. All of my knowledge about fishing the bay came from Youtube and one angler in particular uses a double fly rig with a heavy fly on the bottom with a more natural smaller pattern on top. Very similar to a double euro nymph rig. And another Youtuber swears by fishing orange, red, or pink. I mashed up those two techniques and had a blast.

I started off with a bushy dry (wishful thinking) and quickly changed to a small bead head stonefly pattern. I felt one little nibble on that, but changed to a small white zonker streamer. It was on. The streamer produced on a dead drift. I didn’t catch any on the swing or stripping. I had the epiphany that if I am not fishing dries for trout I would rather drift a streamer than fish a nymph. Maybe I have been influenced by all the trout fishing authors who detest fishing nymphs. After a few hours I was back home for breakfast. Clear Creek is technical and if you can deal with the constant hum of traffic; a glorious little trout stream 20 minutes from downtown Denver.

There is a year round sea bass fishery in Yokohama and Kawasaki Bay in Tokyo.I first got turned on to this from Martin Whyte of Flicking Feather fame. Finding a captain was tricky. This definitely is more of a local game. There were some outfitters that wanted to include a translator, but as you can imagine that increased the cost. As we speak (Feb. 2024) the Japanese Yen is significantly weaker than the USD. At the time of my trip it was 70 cents to 100 won.

Manchester By the Sea is a affluent costal community an hour north of Boston. I was in the area the second week of June for a wedding, and really had no intel on how the fishing. There are a few outfitters in the area, but I didn’t even have enough time for a half day trip. I packed a six weight, some neoprene socks, a stripping basket, and a box of bucktail streamers in various weights and sizes. The first thing I noticed was the strong tides. There were two 8-10 foot tides everyday, so the water was in and out. I was fishing on the private beach of the Grafton Estate, which features Graves Island. The island juts out farther into the sea, but is only accessible at low tide- when the fishing was slowest. I also tried fishing from the beach, but you could see during low tide that it was void of any features. I settled on an out cropping of rocks that were wadable during hightide (about chest deep) and dry during low tide. I dedicated about 90 minutes every morning casting off these rocks.

This region offers many options for fishing. I was able to get out twice the first day I went to a deeper highland style reservoir that is know for being a decent bass spot, Gyeongcheon Lake. Not to be confused with Gyeongcheon Reservoir. The lake is long, with several prominent inflows. toward one end and a very enticing island. There is plenty of productive shoreline. I opted of the island and the deeper part of the lake. This was a mistake. The only fish I found were shallow. I definitely need to get back and explore some more.

The Suites is a short drive from Jiri Mountain National Park, which offers a beautiful driving course, streamside hikes, and a three generation family of bears (which we did not see). The national park is very rugged with dense forests that are unnavigable without a well established trail. Because the mountain is so big and the vegetation so dense- it does feel cooler as you climb in elevation, and it being August meant that it was boiling hot.

The Hotel restaurant is not worth eating at. Instead try the local food. The region is known for its fresh ingredients, mountain herbs, mudfish soup, and noodles. You really can’t go wrong. Every restaurant we ate at was better that what is offered in Seoul.