2022 was for better or worse a home waters year. There was no travel for me due to the pandemic, and all of my fishing was in Korea. I made an effort to learn more about lenok, and caught a few nice ones. Also, I tried to step of my saltwater game, but ran into numerous complications. Korea continues to amazes me with its seasonality and fishing options.
One of my major goals this year was to catch a spanish mackerel on fly. It didn’t happen. I put in a lot of time and even made a dedicated trip to Uljin in November (more on this later). I simply started too late. I should have been concentrating my efforts at the end of August and the beginning of September, when reports of mackerel near Yangyang starting hitting the web. I was enjoying some fall black bass fishing into October, which was nice- but didn’t really produce anything substantial in terms of size. I definitely was on numbers though. I did catch a number of lesser/regular mackerel which my family enjoyed at the dinner table. I will need to do a write up on how to prepare them.
During that fated trip to Uljin; our prickly neighbors to the north decided to put on their own rendition of ‘October Skies’ which created a heightened state of defense and close monitoring of the coast. During my fishing trip I was stopped by a cadre of young conscripts, which tried to do their best to interrogate me. The brass thought it would be a good training exercise for the entire region and coordinated efforts with local law enforcement. What started as curiosity ended up with national security background checks and calls to my wife to verify my nationality. So….Don’t go fishing in the East Sea when North Korea is launching missiles.
The trout fishing this year was pretty lackluster, save for a few nice lenok. Dongnam did not fish well all year and the Soyang river has become the hot spot for river trout fishing. I had a nice trip early April fishing midge dries for cherries after a big rain forced me to explore the head waters of a stream, and some quality lenok on big dries after certain parts of the river became assessable. During the summer lenok fishing is very difficult due to wading conditions, but in late November when the river is at its lowest the best pools and holding areas become visible.
As for the black bass, I had some amazing topwater fishing in early May. The post spawn is when the bass are the most aggressive, and is definitely my favorite time of the year for bass fly fishing. Every week toward the end of April into May the water gets a little bit warmer, the clarity is good, and there are more fish shallow than anytime of the year. You’re not going to catch giants, but you can expect good average size and hyper aggressive strikes.
I fished a ten foot 4 weight a lot this year. The Echo Carbon XL is a budget rod, but oh so versatile. This is what I appreciate. I might euro nymph once or twice a year, so buying a dedicated 2wt just didn’t make sense. A good 4wt can do it all. So if you are looking at a 9ft 5wt (the gold standard for ‘do it all’) consider a 10ft 4wt. You will be pleasantly surprised.
I am planning a trip to Hokiddo, Japan next September. My aim is to explore the trout streams near Niseko. I am open to a few travel partners. If you consider yourself a good stick and are in good physical condition- I would be happy to talk logistics. I will also still be on the hunt for that spanish, and if that works out perhaps a yellow tail amberjack too! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Thanks for following my fishing adventures and I wish you all the best in the year ahead.
