During this year’s family week, Children’s Day and Parent’s Day, my family decided to spend two weeks in Donghae (Korea’s east coast). Osip stream flows into the East Sea not to far away in the neighboring city of Samcheok. Eight years ago, when I first came to Korea, Osip had the most abundant population of cherries. It has since declined. I was pleasantly surprised to see the population is doing well again in the the many tributaries that flow into Osip. Hopefully in the next few years Osip can rebound. Here is what I found during my time on the mountain streams.
A nice sized Cherry.
Larger fish are always in the lower section of the river. The trout streams in Korea flow straight out the the mountains (literally) and the water is cold, but the higher you hike and the more remote it becomes; the smaller the fish get. On the inverse, the further down you go and the more vertical you lose, the stream becomes warmer. So, it is about finding that middle area, and just like that suddenly you start seeing fish.
The larger the flies, the sloppier the eats. You can fish bigger flies, but the bigger the fly, the less accuracy the fish have. I think this is true with caddis dry fly fishing in general. The rises tend to be splashy but many times the fish miss. This is a problem with the cherries. After they rise, they tend to sulk for a bit. Also, if the pool is disturbed (when a fish is caught) it will take some time to reset. So once again find that middle ground. I would say size 16 is perfect. I did observe the largest fish only rising to bigger mayflies, and I got three to rise (each one multiple times) but only landed one of them.
Some of my favorite water to fish
Don’t sleep on the pocket water. Pocket water fish are very forgiving. You might be tempted to spend your time on a big slow moving pool with a nice tail out, but these fish have a long time to inspect your fly (try to go smaller in this instance). The fish that reside in pocket water will hit instantly. When you fish a pool you might put in 30- 40 casts. Three casts is enough for each pocket. Utilize the high stick to prevent drag, and pick you way through the big boulders and seams.
brown caddis
Color is important, and brown seemed to be the winner. When you are building or reloading you fly box; definitely have several shades of brown caddis patterns. I would have several all CDC, several shades and sizes of elk hair, plus some hackle wing varieties as well. The black caddis hatched all day. However, when there were brown and black available; brown was the winner. Your mayfly colors need to be exact. Leave your hi vis pink parachutes at home.
To drop or not to drop. I didn’t, and I am regretting it a little. Adding a dropper in certain situations would have produced more fish. If I were to do it again I would fish a size 16 caddis with a baetis dropper for the pocket water, and when fishing a pool I would replace the baetis with a smaller dry. If that is TOO much for you, and you are not up to speed with your knots and fly changes (I am changing constantly)- just fish single dry.
I have often compared cherries to cutthroat trout as they readily take a dry fly. I have to amend my comparison. Cherries are super shy, reflecting the cultural mannerisms in Korea (a tad more reserved that Western culture). They don’t want to be seen, but explode with personality and aggression when the conditions are right.