Trip to Korea & Japan

I just returned from a visit to Tokyo and Seoul. The trip started in Tokyo.

Tokyo

It was great to see my friend Hiro again as we spent the two days in Tokyo. Of course we visited Tsuruya too, but the first day we visited another fly shop that I have been wanting to visit for a while. This fly shop with the unusual name Hiranotsurigu in the outer area of Tokyo was quite a trip but it was certainly worth it. The owner Mr. Takashi Hirano is for sure a connoisseur of fine bamboo rods. The number of wonderful rods for sale was quite staggering.

Most of the rods are rods that are offered for sale are from customers. Rather than selling on an auction sites, these customers prefer the service of selling through an established fly shop like Hiranotsurigu.

To see such an extensive numbers of high end bamboo fly rods from Mark Aroner, Mario Wojnicki, Winston, Gary Howells, Bjarne Fries and Tom Moran to name a few is simply astounding. As I said before, fly shops like these are only possible in a country like Japan where exquisite craftsmanship is highly regarded. 

From what I understand the Japanese economy has been on the decline for many years now and there are very few people able to afford rods like these. So one also wonders how a shop like this can pay its bills...

The weather in Tokyo in mid March can be a hit or miss. Our two days were definitely a miss. It was chilly and the second day we were met with rains all day. As we had a full second day, we decided to get an early breakfast at a famous sushi restaurant at 7am (that's also only possible in Japan!). The sushi chefs working on the freshest fish at such an early time is a delight to see (and taste!).

After breakfast we headed to the Royal Akasaka Palace for a guided tour. This palace built in 1909 is now in use as the state guest house of the Japanese government for heads of states like presidents of countries. Seeing this huge building built in a style that resembles European palaces is quite remarkle. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside. Wandering through the building makes you feel like visting a museum.

After the tour we headed to lunch to meet up with my friend and amazing full dressed salmon fly tier Yuji. We had a tasty lunch of Soba noodles and afterwards headed to the Tsuruya fly shop. Entering the shop almost felt like I was coming home.

In Japan, Sakura cherry blossom season generally takes place in spring between late March and early April. During the hight of the blossom period, large number of Japanese as well as tourists visit the cherry tree parks around the country. Although the weather was quite chilly, we saw cherry trees starting to blossom in the streets of Tokyo.

We headed to part of the city with a small alley full of tiny restaurants on both sides. The evening ended with eating amazing Yakitori in a tiny Yakitori restaurant. What a way to end the two days in Tokyo!

With around 14 million inhabitants, Tokyo is a busy city. yet it's extremely well organised. The Japanese culture is for sure the reason everything being safe and clean. At the crossing area near the Shinjuku station where our AirBNB apartment was, there is also the famous billboard with the 3D animated cat. 

Seoul

After two days in Tokyo, I traveled to Seoul.

I woke up at my parent's place the next morning and was welcomed with winter wonderland.

During my stay I met the only professional bamboo maker named Hyunchul Cho at his workshop in downtown Seoul. He is one of the very few (the only professional) bamboo makers in Korea. He used to run a small fly shop called River, but it looks like he is now only focusing on bamboo rod making. We cast several of the rods he built including a Dickerson 7012, PHY Perfectionist and an own taper design.

He builds rods for fishing. However I had to complement him on a rod that was just being finished for a customer. I really like the shape of the cigar grip, kinda on the smaller size which I like on my bamboo (and fiberglass) rods.

 

Before saying good bye, he cut a piece of a bamboo blank he built as a souvenir for me.

Update March 31, 2025:

I found out there's another bamboo maker in Korea named K.R. Lee. He runs a fly shop called Fly Fishing End Craft. It's located in a nearby city of Gunpo-si, that's south of Seoul.

 

I'm amazed how many fly shops there are in and around Seoul! A few shops are gone now but still a few are still running. A fly shop called Trutta, located east of Seoul. Another fly shop called Adams Fly, located on the west side of Seoul. The largest fly shop in Korea now seems to be Rainbow Outfitters, located just south of Seoul.

 

It's amazing how fast fly fishing has established in Korea. I remember asking my father to bring me a Korean fly fishing magazine back in the late 1980's. He came back with the news that nobody had a clue what he was asking... 😃

Ambassador for the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild

 

Proud & honored to be appointed as an ambassador for the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild. No sponsoring involved here, just sharing the history of the Catskill region and the heritage of the Catskill fly fishing and tying.

New deer hair supplier

There are several deer (and elk) hair suppliers. These days the largest suppliers are Wapsi and Hareline. The last 10-12 years the best hair seems to comes from a company named Nature’s Spirit. However recently this fly tier, Josh Varner, from Montana has took up preparing hair that goes beyond the amount for his own personal use.

His deer hair is all tanned, a proces of cleaning and preparing the hide that results in the hide staying soft. With raw hides you will need to spend some time scraping them to make sure you get any small chunks of meat off the hide. Salting and borax on the hide will also make the hide very stiff and brittle. Tanning is a much more complicated process. Josh only has deer hair at the moment. Maybe later on he will also offer elk hair as well. Josh only supplies to two fly shops so far.

I wanted to try his hair so I ordered to tie a few humpies. I ordered a patch of what he calls short fine deer hair. The shade I ordered is called ‘Ginger bleach’. The hair is silky smooth and soft. Yet I was surprised how sturdy the hair is as I put quite a lot of pressure when tying hair on the hook. The hair has very nice even tips. Not as short & pointy as elk hair, but that’s how deer hair is.

While patches used to be a 3x4 inch, these days the patches are even smaller. This patch was a mere 2x3 inch. This size seems to be the standard these days. The pricing of his hair is much higher than other brands. Basically double the price of Nature’s Spirit. So one has to consider whether paying this much is worth it. I've got more than enough hair so I'll order only when I see a color I'd like to add.

History of salt water fly fishing

A very nice overview of the history of saltwater fly fishing presented by the American Museum of Fly Fishing. Fishing for saltwater species was probably done in other parts of the world as well, but along the shorelines of the east and west coast of the US is where the documentation as well as innovations has been recorded the most extensively.

Also check out the museum's quarterly magazine that's also available on line.

How the Dutch invented America

What a great presentation about the Dutch influence of the course of the birth of America.

This video is a very nice add on to my own presentation about the history of the Catskills I gave a few years ago.

What I found remarkable in this presentation the narrator shows that often geographic names like rivers and properties in the Catskill region was named after the owner of properties, as I also mention in my own presentation.

Dark Hendrickson

 

Hendrickson

Tonight during the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild (Zoom) meeting, the Hendrickson is on the menu.

Probably many members will be wrapping dun hackles and ask what shade of dun is the right one? 😂

Sardines

 

Guide to Big Horn river

Haven't fished the Big Horn yet, as it's a bit our of the route to where I usually went in Montana. Also being a river where a drift boat is the most common way to fish, as access to the river by foot is not easy or possible. Well, at least that was what I often read.

I'm not a big fan of drift boat fishing, although it is a nice way to see the river's scenery. But the Big Horn is on my list to fish one day.

Here is a good video with the overview of the river's structure and the possibilities.

Chris Rownes on dry fly fishing

Here's an interview with my friend Christopher Rownes about his dry fly fishing equipment.

Obviously it's all gear from Guideline, but if you look past that he has some good tips on leader set up and other stuff.

End of the year

These two Humpies are the last flies tied in 2024 and ready to fly to the USA.

The Abbey

Another tie of the Abbey