|  | | One man trash is another mans fish | | | | | Tell me three months ago i would be in a kayak in the middle of Korea I would of probably laughed. I finally got to do some fishing in Korea. This is something I have been hoping to do. So I went with this guy named Ed to a little town south of Daegu. After driving through this little village surrounded by rice fields we came to a long bridge which crossed the mighty Nak Dong Kang. Ok mighty isn't a good word...how about barely running. The river had been almost sucked dry from the pumps filling the rice fields. But we unloaded the kayaks and went on our way. The water was very dirty and the weather was very cold so we wore waders to keep warm and dry. The main reason for the waders was the pollution can be very bad in some places and you wouldn't want to spend a day soaking in it. I must say I had a great time and caught a good mess of fish. In all we caught well over a dozen and Ed said in most cases they catch 20-40 bass. The main reason is bass is mostly considered a "junk" fish and usually not fished for or eaten. Koreans prefer carp. They in fact drain lakes to kill the bass because the bass eat carp. I cracked up at this fact because in the U.S, you couldn't pay a guy to eat a dirty carp and it is considered a "junk" fish compared to the coveted Large Mouth Bass. We kept about 4 bass because Ed gives them to the guards at his apartment. As we returned to the bank avoiding the many nets in the water an old Korean flagged me down and when I got to him, he hoisted up a nice size bass and he gave it to me because to him a bass wasn't a good thing compared to there prized carp. So I took it and I'm sure the guards had a good meal.
As we drove home I pointed out the horrible haze. Ed told me the thick haze was not pollution but "yellow dust" which comes from China. What happens is every spring strong winds pick up the fine, yellow sands of the Gobi Desert and blow them over Korea. The dust is very bad because it contains heavy minerals which isn't good. Thankfully it rained today but I noticed most of the kids, and me all had a cough. Plus my eyes are itchy and red. I read that in 2002, yellow dust actually caused a haze in the western states and visitors to the Grand Canyon thought there must be a forest fire near. Anyway enough of the science mumbo jumbo. The point is I spent the day fishing polluted water breathing air on a day that the news told people to stay inside because it was so bad and HAD A BLAST. hehe what dont kill ya only makes you stronger right.....or gives you cancer! Anyway as always I miss yall and take care. Im sure I must sound like a country boy talking about fishing and saying "yall" but hey so be it. Well I'm doing great and only 9 months and 18 days to go! Oh and dont worry about the yellow dust it goes away during the monsoon season. Oh Joy!
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