A Sea Apple a Day...

Way back in March Tara and I spent two weeks in Korea. We spent time in Seoul, visited the DMZ and took a short trip to Jeju Island. Besides hiking the famous Mount Hallasan we also booked a morning fishing trip. I wasn't sure what to expect because everything had been arranged through the Hotel's concierge, a very friendly man who spoke very little English.

We took a short taxi ride to the harbor and were greeted by the captain of a local fishing boat. Together with three or four other Korean tourists we boarded and were soon underway.

Bottom fishing, not surprisingly, has everything to to with the sea floor. It took about 25 minutes to reach whatever reef or ledge or outcrop was our destination. The captain deployed a sea anchor which I had read about but never seen in action and then broke out the rods.

For bait we used long worms that resembled a cross between an earthworm and a hellgrammite. Whatever they were, they worked well and we were soon hooking fish by the ones and twos! Many of the fish looked familiar to me, lots of hawkfish and wrasses, but Tara pulled up one exotic specimen with beautiful pectoral fins.

Back in Seoul we took the train to the Noryangjin Fish Market to see what other fish inhabit the waters of Korea. The market was lively and colorful with a wide variety of seafood. (Including sea apples - ask me what those taste like!) I was especially surprised to see tanks containing large red drum which are a prized game fish in the Gulf of Mexico.