South Korea - Jeju Island (Amberjack)

[kantong]

Just got back from South Korea this week and I was able to sneak 1 fishing trip into the family holiday! 

We were on the island of Jeju and were taken by boat to a barge in the middle of the ocean. This fishing barge was quite big and was very comfortable for the whole family to fish from. At first, everyone was given rods with paternoster rig with tiny hooks. We started with live worms and tiny prawns, which resulted in a range of reef fish.

Then, to my delight, our fishing guide took out the jigging rod! Within minutes I was hooked up and the fight was on. Fair to say I was ecstatic when we landed the fish. My first amberjack on a jig!

Since this was a family fishing trip, we were only on the barge for 2 hours. Within that time, I landed 3 more smaller jacks and got absolutely reefed by a bigger one. The kids loved seeing me nearly get pulled over the side by these powerful fish, but I had to put the jig down to help the kids land their first wrasse.

We took one of the fish to a local restaurant and it was best sashimi I've had! I'm already dreaming about my next 'Korea-break'

Tight lines!
 

[Larkin]

Love it Kantong! 
Take a fisherman on holiday anywhere near water - and you know exactly what will happen!
That sushimi looks great! 👍

[Blackfish]

That’s fantastic Kantong, looks like a win, win for the whole family and that Sushimi looks great to.

[Little_Flatty]

What a great experience @kantong! I’m almost tempted to take the family and do the same! Apart from the fishing, I’ve always wanted to go to Korea.

Did you do any tackle shopping while you were there? Certainly some interesting contraptions they have, particularly in the ISO space.

[Yowie]

Nice fish, and a good plate of sashimi.

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, Larkin said:

Take a fisherman on holiday anywhere near water - and you know exactly what will happen!
 

Always have rods and reels on the caravan trips. Even now have a 3 piece rod, reel and small tackle box permanently in the car.

[kantong]

4 hours ago, Larkin said:

Love it Kantong! 
Take a fisherman on holiday anywhere near water - and you know exactly what will happen!
That sushimi looks great! 👍

Thanks @Larkin! Is it even a holiday if there's no fishing involved? LOL

3 hours ago, Blackfish said:

That’s fantastic Kantong, looks like a win, win for the whole family and that Sushimi looks great to.

Thanks @Blackfish, we were blessed with great weather. It was super tasty sashimi, best I've had.

2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

What a great experience @kantong! I’m almost tempted to take the family and do the same! Apart from the fishing, I’ve always wanted to go to Korea.

Did you do any tackle shopping while you were there? Certainly some interesting contraptions they have, particularly in the ISO space.

Thanks @Little_Flatty, a great place to holiday, just make sure you pick your seasons correctly. The fish markets are a great place to enjoy the seafood too.

I did drop into a few tackle shops and the range is insane. The local reels and rods are next level, highly specialised to ISO. 

31 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Nice fish, and a good plate of sashimi.

Thanks @Yowie, it was the most sashimi I've ever had in 1 sitting. The fish frame was tossed into a spicy stew which was brought out to us after we finished the sashimi, fooood comma!

[bessell1955]

That Sushimi looks mouth watering.

[zmk1962]

Excellent and well done Kantong ! ... love the sashimi .... you can take a fisherman to water ... and he will know exactly what to do 🤘 

Cheers Zoran

[Pickles]

Annyeong  @kantong, a big feed of sashimi mate - looks like you could feed the whole restaurant. Did you have the wrasse as sashimi also or was that cooked ? (Lovely white flesh).

I loved a short  visit in Korea (cold in Inchon in winter though). Did you get to Hallasan National Park?

thanks for sharing.

[Pickles]

On 10/17/2023 at 7:28 PM, Yowie said:

Nice flatties there Bob.

Jewies under sized, however, good to see there are plenty of younger ones coming along.

Wouldn’t it be great if all the little ones grew to be big ones (I reckon I get 100 under 50cm, for every one over 70).

[Squidless]

That looks awesome and tasty! I have only been to Korea once a few years ago now and loved it. My wife wanted to go to Jeju island but we only had time for Seoul.

You have convinced me to go to Jeju island when we go back next time! I'll just tell my wife it's because she wanted to go last time but couldn't...

[kantong]

On 10/19/2023 at 5:51 AM, Pickles said:

Annyeong  @kantong, a big feed of sashimi mate - looks like you could feed the whole restaurant. Did you have the wrasse as sashimi also or was that cooked ? (Lovely white flesh).

I loved a short  visit in Korea (cold in Inchon in winter though). Did you get to Hallasan National Park?

thanks for sharing.

Annyeong @Pickles! It certainly was a huuuggee plate of sashimi for 3 adults and 2 kids, I couldn't eat any more that day. The wrasse were too small, thrown back to grow bigger for the next fisho.  We did go to Hallasan and Seongsan Ilchulbong (a 5000 year old volcanic crater!) and a bunch of other places. Jeju is famous for it's hairtail and abalone, so we ate alot of that too.

On 10/19/2023 at 9:44 PM, Squidless said:

That looks awesome and tasty! I have only been to Korea once a few years ago now and loved it. My wife wanted to go to Jeju island but we only had time for Seoul.

You have convinced me to go to Jeju island when we go back next time! I'll just tell my wife it's because she wanted to go last time but couldn't...

thanks @Squidless, Jeju is a beautiful place to visit and it's a lot quieter than Seoul or Busan. Don't forget to pack a rod or book a fishing trip!