Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival

Hwacheon - Early morning Ahn and Ki-won met me at Courtyard Mariott @ TimeSquare (where I am staying) to begin our 2 hrs journey to Hwacheon. My 2nd ice-fishing trip.  We waited a short while and was joined by Young Jin. 

An hour later, we stopped at a resting place for drivers to freshen up.  There were many people going to ski.  

I was told water was sprayed onto the slopes to create falling snow and those were 'fake deers'.   The sign on the chair says 'do not cross this line'....haha

This is the surrounding reality..

It is definitely cold -2 degress but no falling snow.   After another 1 hour of driving we finally reached our destination.  When the river freezes over, Koreans will start gearing up and go ice-fishing.  This will be my 2nd trip to Hwacheon for ice-fishing and it always is exciting.   Ice fishing in Korea requires nothing but a simple line and hook.   Some even catch the fish using their bare hands.   It takes a lot of luck and patience. 

Sancheoneo (trout) are known to live in the clean and cold fresh water of Hwacheon river.  Hwacheon is the most famous location in South Korea for ice-fishing and been classified as ONE of the Seven wonders of Winder by CNNGo, a subsidiary of CNN.

Map of the location..

Ki-won, Me, Hwacheong Mascot and Ahn

Me, Ahn and Young Jin

We paid the entrance tickets.  The Hwacheong county raised the price from W10,000 to W12,000 per person but as an overseas guest - my entrance is W8,000.   From the entrance collected, the county government - give back W5000 as coupons to purchase local produce like honey, seaweed, etc.   An excellent idea to help the local community.

Bags for caught fish and hooks to clip your entrance sticker

entrance sticker - 10/1

Young Jin with the crowbar to chisel the ice to make a hole

The hole for ice fishing

Young Jin and Ki-won

That's Young Jin with a fishing rod in hand.

Ahn too tired

Anh too tired and too cold

Young Jin looking for fishes

Young Jin looking for his lunch...

That's Ahn skill looking for the fish and just hooking it up.

Score card:
Me - 0
Young Jin - 0
Ahn - 1 fish using his method
Ki-won - 1 fish took the bait

Our lunch catch

2 fishes for our lunch.  It was sashimi and very delicious because it was so fresh.

We have decided that this will be our last time here as the number of fishes has dwindle but the number of people both locals and overseas have increased - it's crowded.   I might try another ice-fishing spot next year.

Lunch time

So fresh, so delicious

After lunch, we walked around the area....

We played ice-soccer - a very dangerous game.  Basically playing on solid ice...lots of pain and falling down.  We need to wear protection helmet.

Young Jin and me (our team) vs HanA IT

Final score after much pain: 5 - 5