Welcome to the border between North and South Korea, where stunningly beautiful trout live in the most militarized strip of real estate in the world.

THE DMZ of the Korean peninsula has the world’s highest density of landmines. They are estimated to be every 2.3 square meters for a total of 1.2 million, and there is a yearly average of twenty lives claimed by landmines. In April last year, the Donga Daily News ran a photo of soldiers sweeping the Namdae River in South Korea for landmines that were washed away from the annual monsoon season. Between 1996 and 2001, the military removed 1,407 landmines from the riverbanks — something to think about when you are fly fishing in this region.

Most of the landmine victims are either soldiers or farmers. The farmers work inside the Civilian Control Line (CCL), a place where the fieldwork starts at sunrise and the farmers must sign out at checkpoints before dark. Last summer, I received permission to venture into the CCL with a tour group sponsored by the Yanggu County government. The general premise was visiting a scenic waterfall called Dutayeon; my intention was to lay eyes on the headwaters of the Sooip, an untouched stream that holds the highest population of Manchurian trout in the country.

We drove past soldiers clearing brush with rifles slung across their backs and a few farmers worked the terraced rice paddies with small crotch rocket tractors. Mandatory military service is required in South Korea and is a rite of passage for all young men. Holes in the roadside cliffs are spray painted and numbered to show where to insert the dynamite charges to blow a rockslide over the road. In the gravel parking area, we were warned not to wander off the dirt road or path but that was obvious enough since both road and trail were fenced tree to tree with landmine signs. The valley walls were near vertical and thick with pine, fir and Mongolian oak.

At the Dutyeon waterfall, the tourist group nodded approval at the pretty scene and snapped pictures with their cell phone cameras even though they were warned photography was prohibited within the CCL. The small waterfall shot down between a narrow gap and formed a massive pool. I, a trout bum in the most heavily militarized strip of real estate in the world, scanned for any riseforms, but it was midday and nothing appeared.

The Manchurian trout, scientifically known as Brachymystax lenok, or just lenok, reaches its southernmost distribution in South Korea. They do not have any migratory characteristics other than descending into deeper water downstream in the dry winters and heading upstream for their spring spawn. On a different and unrestricted stream I scouted last year, I watched them during the spawn and they splashed around like otters, slapping the sides of their body on the surface.

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Copyright © James Card.