We made yesterday a day to explore new fishing holes in the area around Asan Bay and we may have found one of the best bass spots we’ve come across so far. Sorry, I can’t tell you where it is. Not because I’m trying to be like some people we know, who give vague references and directions to their favorite spots (just kidding Gar 
), but because all I can tell you is that it’s near an area we’ve fished before (here and here). We found it almost by accident, driving up and down the rice paddy roads in the area looking for more irrigation channels coming off the bay.
What we found is a huge inlet off the bay, separated by a dirt road. As we pulled up and got out of our cars we could see that the entire inlet was full of gill nets. “Man, look at all those nets, there aren’t any fish left in here,” I said, ready to keep on driving (this shows how much I know). This is about the time we noticed the Korean fishermen who were using spinning rods, and one does not use spinning rods for carp. Within a few minutes of stopping, we saw at least 3 different people catch bass and we quickly unloaded our gear and started fishing.
Yeah baby, this is the spot alright. This inlet is chock full of bass – all males in the 1-2 pound range. I’m not sure if the males are looking for places to make nests or if they’re coming in there to feed along the gill nets, but they’re all over. There’s enough shoreline to where you could walk and fish for a week and still not cover the whole area, and it’s all identical; dirt/rock shoreline with patches of reeds out in the water where the bass were hanging out. We only fished there for a couple of hours but we caught plenty of bass but what was interesting was that the Koreans were catching 3 fish for every 1 we caught. They were using some kind of tube type worm with hairy appendages, fished real slow in the weeds and they were cleaning up. Gotta find some of those lures.
I was using a 3 inch black Senko and my partner was using a black and silver flecked 5 inch Senko. We caught several fish just by making a cast into the weeds and seemingly hitting the fish on the head with the worm because they hit the lure as soon as it hit the water.
Here’s what my partner took home last night for dinner. We lost and released a lot more than that – considering we only fished a couple of hours, this outing was one of the best we’ve had for bass this year. And to top it all off, mother nature provided us with a beautiful sunset. You can click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized images.
It doesn’t get any better than this. Trust me.
Ahah. I know that spot. Took a bunch of pictures of all the trash thrown in the water around there. That’s what prompted my environment rant.
Glad to hear you did so well.
John and I went out yesterday and had a blast, though we didn’t catch quite as many as you guys.
Gar,
Most of the trash I noticed was left right in the area where the cars park. There was the usual crap floating in the water, but the shore and water looked a lot cleaner than in some other areas I’ve fished. But as you mentioned in your post, it’s a shame that there’s no sense of pride or ownership when it comes to the environment. Drink a can of coffee or bottle of soju, drop the empty where you sit and leave it for the next guy to add to. Sigh…
What really surprised me were the number of bass in that area, considering the amount of gill nets strung all over the place. Now the trick is to find out what the bass are coming in there to feed on and then use a lure that resembles that food. I was hesitant to use a spinner of minnow type lure due to the weeds, plus my Senko was doing just fine.
Nomad,
Sorry about the other day. What you wanted to do was keep going on the levy road, under the 38 bridge and then start hitting the rocks. Once word gets out, the area is over-fished and no fun at all.
Seems like there are 10 times more Korean bass’rs then there were last year already.
Check my blog. I witnessed something truly amazing yesterday at I-dong.
By the way, there’s another spot out there off the beaten trail that may prove to be the mother of all honey holes. John and I have sort of decided to keep it on the DL until it’s thoroughly explored. Once we’ve got the skinny, you are welcome to join us one Saturday.
I’m going to hit it after work one night this week.
Gar,
I’m still confused…are you saying you fish the area between the bullet train tracks and the 38 bridge, or the area between the 38 and 45 bridges? If I was in the right area, the rocks stop shortly to the right of the 45 bridge, and of course if you keep going you end up at the other 38 bridge (the huge long one that goes back into Pyongtaek). I fished the area way after the rocks stopped but it was hard to get down to the river because the bank is kind of high and I also tried the area right near the 45 bridge (to the right of it) along the rocks.
No biggie, like you said right now the bass are moving and very active and this is prime time, if you can find them.
Let me know how you do at the other spot and good luck!
Sounds like you were in the right spot. Take the train tracks to the levy, turn right, stay on the dirt road until you pass under 38. Fish the rocks. The stretch to 45 is good too, but steep like you said. I used to find bass hanging on any brush or clump of grass along the way. Another good spot is off the levy just before you reach the 45 bridge. There’s a canal there and last year the mouth of it was always holding bass.
Gar, I was driving down the levy around 6AM Saturday morning and ran into Alan near the 38 bridge. Is that the area you’re talking about? He caught one and I got skunked, but I only fished for about thirty minutes before we went and had breakfast. I headed back out with Joe in the afternoon and did much better.
Hey find out what those Korean guys were slaying em on and post a pick. Always looking for a new “secret lure” especially one that might be not even be available in the States.
Thanks
BP