Today was most excellent, let me tell you why. While some of you were stuck in your cubicles, offices and classrooms, I went fishing :) And not only did I go fishing, but I finally caught my first bass of the year (Nomad waits for the applause to die down). And not only did I catch my first bass of the year, but it came in at three pounds, four ounces (the crowd goes wild), which is the biggest bass I’ve caught in at least a year, maybe more – a fact I’m not too proud of but hey, that’s the way it goes.
I got to Pyeongtaek Lake about 9:30, and Rob showed up shortly afterwards – and to our pleasant surprise, so did Jim and Ty. When we first started fishing, the weather was great; the sun was shining, there was no wind and the bass were biting real good.
There’s my biggun for the day.
We ended up catching 16 bass today on various colors of Senkos and most of the fish were caught within an hour because once the wind picked up, the bass got finicky and the bites were far and few between. Today was one of the best days we’ve had in a while and I had a great time fishing, with good company to boot - what more can you ask for?
Oh, and here’s a pic that was taken by a friend of mine the day before, of the bass a Korean fisherman caught in the very same area. I’m not so sure the fisherman wants his photo all over the internet so I cropped his face out. Look at those hawgs!
Congrats on the nice trip. I am extremely jealous.
Being new to Korean Fishing (3rd assignment here) and on a 3 year tour this time, I am really trying hard but struggling.
I have been out 3 times already this year without a single bite. Once to that lake East of Osan AB on the other side of KyongBu expressway (the one with the duck boats) and twice to PyongTaek Lake. I am going to try again tomorrow morning. I am fishing from the bank and am not quite sure where to go. Very hard to find cover on the wide open bank. I have been fishing the north bank of the lake about straight north of Humph. Unfortunately for the past few weeks, all of the nice weather has been during the week leaving the crappy weather for the weekend. Maybe this weekend will be different.
I have been chunking everything I have, rattle traps, rapalla minnows, crank baits, small spinners, mepps spinners, small jigs, nothing.
I went back and checked out the archives and saw that Senkos do pretty well, so I ordered some from the states, but they are taking so long to get here that I think they were shipped through the pony express.
Is there anywhere near Osan to buy american style tackle/ lures, etc without paying an arm and leg? I know that Osan doesn’t sell any fishing gear in the BX, but does Humph or Yongsan?
Dave
do you hear my clapping!
BTW,
Are the fish caught there edible, or will they turn my sperm green?
Dave
I clapped so hard my hands smashed through themselves. Now they’re broken. Sheesh! Fry me up some fish, man!
Hunter, there are lots of tackle shops around. Compared to the States they are a bit expensive, but you should be able to find original Senkos for approximately 5,000 Won per pack, and can buy the knock-off ones for about 3,000 Won.
The mess of fish that we got into yesterday wasn’t very picky at all. You could have thrown a piece of an old rubber tire at them and they would have taken it. It was truly a remarkable fishing experience, just one of those days. We threw a variety of baits and colors at them and they took them all. It was a turkey shoot.
Personally, I’ll only eat fish out of a few select lakes over here, but Koreans eat ‘em out of the Pyongtaek river / lake all the time, and so do a few Americans we know. I would love to see someone from base go out there and take a sample of the water and analyze it for toxins. Hey, since you are a dentist, you wouldn’t happen to know any environmental preventive medicine officers, would ya?
Way to go Nomad. Good looking bass. Now please excuse me but I’m on my way out the door to go fishing.
Dave,
The lake with the duck boats is Idong lake, also sometimes referred to as Songjeon lake. It has plenty of bass and bluegill, but you have to know the right spots, and the right time. During late spring/early summer, you can catch them almost everywhere, but after that, the fish move out into deeper water.
Senkos: If you order from Yamamoto direct http://www.baits.com/, and ask them to ship via USPS priority, they get here pretty quick. You can also order them from Bass Pro, and here’s a little trick we’ve learned: When placing your order, and you get to the shipping options, pick “Canada, priority mail” and Bass Pro will ship your order via USPS priority, and the order usually gets here within a week.
As Rob pointed out, there are plenty of tackle shops in the area, a couple of which are located near or on Idong lake. Personally, I’ve never had a lot of luck on crank baits over here – most of my bass were caught on some kind of plastic worm, mostly black 5″ Senkos, but dark green or dark green with black flecks has also worked good, and we’ve caught bass on smoke/silver flecks and the pearl blue as well. On Peongtaek Lake or the river, the bass also like the black, 3″ senkos. I’ve also caught bass on spinner baits, and have caught lots of nice bluegill on small Rapala crank baits but my favorite lure for the big bluegill is a white, 1/16 oz. Rooster tail, fished on an ultralight rod with four-pound test line.
The river that runs by Humphreys and which empties into Pyeongtaek lake has lots of bass but like you said, fishing it from the bank can be frustrating unless you get lucky and happen to find a good spot.
If you’d ever like to come out with us, drop me an email at lostnomad@gmail.com and I can show you a few good places to go. I won’t be going out today, because the weather is calling for 10-20mph winds…and unfortunately, that seems to be the trend this time of year – last spring, it was gorgeous Monday through Thursday, and by Friday a rain front would move in, along with the strong winds.
Ramblas & Jenn,
Thanks for the clap
James,
Good luck buddy!
Nomad, we actually caught a few more than sixteen. I’d put the total right at 20.
Thanks for the great day. We’ll have to do it again sometime soon.
Rob,
You’re right, it was more than 16, wasn’t it. Just let me know when, and I’m there
Now that it’s warming up, I may head over there sometimes right after work…I figure we have about a month or so before the weeds get too bad. If we can ever get THE BOAT again (hint hint), that would be an excellent area to try, don’t you think?
Yeah, the official count would have been right at 20 I believe, and there where – what – at least ten missed hook-sets and snapped lines, wouldn’t you say?
Yes, I think it’ll be a good area to try for another few weeks, at least.
Congrats guys, thanks for the invite.
Gar,
Honestly – this was a last-minute trip. Rob was off work already but wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make it out because some maintenance guys were scheduled to be at his house that day. I didn’t decide to go until I got up that morning and saw that the weather report I read the night before was wrong – instead of cloudy and windy, it was sunny and calm. And unbeknownst to me, Jim and Ty had already made plans to be out there, especially since the day before, they saw a Korean guy catch a whole mess of bass, with quite a few of them being in the 3-4 pound range.
And, I can’t show you all my “secret” spots
Went to E-mart and picked out some knock-off sinkos and tried it again this morning with my daughter. Weather was beautiful, very little wind to deal with. Thought I would finally score but was skunked again. No bass, did see several large carp jumping in the area. Got to find that right spot yet.
hunter
I have had good luck getting senko’s off ebay mailed to me in a timely fashion. Remember fish the senko’s slow, real slow.
I am a crazy fans of fishing, I miss my fishing day back in Canada. I would like to fish in Korea. Is there a English road map so that I can search for fishing places?
or do u have any good idea that I can go for fishing? do u have any details about how to get there?
many many thanx