Fishing Korea & Tennessee

Well, these last 10 days passed quickly and even though I didn’t get to fish every day like I wanted due to the weather, it was still a good vacation.  Aside from fishing, I also got to spend some quality time with the family, which is always a good thing.  I probably put more miles on my car in the last 10 days than I have in the last three months and I’m sure that the ajoshi who washes my car for me every day is going to be really happy (not) to see how dirty it is - he’s going to earn his money tomorrow

This morning, Rob and I decided to try a few different areas of the Anseong River near Camp Humphreys.  The first spot we tried  was where I did real good last Wednesday and caught that nice one on Thursday but this morning, it wasn’t happening.  I’m not sure if it was because of the winds, the strong current or what, but I only had one hit, and that ended up being my biggest bass of the day.

Continue reading ‘Back to work tomorrow’ »

After yesterday’s rains, I had no intention of going fishing this morning and I had every intention of sleeping in for once.  But I was wide awake at 4:30 so I decided to get up, make some coffee and catch up on all of the blogs on my sidebar which I haven’t checked all week.  When I turned on the computer, I had three emails waiting for me from Rob, the latest sent at 4:17 and yep, he was headed out to a nearby lake.  To make a long story short, I grabbed my stuff and headed out, again.  When I arrived at the lake, it was misting lightly, the wind was blowing but there was Rob with his chest waders on, fishing away.  The weather did improve as the morning progressed but I ended up with only one bite and no fish for my efforts - Rob did catch one but that was all for the morning and around 9:45 we decided to call it quits at the lake.  Rob wanted to hit the river but after the rain we had yesterday, I thought that the river would be too muddy and wouldn’t even be worth trying, so I took my car for a much needed washing and came home and watched the Cavs blow yet another game against the Pistons.  Just now, Rob sent me a couple of text messages that he’s already caught one nice bass and had one break his line…and here I am sitting in front of the damned computer.

I got up early this morning again and headed to the same spot on the river I fished yesterday, even though all the weather sites were calling for rain (it was looking pretty nice out at 5 am).  When I got there, I saw that Rob was right with his prediction about Buddha’s birthday because there were already a bunch of carp fishermen parked all along the river – some of them were asleep in their cars or on the ground, and all the good spots I fished yesterday had 10-20 carp poles already set up and blocking the way so I moved on down to an area that was clear of people and poles and fished there.  I caught three small bass around the rocks within the first 45 minutes and then I moved over to the right, closer to where a couple of boats are tied up.  I cast my worm near one of the boats and before the lure even sank to the bottom, something grabbed it and almost ripped the rod out of my hands.

Continue reading ‘Double Doh!’ »

This morning I drove out to the Anseong River near Camp Humphreys to try my luck and I’m glad I made the trip but first, the obligatory dawn pictures (you know what to do by now – click!):

After I watched the sun rise, I got down to fishing.  The first thirty minutes or so were pretty uneventful, and I was starting to think I had made a mistake by driving out this spot but all of a sudden, it was like someone had turned on a switch.  And, I had fresh batteries in the camera today…

Continue reading ‘Dawn III’ »

Taken this morning at a lake near Dunpo…I was going to go for another shot (or two) once the sun cleared the ridge, but the batteries in my camera died.

I wish I would have had my Canon EOS with me this morning but all I had was my trusty Canon PowerShot A80.  I love being out on this lake before the sun rises…there’s nothing better than sitting there, watching and listening to the world slowly waking up around me.

I learned several things yesterday.  One, trust the Korea Meteorological Administration.  If they say it’s going to rain, and especially if they forecast a 90% chance of the wet stuff, then you can pretty much take that to the bank.  When I got up yesterday morning at four it was cloudy, with intermittent drizzles so Rob and I made an on-the-spot decision to go fishing despite the forecast.  Bad, bad idea.  By the time we met at the lake, it was pouring with no sign of letting up any time soon.  It was miserable even with a poncho on.  The second thing I learned was that all those articles I’ve read about the bass turning off when a cold rain front comes through are true.  Rob did end up catching at least one that I know of, but all I ended up with for my troubles were a pair of wet shoes, soggy socks and a muddy floor mat in my car.  Now – what are the odds that the weather is going to be nice from today all the way till next Friday and that it’ll rain again next Saturday?  Going by past history, pretty good, I’d say.  But as long as that pattern holds up into the week after that, I’ll be happy because I’m taking 5 days vacation from the 21st through the 25th (which, counting the weekends and the Memorial Day holiday, adds up to 10 days off) and I plan on being out on the water every day.  Lots of fishblogging – I know you can’t wait.

I got up bright and early this morning and hit the road by 5:15 on my way to Idong reservoir, which is usually only a 15 minute drive.  The fog was so thick today that it took me almost 30 minute to get there but the upside of it being so foggy was that I was the only one on that part of the lake.  The water level is still pretty high so to get around the rocks and cliffs to the area I like to fish, one has to climb up and over what we call “the hill of death” because it’s so steep - you’ll definitely know what shape you’re in by the time you get to the top, especially if you’re lugging fishing gear.  Since I’m sitting here typing, my heart didn’t explode – at least not from the hill but after I got to the top and started making my way down, a f*cking pheasant flew up right in front of me and just about finished off what the hill had started.

Continue reading ‘The Fog’ »