Fishing Korea & Tennessee

I’ve been hoping that since the nights are getting cooler, the water temperature would also go down, which in turn would bring the bigger bass back close to shore.  It’s bound to happen sooner or later but that time isn’t here just quite yet, as I found out this morning (And what a beautiful morning it was!).  But first, the obligatory sunrise pics:

I did catch fish today, but none were bigger than the two below, and all they wanted were 5-inch Senkos.  I also tried a 4-inch and not a single bite.  Go figure.

Last week, the water level in the river was super high, this morning it was back down to the point where I could walk the rocks along the shore again.  The water is still a bit stained from last weekend’s rains and also still feels quite warm, although not as bad as it was a few weeks ago when it felt like bath water.  I could be wrong, but I think things will improve in a couple of weeks.

I thought I was going to be able to add Idong to my spots for Early Morning Bass fishing, but maybe I’ll have to rethink that one.  This morning, with about 30 minutes left to go, the old ajoshi who collects 5,000 won from people to fish there showed up on his scooter and wanted me to pay.  I tried to explain that I was only going to be there for another 20, 30 minutes at the most, but he didn’t want to hear it and repeatedly told me to leave if I wasn’t going to pay up.  What he was doing at that remote corner of the lake at 6:15 in the morning, I have no idea but I do have my suspicions…there were some farmers tending to their fields close to where I was fishing, and as he left he stopped to talk to them so I’m thinking they dimed me out .

The morning wasn’t a bust, however, as I did catch several bass in the short time I had, the above being the largest.  The water level in Idong is up about 4 feet (if not more) from last the last time I was out there and I couldn’t get over to the same spots I was fishing the last few weeks.

I know it’s hard to tell by the above pic, but the path and shoreline that I was able to use to get around that bend and over to the left are completely under water…so I just stayed in one area and fished the grass.  Had I been able to wade on around, ajoshi would never have seen me .  I don’t mind paying if I’m there all day or even half a day, but I’m not going to shell out 5,000 won for an hour’s worth of fishing.  Back to the river it is!

There are those who say “size doesn’t matter.”  And then, there’s the other school of thought, which states “the bigger, the better.”  I know where this bass stands and yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, that is a 5-inch Senko you see laying there.  Amazing, isn’t it?  And that picture pretty much sums up this morning’s fishing venture because it was dink central out at the river today – at least in the area I was fishing, which was kind of limited due to the number of carp fishermen out there, enjoying the holiday.  Just in case anyone is wondering, the water in the river is still stained and has to be in the mid 80′s.  Fall can’t get here soon enough, know what I mean, Vern?

Why “Frogs,” you ask?  Because I wasted almost the entire morning throwing a frog without any results, that’s why .  The water level has dropped about 2-3 feet since earlier in the week and the area I was fishing at last Monday was really shallow today.

On Monday, I was in waist-deep water when I reached that clump of grass, this morning I wasn’t even up to my knees.  I waded way out past all that grass, at least another 25 feet and threw a frog, with no takers.  I then came back and walked along the shore, stopping every now and then to wade out as far as I could go and threw the frog onto and into the grass, again, with no results. 

Then with about 15 minutes left, I switched to a Senko and caught this fish…and that was the only bite I had out there this morning. 

There’s no better way to start the week off than with some Early Morning Bass (EMB) fishing and this morning was no exception.  I headed back out to Idong Lake and fished another area, which I’m going to show you below (tell me that doesn’t have bass written all over it):

You can see how crystal clear the water is right now in the last two pictures.  Also, if you look at those last two, I was able to wade all the way out to that big patch of grass and I was only up to my waist and could still easily see the bottom, that’s how clear the water is.  And the bass were hungry this morning:

I caught seven out there today; the above three were the biggest of the lot.  I tried a chatterbait for a while but it kept on getting hung up in all the weeds under the water so I switched back to my old standby, a 5-inch, black Senko.  Definitely a good Monday morning

Since I haven’t been out there in a while, I headed on out to the river this morning to see how much the bass missed me .  Turns out they didn’t miss me that much after all, so I ended up taking pictures of the sunrise , a netter ajoshi and some birds eating what was probably a dead carp.

The sunrise.

Ajoshi on his way to check his nets.  Those netters have some nice outboards on them and zoom right along.

Don’t ask me why I took pics of these birds…it’s just rare that they hang so close to shore but in this case, the attraction was a dead fish floating in the water.

And last but not least, here’s the biggest bass I caught this morning on a 5-inch Senko, black with blue flakes…the rest were all dinks.  One thing – all my fish were caught before or right at first light.  Once the sun rose, the bite totally turned off.

This morning, I tried something completely different; instead of heading out to the river for some early morning bass fishing, I headed to Idong Lake to try my luck.  It was foggy and pitch black dark when I arrived so I couldn’t really pick a good spot since I didn’t want to wade out and hit a deep hole (been there, done that, it’s not fun).

No sunrise pics today since I couldn’t even see the sun from where I was but here’s a duck – and this pic also gives you a good idea of the type area I was fishing.

I wish I would have brought some top water lures because I think they would have worked pretty good out here but my old standby, the Senko, did the job for me once again.

A bass so nice I had to post it twice   This fish hammered my Senko hard in about two feet of water and immediately took off for deep water, taking out line as it went – one heck of a good fight, I must say.

This is the other decent one I caught this morning – the rest were dinks.  All fish were caught on 5-inch Senkos, black and black with blue flakes.  A good way to start out the week