Fishing Korea & Tennessee

That was the color of the water in DaeHo on Saturday.  I had the strange hope that it would be clear and clean but with all the rains, I should have known better.

The water level wasn’t high and the temp was in the mid 70s but the bass weren’t biting that well. Everyone I spoke to complained that it was tough fishing. I caught about 8, all smaller fish in the 2lb class but they were on the Ribbit frog so it was more fun than usual.

It was windy and a little chilly so we took a shoreline lunch break and I noticed shells littered the shoreline. There must be active shell beds in the river and now will be on a quest to find them as they usually hold good bass.

I’m guessing that it may be at least 2-3 weeks before the water is clear again and then the fishing should pick back up. 

Once in a while, if you’re lucky, the fishing gods will smile on you and you can have the kind of fishing trip that I had today. A conservative estimate would be over 40 bass with most over 2 lbs. Half of those were 3 –5 pounders! And on top of that, most were caught on a topwater frog –a Stanley Ribbit. The morning started with the trusty Senko until I had gone through all the green pumpkin with purple flake worms I had in the boat. Then it was on to the Storm Thin Fin crankbait.

Around 11 the wind picked up and I was thinking of calling it a day but I move to the opposite shore, 3-5 foot deep with isolated weedbeds and tied on the Ribbit. There was a large chop on the water but the Ribbit kicks up a lot of turbulence so I started running it right across the weeds and they were hammering it. I also had on a Stanley double hook frog rig so I lost few bass – not like the Spro type frogs where I lose more than half my hits.

Talk about exciting! The big ones were usually right in the middle of the weed bed and would blow through them to get to the frog. I released them all except for a few for my Korean neighbors, who have takin’ a liking to bass.  I bought a new camera to take fishing and later found out it was waterproof, hence the underwater release picture.

I called it a day at 2 ‘cause I was tired of catching bass!  What a great day.

After seeing Mike’s posts about DaeHo Man, I’d thought I’d give it a try as a change of pace from the Anseong River.  It’s a river system very similar to Anseong as it has a tidal lock at it’s terminus and is loaded with bass but the similarities pretty much end there. For one thing, the water is very clear. I could see 8 feet down to the bottom where I was fishing.

Another is that it’s covered in grass, maybe milfoil, in the shallows and that’s where I caught most of my 25 fish. Most were small, 1 -1.5 pounds but I did catch a few a little larger.

When I got there it was so foggy I couldn’t see 20 feet in front of me and the launch area was swarming with rental inflatable boats so I had to take it extremely slow. If you thought Anseong River was covered in nets, it was nothing compared to Dae Ho. There were untended nets everywhere, especially floating in the middle of the river. Dangerous. Took about 45 minutes to get to a place to start fishing – good thing my depth finder has a GPS.

I caught ‘em on topwaters, Senkos, and creature baits. All were around the grass in 5-10 feet of water, which was 70 degrees. By lunch the wind picked up and it got rough so we headed home. Definitely worth a revisit.

After a few trips out in March with nothing to show, it seems the bite is starting up. I had hoped that Singal would be hot (pun intended) in March but of the two times I went, I ended up fishing in 35 feet of water because of the low water temps.

Thursday I went out at lunch to the river and caught three nice bass and a few dinks. They were chasing a Red Eye Shad rattling bait a long way before they hit it. I also caught them on Senkos and creature baits.

I hit the river again on Saturday and was thinking about heading toward the bay but thought the wind might be too rough (see Nomad’s post), so I headed up river toward Pyongtaek.

They were biting steadily on jigs and worms. The water temp was in the high 50s to 60 degrees later on in the day.

Coming back, I passed under the train trestle and hit something with the prop and I was dead in the water (see comments in Nomad’s post). I had to fish my way back with the trolling motor but the good side was I did catch a few more fish.

The Weiner dog and I were beat by the time we got back to the ramp.

I scoped out Nomad’s early morning fishing hole with the new side imaging Humminbird and could see why it’s consistently a good spot.

I hope everyone gets out in the next couple of weeks ‘cause it’ll only get better.

Today was kimchi makin’ day for my wife’s aunt and family so she goes down to help out. I don’t mind going because there is a nice lake only a few blocks from her house that has some nice bass in it. I managed to catch one decent sized bass (3 1/2 lbs) in spite of the high pressure cell that moved in.

It hit a crank bait in 6 feet of water, which was a lot warmer than the Anseong River or Singal. It was the only fish I caught – a pure reaction strike. Nothing else I threw would tempt them into biting but it didn’t matter as it turned out to be a beautiful day.

I hit Singal again today and what a change from Tuesday. All the rain turned the lake into chocolate milk and dropped the water temperature down to 68 degrees. It also wash a ton of crap into the water.

The bass weren’t hitting so I thought I would try for some bream. A while back, for some unknown reason, I bought some 1 1/2 inch Senkos. They came in handy today when I rigged them wacky on a drop shot rig for the ‘gills.

I was pitching the rig toward the bank and dragging it down to 8 feet and they were tearing it up. I went through 30 of the Senkos and must have caught 50 or so bream. With an ultra light rod and 6lb test line, they were a blast and saved the day.

The added bonus was that bass were hitting the rig also – small ones but fun.

I later tried for some bigger bass on structure in 25 feet of water with a Carolina rig using the complete opposite of the 1 1/2 inch Senko – mighty 10 1/2 inch single tail! Unfortunately I only got one bite and missed it.

The weiner and I then had our standard fishing lunch – smoked oysters and rosemary crackers, yum. Singal is not only loaded with nice bass but now I know, it also has some nice bream.

Since the bite was so hot on Singal last Saturday, I thought I’d brave the Chusok traffic and try it again today and I’m glad I did.  I got there around 0530 and headed out to the same spot I first hit Saturday. At first light the bass started schooling on the surface, busting minnows, and again, the spinnerbait was the ticket to some hot action.

After an hour and six bass later, a torrential downpour started and I was quickly looking for some shelter. I motored to the east side of the lake, hoping to get under one of the bridges there but there was no water under them so I toughed it out. It cleared up eventually and I continued to catch some nice 3 and 4 pounders, all on spinnerbaits. The water temp was 73 and the fish were in scattered clumps of grass.

I threw a vibrating bait and hung what I initially thought was a huge bass but soon realized what it was. Carp

One of the problems with spinnerbaits is that bass are able throw them when they jump and I must have lost 4 or 5 nice ones. I changed to a jig and pitched it to a rusty chair frame in 3 feet of water and hung a 5 pounder but the drag was set too light and didn’t get a good hook set and after a short fight it came unbuttoned. I seem to be developing a pattern of bass on chairs. I don’t know if they get tired and need to sit down but they seem to like hanging around submerged chairs.

By the time I headed home at 1300, I sure was ready to sit down. Again, Singal is proving to be a go to lake for quality bass.

Because of the renewed ramp war with the carp fisherman and the closing of the last one available on the river, I made a trek to Singal this morning. The lake was down about 6 feet and it was the lowest I’ve seen it. The grassy flat I normally hit on my way to the end of the lake was completely exposed.

The water temp was still in the mid 70s but the bass were shallow chasing bait. At daybreak, they were busting minnows around the scattered grass clumps and I was able to catch 10 bass in the first hour I was there, including two 4 pounders.

I was using a spinnerbait and a Redeye Shad vibrating bait then switched to pitching a jig. I initially had the area to myself but the wiener dog started his barking every time I caught a fish and the next thing I knew, I had a crowd of six boats around me. That was ok because no one else was catching much and I continued to hammer ‘em.  I caught most on the Redeye Shad – burning it as fast as I could reel. The bite eventually slowed and I moved on. I was flipping a bank in 15 feet of water and caught one that was about 5-6 pounds but between the bass jumping around the boat, me trying to get a pic, and the dog trying to bite the fish, it flopped back in the water. I was able to follow up with a few more 3 pounders on a purple Old Monster worm.

Overall, I think I caught over 20 bass, including some nice ones. Singal has a large population of above average sized fish and if you hit it at the right time, like I did today, you can have a really memorable trip.

Nomad and I discussed the the weather reports from KMA versus the Weather Channel. One called for no rain, the other, showers all day. I made a decision to go out anyway – I could always bring an umbrella for the Wiener dog. I was greeted this morning to the most unbelievable sunrise I’ve seen in a long time but it reminded me of the sailor’s adage, “Red sky in the morning, sailors warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight”.

The fishing was good. I caught bass on the old balsa Big-O. You old timers will remember that bait as the one bass pros were paying $20 for back in the 70s and storing in egg cartons to keep safe. I still have some from that era and they still catch fish. I also caught a few on 6.5 inch black Senko Cuttails rigged wacky. The water temp was down by 6-7 degrees from last weekend. Overall, I brought 8 bass in with just one or two dinks.

It started raining about 10 am and the wind picked so we headed out. I’m sure glad I decided to go out. That sunrise will be etched in my memory for a long time.

I was able to include a saltwater fishing trip while TDY in the US and it was good to catch something other than largemouth bass for a change (not that I’m complainin’ about bass).

My son and I drove down to Apalachicola and fished with a friend who had a nice 26ft boat. He was able to put us on the seabass, snapper, grouper, and grunts. We also caught triggerfish, redfish, and croaker.

He had spots marked on the GPS that were so good, as soon as our bait hit bottom, we’d have a fish.

We were only able to fish on the boat for one day as my friend had to go back to Atlanta that evening. With the combination of beating sun and catching fish, we were dog tired by the time we headed in.

The next morning we fished off the beach and my son caught this nice redfish.

It was a fantastic trip! We had a big fish fry when we got back to ATL and I even brought back some fish to Korea.

As hinted by Nomad in his post, I was the recipient of the emergency surgery this morning on the river. After catching a dink on a crankbait, I grabbed it to remove the hook but it started thrashing and the next thing I knew I had the hook buried in my thumb.  I knew how to remove it but was a two hand operation based on where the hook was but luckily Nomad and Ty were just packing up and still at the ramp. A quick trip over and with the skill of a surgeon, Ty snatched it right out.

Last week I kept the bass I caught because my neighbors wanted them for maewon-tong but they keep asking for carp. Now, I’m not a carp fisherman but today, after the hook snatching surgery, I noticed huge schools of carp on the surface of the river. Quickly removing two trebles from a crankbait and tying a sinker on the bottom, I had a drop shot rig for carp. Having some experience snagging salmon in Alaska (legal), I proceeded to snag up some carp. I had to admit it was pretty fun.

Today was not one of the most productive days on the river but probably one of the most interesting.

I went back out on the Anseong River today and was all prepared for another monsoony day but it turned out to be fairly decent with nary a drop of rain. I caught some decent bass on both Senko Cuttails and jigs.

I caught four pitching the jig into downed trees, a very exciting way to catch ‘em. 65lb test braid will do the trick.

I was using a black/blue jig with a craw trailer. The Senko was green pumpkin, wacky rigged. I was losing so many Senkos to dinks that I ended up cutting a slice of a tube and using it kind of like an o-ring. I could catch a few before having to replace the worm, a good thing, what with the cost of Senkos.

And just when I thought I’d seen everything on the river to be seen…..

…that’s right, a paddle-wheeled houseboat!  Wonder where he launched from?