Fishing Korea

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?

My new boat arrived Thursday morning and man, I was like a kid at Christmas. I saw the boat on the internet, made by a company in Busan, and knew I had to get one. It’s set up just like a mini bassboat.

I spent the whole day getting it rigged up and was looking forward to getting it out on the river today and seeing how it fishes. The weather forecast didn’t look good but the weiner dog was itchin’ to go so I said what the heck.

Nomad’s pics from this morning didn’t look like these. It came down buckets for about an hour. The only saving grace was I brought rain gear and an umbrella. Oh, and I did catch a decent bass.

I didn’t have the bilge pump hooked up and the boat was filling up with water so we left after a few hours. I have everything wired right now so we might head out again tomorrow to do some real fishing.

I got a chance to be the fishing instructor for a Boy Scout Fishing Derby held this Saturday at a local carp pond. I’d fished this pond before and knew it had lots of small bass – a perfect place to take kids fishing.

We had a good turnout of about 15 kids and parents. My friend Pete Hart, who is on the ProStaff for Rapala and fishes the professional KSA bass circuit, was in attendance and Rapala donated some very nice hats and lures for the kids. I was able to dig up two bags of tackle and together, awarded prizes for the most and largest fish.

Even the parents got involved and were able to catch fish.

Overall, it was a great day for the kids and parents and I think we were able to get some hooked on fishing. I relish the opportunity to teach youngsters how to appreciate nature and the outdoors and urge all fishermen to take the time to take a kid fishing.

I finally got the opportunity to get out in my belly boat that I bought last winter. It definitely was a change of pace from fishing from a boat –mainly because my mode of propulsion was swim fins. Man what a workout! The saving grace was that I caught some decent fish. 

I started out using a baby brush hog but I kept breaking the 6lb test line when setting the hook, guess I’m too used to using 65lb braid.

I switched to a flick shake worm on a jig head and never lost a fish after that. It was the first time I fished this stretch of the river and was pretty impressed with the quality of bass. The added bonus was that I was all alone, which is something to savor nowadays.

I relished my time out on the water, work has been far to hectic recently and I hope to get back out this weekend.

The weiner dog and I hit the river this past Saturday and despite the stained water, did manage to catch a few nice bass.

Most were caught on crank baits, like the Lucky Craft CB 200, but I did catch a few on wacky Senko Cuttail 6 inch worms.

The water temp was 78-80 degrees and I was fishing some ledges in 15 feet of water. Overall, another excellent day on the river.

I took a trip to Singal to try to recreate a trip from a few years ago when I caught seven fish that weighed over 30 pounds. That was by far the best day I’ve ever had fishing so I was eager to hit the lake again. I was also itching to try out my new toy side imaging sonar from Humminbird. You’ve probably seen pictures in Bassmaster and other fishing magazines of the device, let’s just say the pictures are not exaggerated.

This is a zoom of a screen capture that shows bait and fish suspended over a depression.

This shows a school of fish on a breakline in shallow water.

Two fish in deeper water.

I’m amazed at the images and the technology packed into this unit. I need to gain a lot more experience reading and interpreting before I can start catching.  I can’t wait to take it out on the Anseong river.

Like Steve, I was happy to catch my first bass of 2009 even if it was a dink. I was fishing some extreme cover (see pic) with a tube bait and the bass wacked it pretty hard.

The bass was right under this plastic chair, I wanted to exploit the pattern but couldn’t find any more chairs!

I plan on hitting Singal and Andong next month to see if I can catch something bigger.

I went out Saturday morning to catch some bream for my pond and met up with a friend, Alan, who had brought some Boy Scouts to try to earn a fishing badge. One of the boys had never caught a fish before so I was happy to help them catch some bream.

Some of the fish were on beds in 1-2 feet of water so the kids could see the fish they were fishing for. They were really excited.

They ended up practically filling my cooler up with fish. I did catch one monster bass.

Steve asked to see some pics of my pond so here they are.

The 3 pound bass that I had originally put in the pond had always stayed hidden when he was by himself but after adding the bream, started venturing out and was cruising around with the bream. The bream didn’t seem concerned that there was a bass hovering nearby. It will be interesting to watch how they interact.

Made it out to the Anseong River on Saturday and had another great day bass fishing. I think I caught and released over 20 bass, from 1 to 3 pounds. They were hitting everything but the kitchen sink.  Water temp was 68-70 degrees, so most lures were fished at a fair clip.

I was fishing my favorite spot on the river, a shelf bordering the river channel, and started tearing them up using Rattle Traps. Then, something that only happens when your extremely lucky occurred,  I hooked what I thought was a sure 4 pounder.  While playing it, it felt that the fish was pulling in two directions at once. Once I got it to the boat I could see why – it was two bass on the Trap!

About two casts later, I hooked another bass on the Trap, and as I was fumbling with the camera, another bass came up to the first and tried to hit the lure. I missed the picture by 2 seconds.

I brought a 3 pounder back to my house and put it in my pond. Its doing fine and I’ll be feeding it goldfish and frogs. I plan on studying its behavior to try to learn a little more about our finny friends. One of the first things I’m going to do is toss hookless Senko in to see how it reacts. I’ll keep you posted – when it gets to be 10 pounds I’ll be selling tickets to fish for it ; )

I lucked out this past Saturday by not having to attend a planned wedding in Seoul and was able to hit the river. I didn’t get out until about 1030 but the bass were still biting. The water was dead calm and 70 degrees.

I started pitching a jig and worked through crankbaits, rattle traps and worms. The bass were hitting them all.

The sun was out and it got hot around lunchtime so we had to take a little break to stuff our faces.

Smoked oysters and crackers, yum!

Begging for an oyster.

Overall, another wonderful day.

I had the opportunity to fish a KSA ProAm tournament this past weekend and had a great time.

The fishing was outstanding, most fish were pre-spawn and averaged 4-5 pounds. We caught them all on wacky rigged Kut tail worms in Pumpkinseed and Watermelon fished very slow. The water was very clear and it was exciting to see smaller males building beds and cruising the shallows.

Six of the fish we caught were within 2 ounces of each other in weight. We ended up culling a couple of 4 pounders, what a good feeling. I caught a kicker that weighed over 5.

We ended up weighing in 5 fish at 10130 grams, which works out to be about 22.3 pounds. Walt C was my pro partner, shown here with his second place check.  We missed taking first by a pound, which didn’t bother me – I was just happy to catch big fish!

Water temps were in the mid to upper 60s, how I would love to be on the lake once the females get on the beds.

Chub on a RattleTrap

"Where’s Frank been?", many of you may have asked.  Well, he’s been out with a mysterious illness that landed him in the hospital for four days. None of the doctors he’s seen has been able to identify exactly what is causing his illness but are treating him with antibiotics that are slowly working. He’s now home and feeling a little better. Join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.