First bass fishing report from Korea in 2013

[Bassinkorea]

Sunday 17th February
Nakdong River League tournament # 1
Air temps - 40 ~ 48'f
Water temps - 38 ~ 39'f

This was the first tournament of the 2013 season and also my first time on the water. It was cold with a steady Northerly wind (forecast said Southerly wind!!).
We headed South first and fished a stretch of of the river for a couple of hours, but were unable to find any fish.
We moved to another spot were I quickly caught 2 bass by dragging a craw worm on a flexible jighead in about 18 foot of water. After these 2 bass, I had 3 more bites which I failed to connect with. This cost me the tournament 

Out of the 11 boats, only 2 had a full limit. I weighed in 2 bass for about 4lb. Still not too bad for sub 40 degree water in February.

I was just nice to be on the water, running the boat, fishing and using my new HDS-12 


Click here for the photos

[Donald Garner]

Steve,

Tks for sharing the pictures and the report.  At least you didn't get skunked

[Bassinkorea]

Thanks Donald.....exactly 

[Mike Cork]

I'm with Donald, on a day like that putting a couple in the boat would be rewarding enough Congrats on putting it together to get five bites, that's all it takes to win. Sometimes the fish gods are not in our favor

[Gwamba]

Nice job! Great photos...

[Lee Smith]

Great Job BK!!       Feel GREAT about the two fish, last weekend we had a 22 boat tourny, one limit and 6.3# won the whole deal.  This tourny usually turns 25 ++ sacks 

So be proud Young Man!  Be Proud!!

[H8R]

Amazing man! That's awesome to see Bass Anglers all over the world!

[Bassinkorea]

Thanks a lot guys 

Lee, that sounds like a tough tourney, how did you do?

[Bandaid]

Awesome.

The last weekend in March a coworker my wife and I hit the Pyeongteak river pretty hard. I caught one decent bass, maybe in the 2 pound range off a small husky jerk. I tried neko, shakeyhead and drop shot rigs but no takers. Wife and coworker skunked.

First thing in the morning I broke off a bass on a weedless senko right on the bank. The knot failed. Let this be a lesson to ALWAYS wet your line!!

We got some photos but took our new float tubes out on the Han river near Yeongpyeong and managed to completely soak the camera. Turns out the rear of our Fish Cat 4's are NOT waterproof.


This past weekend my wife and I hit up the Jinwei Stream just south of Osan AB and she caught her first bass of 2013. The wind was blowing a a cold front was moving in but she was able to catch one on a shakeyhead dragged real real slow. We fished it yesterday after work and skunked. Saw some activity. The carp were really putting on a show!!



The Jinwei is showing some slop growing in the shallows. Can't wait to throw a few Zoom Horny Toads over it this spring!

I made a rather sizable order from Academy but it was put on the slow boat to Korea and I won't get it until May. I ordered a range of crankbaits, I didn't bring any with me to Korea!!

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[Bassinkorea]

Cool. Thanks for sharing your report. I have a few friends that fish at Pyeongtaek and have been doing well lately fishing senkos from the shore near large rocks.

[Bandaid]

Cool. My wife and I are going to take our float tubes down there next week and try the opposite bank. It appears that there's tons of islands that get little pressure from bank anglers.

I have heard that Shingal Lake is closed to fishing. Is that true? We used to fish there in 2003-2006 and caught some decent bass out there. Huge stretches of the Han river are also closed off to fishing. Certainly not the case a few years ago. I hate to make huge general statements but I think Korean fisherman are as much to blame as anyone, they seem to take no issue with throwing their trash all over the bank. In fact, you can tell what everyone is throwing based on the trash.

[Bassinkorea]

Yes, it is true about Shingal Lake being closed to all fishing. Nobody really knows the reason why, but we all suspect it has something to do with polution from the lakeside industry. This lake was closed several years ago for the same polution issues.

Good luck on the river, it may be still a little cold in float tubes 

[sigmapiguy59]

Took your advice and bought some senkos and fished the bank of anseongchong today. I caught 3. Didn't weigh but biggest was maybe 15 inches. YT fishing is a really nice store with a lot of selection. One employee speaks english fairly well and even showed me some good spots. Only problem for the day is I had no choice but to release. I offered them to some neighboring korean fisherman but they looked offened.

[Bassinkorea]

Glad you caught a few. Senkos are a proven bait on that river   

[sigmapiguy59]

People are telling me the ones I caught are really green.... like radioactive lol. As I'm new to bass fishing I couldn't really say different. Any ideas.

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[sigmapiguy59]

After looking at the one she caught above I feel like maybe I didn't even catch a bass lol

[Bassinkorea]

That is definately a Korean bass, and a nice one at that. The color looks just fine to me.

[sigmapiguy59]

Awesome. I was very sad to see one hanging in the tree all dried out that someone left. Would you say if you follow the 6 ounces cooked, once a month as is a rule for several polluted lakes in America, it would be safe to eat?

[Bassinkorea]

Yeah, unfortunately it is quite common to see bass laying around on the banks. The carp fisherman hate the bass and bluegill as they are invasive species.

Not sure on the rules, but I personally do not eat bass very often. I have eaten them deep fried cajun style from a very clear Korean lake with no issues (and they were delicious!!)