FishTwits Blog

09-08-09

Bass Fishing South Korea: Drunken man can catch a lot of fish…

It’s been a while since we’ve updated this blog, largely because Eric and I have been spending a lot of time working and travelling and not enough time fishing.  Anyway, after a great year in Sweden I am finally heading back to Australia, leaving Eric to face the ferocious Swedish pike on his own.   Happily, I managed to get a ticket with Korean Air which has allowed me to spend two weeks in South Korea visiting my Mum who is teaching English in a tiny rural village up in the mountains.

It turns out that fishing is a very popular pastime here in South Korea and  a couple of Mum’s teacher friends are very keen Bass fishermen, who very kindly organised to take me out fishing with them for the weekend.

Mr. Min has what seems like an unlimited collection of lures dedicated to the sport.

On the Saturday afternoon after the teachers finished class (yes in Korea they have class on Saturdays!) they took Mum and I for a traditional Korean pork BBQ at a charming little spot in the mountains alongside a crystal clear stream.  Having stuffed ourselves full of delicious food we got down to the serious business at hand – fishing.  Mr  Park told me all about fishing for the small Korean Perch that lived in the small mountain stream (apparently they are great sport on ultralite tackle and micro-spoons) while Mr. Min laid a rock as an offering to the fishing gods to ensure our bounty of bass would be plentiful the next day.

In what turned out to be a cruel twist of fate, Australia was playing South Korea in Soccer (football) that night… As Australia made its first advance forward (about 20 minutes into the match) I shouted the traditional and incredibly creative chant of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ to which my Mum dutifully responded ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’ . A bemused Ms Kim explained to me that ‘Oi’ means cucumber in Korean and we all collapsed with laughter.   Unfortunately the Aussies played about as effectively as cucumbers and got demolished 3 – 1!

While the Koreans celebrated and I drowned my sorrows over a bottle of Back Se Joo (a Korean alcohol made from Ginseng which is described as bitter, sweet, salty, sour and spicy all at the same time), Mr. Min let me in on an ancient Korean fishing proverb.

“Drunken man can catch a lot of fish because of smooth action”

After a slightly restless night’s sleep, dreaming of the bass we would hopefully catch the next day, we arose well before dawn, piled in the cars and headed for Daecheong Dam.  An eerie mist unfolded around us as we unloaded and put together the fold-up boat.

Having done so we turned our attention to the inflatable raft, which by its very nature required inflation… unfortunately…we didn’t have a pump.  Mr Park and my Mum graciously volunteered to take an early morning drive around the dam in search of someone who might lend us a pump, whilst Mr Min, Ms Kim and I hit the water in the fold-up.  We started off with some surface lures which Mr Min was expertly able to make dance on top of the water whilst mine kind of wobbled and swayed without any real purpose.  However, it was at least an hour, having tried various combinations of deep diving jigs, soft baits and minnows, before Mr Min’s superior technique proved itself.  Ms Kim was assuring me that the Dam did in fact contain bass, when Mr Min spotted the characteristic surface break of a largemouth bass rising to take a small minnow, quick as lightning he flicked his lure with deadly accuracy into the path of the recently risen largemouth and within seconds he was hooked up.  As he bought it close to the boat, it leapt into the air and I got my very first glimpse of a wild Largemouth (we don’t have largemouth bass in Australia or in Sweden).

Finally, we got the call saying that Mum and Mr Park had managed to locate a pump and we motored back to the boat ramp to pick them up.  As we took turns to pump the raft, I relayed the details of Mr Min’s catch to Mr Park who I would be fishing with the rest of the day and he assured me that he was an expert in surface lure fishing and he would find us a good spot where I could land my first largemouth.

Having caught a tow with Mr Min further up the dam, we parted ways to pursue Mr Park’s favourite top water locations but just as the little fold-up was disappearing into the distance we heard a whoop from Ms Kim as she hooked up with a nice size bass on a soft bait jig head.  At this point bets were made and Mr Park and I resumed our quest with renewed vigour.

Within half an hour a combination of Mr Park’s excellent eye for good areas and my having paid careful attention to Mr Min’s technique had resulted in a Largemouth spectacularly rising to the surface to take my lure.  At this point all I can say is wow, on the ultralite tackle we were using even this small to medium sized bass put up a tremendous fight, leaping and diving putting all my limited skills to the test.  Perhaps more by good luck (thanks Mr Min for his offering to the fishing gods) than good management I landed it sending me a thrill that can only be experienced the first time you catch a new species!

As the day wore on the sun grew hotter in the sky and the action slowed a little.  I managed to catch a small Koori (native to Korea) and Mr Park was unlucky not to stay connected to a couple of bass that hit his spinner.   Having not seen any hint of action for about an hour, I had taken to practising my casting trying to land my lure as close to objects as possible when completely unexpectedly a much bigger largemouth rose and took my lure immediately stripping 5 or 10 metres of line from my reel.  It the leapt into the air causing me, still recovering from the surprise, to drop my game, lose line tension and allow it to throw the hook.  Time to call it a day.

Thanks to Mr Min, Ms Kim, Mr Park and my Mum for organising and absolutely incredible weekend.  I highly recommend Bass fishing in South Korea to you all!