Oh man, what a gorgeous morning out there at the river today! It was chilly enough to give me goose bumps, there wasn’t even a hint of a breeze, and I got to witness yet another beautiful sunrise:
This guy came in pretty close to where I was fishing, no doubt going after the carp fry that were in the shallows:
“But what about bass?” you ask….well, the bass were biting as long as it was dark and right until after first light but once the sun came up, it was like someone had flicked a switch. I caught several dinks and lost one nice one which got off close to shore 
, and just when I thought it was going to be another dink day, this one nailed my 5-inch (black) Senko and made an already good morning even better:
That fish was the biggest of the morning and like I said, once the sun came over the horizon, that was all she wrote. By the way, does anyone know what this stuff is? I’ve been seeing it all along the shore, on the rocks:
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.
I got off early on Friday and decided to take advantage of the time off to do a little fishing. It was crazy hot, in the low 90’s with high humidity, but the fish didn’t really seem to mind; I caught eight, and up until just before dark, consistently had bites all afternoon. Unfortunately, most of the ones I caught were really small though. I caught one decent bass that weighed a little over two pounds. I apologize for the crappy pics, but all I had was my cell phone.
I got within ten feet of this bird (perched on top of the rock) before he flew away. He must have been really tired, or that spot must have been a really good feeding area that he didn’t want to give up.
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.
Well Rob, this post is for you since you demanded some pics by 8:00 . I’ll have you know that I was tired and wanted to sleep in but when someone demands pics, then pics there shall be. Unfortunately, these probably weren’t the type of pics you were expecting.
First of all, let’s get the sunrise pics out of the way:
I was going to go back and fish the same spot I fished earlier in the week, but as I was driving along, I saw this area and I thought it looked pretty bassy (I think you’d agree):
I started out with a wacky-rigged Senko and on my very first cast along the left side of the weeds you see in that last pic, a nice bass hammered it and took off (I must have hit the fish right on the head because I never even had a chance to start reeling before he took off with the worm)- but it was not to be, not today, anyway. The fish jumped and threw the hook halfway to shore and after that, no more bites in that area. I switched to a black/red buzzbait, tried a frog for a while, and then switched to regular Senkos for the time I had left and walked the shore. I caught a few bass, but none of them were any bigger than this little fellow here.
The water is pretty shallow along that entire stretch of shore and I bet the water temperature is at least 80, maybe even 85 degrees. Hmmm…if I go again tomorrow morning, I don’t know if I want to try Idong Lake again or head to the river to see if things have improved since a few weeks ago.
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
That seems to be the magic number lately; I went out three times this week and each time I caught four bass, and none of them have been anything to write home about. The bigger fish are out in the deeper (and cooler) water right now and I think it’ll be mid September or October before things from shore pick up again. Here are a couple of sunrise pics:
What you see below was pretty much it; all four fish this morning were about the same size and hit 4-inch, black Senkos.
Even though I’m only catching dinks these days, I still enjoy being out there early in the morning, doing what I love to do and of course, the thought is always in the back of my mind that I could get lucky and hook into a decent fish 
Recent Comments