Korea report ~ Hapchun lake winter league Jan 8th.

Bassinkorea · January 09, 2012, 12:25:11 AM

I fished in a winter league tournament yesterday January 8th. I arrived at the lake on Saturday afternoon, launched the boat and had a couple of hours to search the lake for some good spots. The water temps were surprisingly in the mid to high 40's and air temps much lower than that. Recent reports showed that the bass were schooling under big bait balls in the 30~40 foot depths. During my Saturday searches I found plenty of bait balls on my HDS-8.

Saturday night, I slept in a cabin beside the launch area. The heating in the cabin wasn't working correctly and the outside temps were as low as 15f.

Sunday morning at 6:30am everyone was preparing their boats for the tourney and it was still dang cold. My grey carpet was white from the frost!!!!!
I went to start my engine to get it warmed up and the starter battery was not up to the task, so I had to jump it off a spare battery I got from a friend. After letting the motor warm up for a few minutes I noticed that there was no water peeing. It took about 10 minutes of ticking over before it started to pee. It turned out that my cooling system had frozen solid. Next, I attempted to turn my steering wheel, but thecable steering had also frozen solid. So I collected the water from the motor all poured it over the outer cables for several minutes and eventually I had steering again. Then, just before the tourney start time I realised my hot foot cable was also frozen.

Good start to the day right??

We finally got under way and reached our first spot. We found plenty of bait fish but no bass. We fished hard all day and only managed one bass (caught by my co-angler). It turns out that a lot of the other 43 boats had similar results.

We caught our bass early in the tourney, and my new aerator timer switch and pump were working great, but at some point it just lost power....so I had to pump out and pump in for the rest of the tourney and the fish was in great shape at weigh in time.

I am not planning on fishing any more of these winter tourneys again!

bassn1 · January 09, 2012, 05:53:28 AM

Quote from: Bassinkorea on January 09, 2012, 12:25:11 AM
I fished in a winter league tournament yesterday January 8th. I arrived at the lake on Saturday afternoon, launched the boat and had a couple of hours to search the lake for some good spots. The water temps were surprisingly in the mid to high 40's and air temps much lower than that. Recent reports showed that the bass were schooling under big bait balls in the 30~40 foot depths. During my Saturday searches I found plenty of bait balls on my HDS-8.

Saturday night, I slept in a cabin beside the launch area. The heating in the cabin wasn't working correctly and the outside temps were as low as 15f.

Sunday morning at 6:30am everyone was preparing their boats for the tourney and it was still dang cold. My grey carpet was white from the frost!!!!!
I went to start my engine to get it warmed up and the starter battery was not up to the task, so I had to jump it off a spare battery I got from a friend. After letting the motor warm up for a few minutes I noticed that there was no water peeing. It took about 10 minutes of ticking over before it started to pee. It turned out that my cooling system had frozen solid. Next, I attempted to turn my steering wheel, but thecable steering had also frozen solid. So I collected the water from the motor all poured it over the outer cables for several minutes and eventually I had steering again. Then, just before the tourney start time I realised my hot foot cable was also frozen.

Good start to the day right??

We finally got under way and reached our first spot. We found plenty of bait fish but no bass. We fished hard all day and only managed one bass (caught by my co-angler). It turns out that a lot of the other 43 boats had similar results.

We caught our bass early in the tourney, and my new aerator timer switch and pump were working great, but at some point it just lost power....so I had to pump out and pump in for the rest of the tourney and the fish was in great shape at weigh in time.

I am not planning on fishing any more of these winter tourneys again!

What

You conquered every challenge. Adapted and overcame. And now you know what to prepare for in the future. Quit now? You should be proud of the gains you have made. Quit now? $:-\$

Donald Garner · January 09, 2012, 05:07:08 PM

Steve sounds as if your fun meter got pegged out..........

Glad to hear that you were able to get things worked out and able to fish.

yak-aholic · January 09, 2012, 06:10:21 PM

Sounds like you need to try fishing out of a kayak.

I have never had any of that stuff go wrong in mine. Only problem is keeping fish alive. Once I get that part figured out, I'm gunning for the power boats!!!

I think I would have given up after the motor wasn't peeing. Or at least used that for an excuse not to run in 15*-20* weather.

Bassinkorea · January 10, 2012, 06:34:36 AM

Quote from: bassn1 on January 09, 2012, 05:53:28 AM
What You conquered every challenge. Adapted and overcame. And now you know what to prepare for in the future. Quit now? You should be proud of the gains you have made. Quit now? $:-\$

Yeah, you are right, I've thawed out now and ready for the next tourney

Bassinkorea · January 10, 2012, 06:38:14 AM

Quote from: Donald Garner on January 09, 2012, 05:07:08 PM
Steve sounds as if your fun meter got pegged out..........

Glad to hear that you were able to get things worked out and able to fish.

It was'nt fun at 6:30am, but once the boat thawed out and the sun came up, we had a great time.
The results are in and we ended up being 17th out of 44 boats, so it wasn't all bad.....and there was only 3 limits caught!

Bassinkorea · January 10, 2012, 06:40:41 AM

Quote from: yak-aholic on January 09, 2012, 06:10:21 PM
Sounds like you need to try fishing out of a kayak. I have never had any of that stuff go wrong in mine. Only problem is keeping fish alive. Once I get that part figured out, I'm gunning for the power boats!!!

I think I would have given up after the motor wasn't peeing. Or at least used that for an excuse not to run in 15*-20* weather.

Until recently I was fishing out of a tiller steer small boat motor/boat and never had these problems, but I put all this down to experience and a learning curve.

unchained186 · January 11, 2012, 06:29:09 PM

Man that morning sounded brutal

What did you figure out was wrong with your trolling motor you had posted a while back

jeremyt · January 11, 2012, 07:40:23 PM

Bassinkorea,

I really enjoy reading your posts, but I do have a question. What is the weight of a trophy bass in Korea?

Bassinkorea · January 12, 2012, 08:34:53 AM

Quote from: unchained186 on January 11, 2012, 06:29:09 PM
Man that morning sounded brutal

What did you figure out was wrong with your trolling motor you had posted a while back

I sprayed all the trolling motor pedal electrics, buttons and switches with WD40 and so far since then it has been behaving correctly

Bassinkorea · January 12, 2012, 08:44:52 AM

Quote from: jeremyt on January 11, 2012, 07:40:23 PM
Bassinkorea,

I really enjoy reading your posts, but I do have a question. What is the weight of a trophy bass in Korea?

I guess everyone has a different opinion on what a trophy sized bass is, but here what feel on Korean bass....

A good sized keeper is 3lb and over.
A bass 5lb or over is a great bass and probably a tourney winning kicker when weighed with a full stringer.
The Korean record bass is just shy of 10lbs, but I'm sure there's a few 10lb plus trophy bass out there just waiting for me and my spinnerbaits