The Korean Bassmaster Classic (held by KSA “Korean Sportsfishing Association”) is held in November every year, as the last event of the season as apposed to the US classic which is the first event of the season. It is a 2 day event with around 50 or 60 Korean (and a couple of US folks) Pros competing for the title of Bassmaster Classic winner of the year.
First off, here are a few rules and regulations for the Korean Pro tournaments.
1. There is a 5 fish limit.
2. All fish brought to the scales must be over 30cm (12 inches), and there are no slot limits.
3. All fish are weighed in grams.
4. 300grams / 0.66lb issued for penalties.
5. The Bassmaster Classic is an open tournament for all KSA Pro’s, no qualification needed.
The Classic has been held on Andong Lake every previous year and this year was no exception. This lake is just over 1,000 acres in volume and is mostly very deep in all areas, with a maximum depth of 525 foot, but most areas average 60~80 foot deep, but there a lot of coves on this lake with shallower water, and this is where a lot of bass spawn during the spawning season, which makes for some good fishing in the spring.
The Korean Pro anglers fish out of a mixture of boats. A few of them use Aluminum boats with motors in the 30hp ~ 40hp size range, but the majority of them operate US brand glass boats like Nitro, Gambler, Ranger, Skeeters and others with motors 115hp and up to 250hp, but most are in the 150hp range.
In this year’s Classic there were 57 boats completing, with 55 of them being Korean Pro’s from all over the Korean Peninsular and 2 Pro’s being Americans living in Korea and working for the Military.
Day one:
The boats left the launch area after first light, around 7:30am in cold air temperatures as low as 32*F for the long haul out of the restricted no-fishing zone, which is several miles either side of the launch area. (This restricted zone is also the area used by the Challenger Pro League – smaller electrically powered boats only). Surprisingly, the water temperatures were still as high as 55*F during day one, which did help those who were able to find bass. This was probably due to the bluebird skies and strong winter sunshine penetrating the clear water of Andong Lake. However, the highest temperature of day one was only 47*F and this made fishing very tough.
On day 1, only 25 of those 57 Pro’s brought fish to the scales, and of those 25 Pro’s, only 2 of them brought in a limit of 5 bass with a total of 49 bass weighed in. Weigh-in for day one was between 14:30pm and 15:00pm.
Day one top 10 results
Position Name Limit weight
1 Lee JaeChil 5 7105g / 15.6lb
2 Choi SilGun 4 (600g penalty) 7050g / 15.5lb
3 Kang SiWon 5 6155g / 13.6lb
4 Lee SangWoo 4 5465g / 12.1lb
5 Hong KiSung 4 4575g / 10.1lb
6 Park JinHun 2 4345g / 9.6lb
7 Pete Hart (USA) 2 3920g / 8.6lb
8 Kim JungHee 2 3835g / 8.5lb
9 Seo HongKi 3 3300g / 7.3lb
10 Jang HyunJu 2 2360g / 5.2lb
Day two
On day 2 the weather got a little colder than day one, making things even tougher on this already tough lake. The start of the tournament was delayed by the water police until close to 8:00am due to a heavy fog on the water. This was welcomed by most of the competitors as the sun was beginning to shine at the revised blast-off time. Before the sun hit the water, the air temperatures were as low as 25*F and a thick white layer of frost was visible on the Pro’s boats. Because of these colder temperatures, the water temperatures had also dropped over overnight to make things even harder, and this resulted in only 11 boats bringing fish to the scales and only one limit of 5 bass, with only 18 bass actually weighed in on day two.
Day two top 10 results
Position Name Limit Weight
1 Kim SunPil 5 7410g / 16.3lb
2 Kwon KiHyun 2 3180g / 7lb
3 Lee JaeChil 2 2015g / 4.4lb
4 Seo HongKi 1 1995g / 4.3lb
5 Lee SangWoo 1 1725g / 3.8lb
6 Park MooSuk 2 1480g / 3.3lb
7 Kang SiWon 1 1375g / 3lb
8 Kim JungHee 1 895g / 2lb
9 Pete Hart (USA) 1 555g / 1.2lb
10 Park JinHun 1 520g / 1.1lb
During the 2 day tournament, only 26 Pro Bass anglers weighed in any fish. Almost all of the other 31 Pro anglers caught some bass during the 2 days, but their catches fell under the 30cm/12 inch limit size.
This event is considered by most as the biggest Bass Tournament on the Korean Bass Fishing calendar, however the winners of the Classic only receive checks of a very low pay out, as shown below, but as bass fishing in Korea becomes more popular, this event and prize limit is likely to increase…..fingers crossed!!
1st = $3,000 US
2nd = $1,500 US
3rd = $700 US
4th = $500 US
5th = $300 US
Final result after the 2 days
Position Name Day 1 Day 2 Total over 2 days
1 Kim SunPil 2265 7410 9675g / 21.3lb
2 Lee JaeHil 7105 2015 9120g / 20.1lb
3 Kang SiWon 6155 1375 7530g / 16.6lb
4 Lee SangWoo 5465 1725 7190g / 15.8lb
5 Choi SilGun 7050 7050g / 15.5lb
6 Seo HongKi 3300 1995 5295g / 11.6lb
7 Park JinHun 4345 520 4865g / 10.7lb
8 Kim JungHee 3835 895 4730g / 10.4lb
9 Hong KiSung 4575 4575g / 10.1lb
10 Pete Hart (USA) 3920 555 4475g / 9.9lb
11 Kwon KiHyun 3180 3180g / 7lb
12 Park MooSuk 1445 1480 2925g / 6.4lb
13 Jang HyunJu 2360 2360g / 5.2lb
14 Lee Sang Mok 2080 2080g / 4.6lb
15 Hwang UnHwan 2025 2025g / 4.5lb
16 Son TaeYul 1850 1850g / 4.1lb
17 Lee SangIl 1665 1665g / 3.6lb
18 Kim YungMin 1615 1615g / 3.5lb
19 Park GyungTae 1590 1590g / 3.5lb
20 Jo SungWoo 915 470 1385g / 3lb
21 Kim BongLae 1210 1210g / 2.7lb
22 Kim BongSu 1165 1165g / 2.6lb
23 Yang HyukMo 1070 1070g / 2.4lb
24 Go ChanUng 1020 1020g / 2.3lb
25 Kwon YungTae 910 910g / 2lb
26 Choi HyunMok 565 565g / 1.2lb
