Okappari South Korean Style

Shore Bass Fishing at the Gosam Reservoir & Yeongsan River

Shoreline bass fishing is fun and exciting. Popularly known as ‘okappari’ style in Japan, the sport is a lucrative segment and is still in vogue. With today’s rising cost of boat ownership and limited access to prime fishing areas, okappari shore fishing offers the only real angling alternative to many anglers, but be well prepared to face it up due to immense angling pressure.

This article is about my short stint of shore bass fishing at the banks of two interesting and yet contrasting fisheries, Gosam Reservoir and the Yeongsan River delta.

Charm of Gosam

Some say Gosam Lake unfolds like an oriental painting. I wholeheartedly agree on that. However Gosam Lake is one of the region’s most highly pressured fisheries, primarily because of its proximity to the Seoul Capital Area. On weekends, the lake literally gets ‘colonized’ by anglers from the city.

Located in Gyeonggi Province, the region is home to over 60 lakes. Completed in 1963, Gosam Lake is one of the region’s largest reservoirs, spanning over 2,776,859 square meters. It even has three small uninhabited islets with interesting names such as the eight-sided Palja Island, round Dongeuram Island and Biseok Island.

The lake is also famous as the backdrop for the Korean movie ‘The Island’ by critically acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk, making it a favourite destination for tourists and photographers.

Some call it ‘Hellsam’

Beautiful sceneries aside, Gosam Lake is also infamously known as ‘Hellsam Lake’ to the local angling community because it really is one hell of a challenging lake. In terms of angling pressure, Gosam Lake is perhaps Seoul’s version of Puchong’s Tasik Prima in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia.