Colburn's Sabine Connection

2005 ending on high note!

We are to the point of holding our breath each time we leave the launch in fear of a bite ending that has now lasted over two weeks.  It has been so consistent that we have been waiting it out every day rather than checking new water. (We will eventually pay for that mistake.) We had another good day yesterday on trout up to five pounds, but the trout moved a short distance and showed up on a different time schedule.

The water was slightly warmer, 56 degrees, but we were still fishing a very low outgoing tide.  When this all started, we were catching everything on Corky Devils, Catch V's, and Catch 2000's.  The last few days it has been Catch 2000's and Crazy Croakers.  Every time the bite has slowed down we switch to the C.C. and catch fish that won't hit anything else we are throwing.  I think it is due to the smaller size as we are continuing to fish the same colors.

While no one is complaining, we haven't caught the first redfish mixed in with these trout.  One day the trout are in two feet of water and the next day a foot or so deeper. We normally catch a lot of redfish at those depths in water this warm.  I know they are catching a lot of reds in the Entergy Outfall Canal so they may be hanging in much deeper water already.

There is still a brief bite under the birds, but you need to be on the water at daylight to take advantage of it.  Happy New Year and we'll see ya on the water in 2006!

Fine weather and fat trout!

We fished most of the day on an extremely low tide, but the weather was fantastic and the trout were cooperative.  We never stuck the first big fish, but we kept a good mess of trout in the 18 to 23 inch class.  Its been a long time since I have seen our trout as fat and healthy as they are right now.  You definitely get the maximum weight out of every inch of fish!

We found our trout in 2 to 3 1/2 feet of water fishing Crazy Croakers and Catch 2000's at a snail's pace.  The water visibility was probably 12 to 15 inches with the surface temperature ranging between 51 and 54 degrees. We are still able to catch fish drifting and there is a little gull activity as well.

There was a 29 inch trout caught about noon today, but I still haven't heard the final weight.  Based strictly on the fish that we have been catching I will be very surprised if that fish doesn't push the 10 pound mark!

Clam shell, mud, and trout...

While the right trout and staying reasonably dry can constitue a good day on the water this time of the year, we did a little better this morning. We picked up seven trout and two redfish on a four hour wade with the largest trout just under the six pound mark.

Donnie Bealle caught four of the trout before sharing the fact that he was swimming a red shad Assassin over the clam shell.  Donnie quickly abandoned the Corky in favor of the tail, rigging it on a 1/16th ounce head.  The tide was very low and the water was only up to fifty-three degrees when we left.

His partner, Ron Cox, caught the largest fish of the morning on a pink Catch 2000.  We had a few fish blow up on topwaters, but they just wouldn't stay with it.  We fished the north end of the lake and never caught a fish in water over three feet deep.  Mud and scattered clam shell were the right combination as two other areas without any shell failed to produce even one strike. 

I hope to make one more trip prior to Christmas, but it will depend on the weather.  With the exception of a little too much wind, the conditions have been about as good as you can hope for in December.  If I don't file another report I hope you and your family share a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

First big trout in a while....

We only caught seven fish this morning following yesterday's downpour, but  with the exception of one rat red they were all good fish.  We waded one flat on the north end and caught five trout between 23 and 27 inches.  We also had one more red that was well over the top end of the slot.

The largest trout we caught hit a pumpkin-chartreuse Crazy Croaker.  Dale Evers had a trout all but in his hands that was as big as any that I have had a part in over the past couple of years.  That fish hit a pink Catch 2000 before it ever had a chance to sink!

A good friend of mine that spends much of his time targeting big trout recently told me that he expects a 12 to 13 pound trout to come off Sabine Lake this year.  I don't think Dale's fish was that big, but it would have pushed the 10 pound mark.  We fished about four hours, but caught all of the fish in a thirty minute span.

During that brief, but voracious feeding spree, I felt like one of us was going to catch a double digit fish.  The small group of big sow trout were beating up on 6-8 inch mullet in less than two feet of water and they had things churned up by the time they were through.  Before it ended, we all lost at least one more large trout that we saw and one other redfish.

The water was still 55 degrees and a little off-colored due to the wind and extremely low tide.  This full moon kind of limits the feed, but it's still worth the effort.  Look for the late evening bite to get really good if it doesn't get too cold!

Gulls activity slowed on extremely low tide

Once again we had a light east wind and a flat lake, but the water was gone.  The tide continued to trickle out all day long eliminating several excellent wading flats.  The gull activity was almost non-existent, but that was to be expected as the last of the small brown shrimp finally disappear.

The trout we did scratch out on glow-chartreuse Assassins were solid fish, but they were scattered.  The small redfish were running the mud flats bordering the bayous, but most of them are in the 15 to 19 inch class.  The water is 55 to 58 degrees so we still have plenty of redfish catching to do in those areas.

We checked one drain off the river and picked up an eight pound striper just prior to several boats running through the area.  They are a little late, but the stripers we have caught lately are in excellent shape and they are starting to show up at all the old haunts.

This next front will probably lock us down into a wading mode for the next couple of months and judging by what I have seen thus far it will be exciting.  I have already seen more trout in the 27'' and over class cruising the flats than I saw all of last year.  The mullet are stacked up on the flats at the mouth of the Neches and the trout know where they are!

When running that area slow down as there are at least two new pieces of debris lodged on the south end of the flat.  One is a piece of pipe that you can see on an extremely low tide and the other is a section of roof and metal.  There is also something new just under the surface less than 400 yards south of the gas well in the mouth of East pass.  I can't tell what it is, but I have already hit it twice.  Fortunately not squarely enough to do any damage. 

Fish waited on afternoon tide change!

We experienced yet another great weather day today, but had to wait until midday to really get after the fish.  There was little or no tide all morning long and in spite of the total absence of any wind, the trout just would not do their thing.

The birds worked very early and sat the remainder of the morning.  By noon, Bob Hood, Bill Henry and I had boated only ten or eleven keeper trout on glow chartreuse and pumpkinseed Assassins.  A lot of casts went into catching each keeper and there weren't a lot of throwbacks.  We did catch one really solid trout on a black-chartreuse Corky while drifting a good wading flat in two feet of water.

A light south wind picked up about 1 o'clock and the incoming tide picked up speed.  That combination lit a fire under both the redfish and the trout north of Middle Pass.  We easily limited out on trout and kept a pair of redfish throwing glow-chartreuse Assassins and Tidal Surge Split tails.  There was plenty of bird action, but we paralleled a five foot break and continued to catch fish well after the birds left.

I have no idea how many trout we caught and released, but they were still going strong when we left the lake.  I keep thinking the schooling action is all. but over, but as long as the little brown shrimp are around, the fish will chase them.  Every fish we cleaned was full of small shrimp.  It has been difficult getting back in the water to wait out a big fish with the birds wheeling over keeper trout less than a hundered yards away..  This next front may well change all of that.

I have continued to check out a couple of shallow flats each day and have caught at least one big trout on each occasion.  Thus far I haven't had any serious big trout customers, but the fish are ready when they are.  Suspending type lures like the Corky and Catch 2000 have worked much better for me than any topwaters this entire week.

Fishing incredible under perfect conditions!

A guide would have been little more than an extra expense on Sabine today.  The entire north end of the lake was covered up with gulls working over huge schools of 2 to 4 pound trout and slot sized redfish.  There weren't that many boats on the water and every fisherman was convinced that he had discovered the magic lure.

The lake was dead calm under overcast skies all day long.  We caught fish on Assassins in four different colors, Corkies, Catch 2000's, and Hoginars.  Before ten o'clock we caught very few trout that weren't keeper size fish.  As the day wore on and the gulls scattered out we caught more sand trout and a few small specks, but the bite was still incredible.

We were leaving the lake when a friend called to say that he had just picked up two big trout wading a flat.  We ran back just to watch him a few minutes and caught our largest trout of the day working a Corky in two feet of water.  The wade bite has been extremely strong over tthe past couple of weeks and today may well have been "The day", but we had to make a choice early.

Judging by the size of the shrimp, I do not think this incredible bird action will last much longer, but we are setting up for some super wading over the next two months.  Every day is a gamble  with the wind, but this place is as good as it gets right now!

More wind...more trout

Both the bite under the birds and the big fish bite is still going strong in spite of all of the wind.  One day its out of the south and the next day the north and it is going to be blowing hard regardless of direction.

The north end has been much kinder for big trout the past few days than the La. shoreline.  At least three trout in the 28 inch class fell victim to black-chartreuse Catch 2000's and a glow-chartreuse Corky Devil this afternoon.  The most productive bite was between 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  The folks chasing the birds limited easily during the morning hours on both reds and specks.  They were throwing tails in glow-chartreuse, and Electric Chicken.   Most of their larger fish, however, came on bone diamond Assassins.  The redfish were also eating up Hoginars and Traps.

It looks like we are in for some sure enough cold weather, but so far it has only helped with the big fish bite.  It is nice just to get away from the dinks and sand trout for a change!

Wind, rain, and larger trout!

Once again we lost our cable and computer for a couple of days so while this report is encouraging, it is also slightly stale.  We really picked our spots Sunday afternoon fighting some serious wind, rain, and lightning, but it was all worth the effort.  We ran back to the launch three times in a four hour span, but we finally found a few big trout doing their thing in 2-4 feet of water.  I really didn't mind the return trips as I had forgotten how badly you need to pee as soon as you put the waders on!

They initially were eating topwaters, but by the time we finished they would only hit a Catch 2000 or Corky in four feet of water.  That four foot mark was the starting point for a small stretch of shell and the trout were camped out there.  The largest trout was just a tad over six pounds, but we caught a good number of fish in the three to four pound class.

That was just prior to the cold weather so I am hoping it was only the beginning of a great bite on big fish.  Since then, the wind has blown in on the flat that we were fishing so badly that we haven't been able to get back on it and stay.  Amazingly enough, in all that bad weather, flocks of gulls were working all over the north end of the lake.

I don't think the gull action will last much longer as we are down to the last of the small brown shrimp, but its a great time to hustle a big fish for folks with lots of patience and dry waders.

Back on line.....Maybe!

We don't have a roof and concrete is currently the decor throughout the house, but we got cable television and internet back this morning!  It has been coming and going today, but hopefully we are back in business.

  Fortunately, the fishing is much better than the hassle of dealing with contractors and insurance adjustors.  We have taken advantage of the reduced number of fishermen on the lake due to everything from hunting season to football playoffs and the fishing has been good.  The wind has been the only problem as the fish are doing their thing when you can get to them.

There is still little or no lodging available from Beaumont to Lake Charles, making a day on the water a tough outing for folks with too much of a drive.  I'm working on finding something for our Tyler-Dallas clients.  I never thought we would have this problem, but we even have Marinas that are no longer functional.

Sabine Lake remains in very good shape and last week's rains improved the conditions in the river as well.  We are finally starting to catch both redfish and stripers and that bite has been long overdue.  Up until this week, the only consistent redfish bite had been Carolina rigging finger mullet and crab on the south end of the lake.  A large percentage of those fish were oversized, but fun to catch.

We are just now starting to catch slot reds on the north end of the lake on Hoginars and Traps.  The bird action is very strong, but the specks under them haven't been.  Incredible numbers of small specks and some very healthy sand trout will eat any soft plastic you throw in front of them, but a three pound trout is a bragging size fish when working birds.

The wind has really hampered our wade fishing, but there is little doubt that the larger trout are already up on the shallow flats early and late.  The few times we have been able to get in the water we have caught at least a few trout in the four to six pound range.  The water temperature is in the low to mid-sixties and we have some more cold on the way.  Traditionally, this combination has made December one of our better months for big trout and I look for this bite to explode any day!

The redfish and stripers in the river are eating live shad, but the more consistent bite has come on the Hoginar or a tube jig.  The largest striper thus far has been only a 12 pounder, but there are better fish on the way.  A large percentage of the reds are slot limit fish.

You have to be a little lucky to catch the weather on your side this time of the year, but when you do it is a phenomenal time to fish Sabine.  It is good to be back online and we will once again try to keep you up on the fishing with a current report.  We look forward to fishing with you and appreciate your responses!