Colburn's Sabine Connection

Gulls and shrimp everywhere!

We decided to run this morning just because I could not see wasting a day with light wind.  We fished under very overcast skies until around 9:30 and the gulls were working everywhere we went.  I think  early on we probably found larger specks under the gulls from Whiskey to the newest rig.

The lake was dead calm and we did much better on tails than topwaters.  Chartreuse pumpkin Assassins and Split tails were the ticket in the most awful looking water you have ever caught trout in.  You can only see a bait 4-6 inches deep, but the trout and gulls are chasing shrimp like it was crystal clear.  Throwing a brown tail in brown water makes very little sense, but they want that pumpkin color.

Once the wind picked up, we moved further south and the topwater bite improved markedly.  We caught fish on both a pearl-chartreuse She Dog and a pearl Skittterwalk.  We did catch a couple of solid trout right at daylight on a black-chartreuse She Dog.  I don't know that I have ever seen as many birds working on the south end of the lake.  They had several different flocks that would have easily covered an acre of water!

Most of the day it was difficult to not get bit at least once on every cast, but when that was going on, we caught a lot more 12-14 inch fish.  It seemed that the smaller and more isolated the flocks were, the bigger the fish were underneath them.  All over the lake the larger fish were running in that top 2-3 feet of water.

As a matter of fact, Gene fished a tail on a rediculously short leader under a Mauler for a while and got bit virtually every cast while I was getting far fewer bites with a conventional jig.  Once again, we were unable to locate any redfish, but after last Friday's trip, I believe most of them are still enjoying the high water in the marshes and smaller bayous.

It is very possible that they will start moving out if the weather man is right about Friday.  A couple of days of stiff north wind will make things tough short term, but it will be worth the misery for the remainder of the fall! 

Tough Friday, but bite still on

After Friday's fiasco, I gave it to them for the weekend and tried to put my boat back together.  We waded to the boat launch following the Thursday night flood only to get pounded by a 20-30 mile per hour wind all morning long.  We can truthfully say that "We fished both hell and high water!" 

Had it not been a small tournament with three other people counting on my boat, I would never have even launched.  It was difficult trying to stand in the boat and even the white caps were dirty, but the gulls still tried to work.  They just couldn't catch shrimp flying backwards.

The wind blew again today and the clarity hadn't improved much, but the trout were doing their thing.  Fish up to six pounds 3 ounces ate everything from chartreuse Top Dog, Jrs. to pumpkin-chartreuse Assassins.  Mike Morgan and his group kept 19 good trout and caught every fish on a topwater.  There were a lot of small fish under the birds, but all you had to do was keep moving to locate better fish.

The smaller fish were on the north end with the better fish coming out of the mid-lake area.  It was a tough wind, but a southeast wind can be tolerated on Sabine.  At this point, it looks as though we are going to have to deal with another howling northwest wind for the latter part of the week.  The reds and flounder are still hanging in the marshes and around the main drains on the east side of the lake. 

When all of this water gets blown out, if that ever happens, you don't want to miss it.  The fishing isn't bad right now in spite of the ugly conditions.  Once that water cools off a little and the marshes are sucking mud, it will be on big time!

Weather not a concern!

Here's the deal.  Once again, I should not have canceled based on the weather report for today.  The wind is gusting to about 20 miles per hour and it is raining, but we did well under the same conditions yesterday.  Do not accept my offer if I try to postpone a trip on you in the future!

What I don't understand about all of this is that we had the best weather conditions of the week Tuesday and struggled.  I had some folks from Lufkin that were good fishermen and fun to be with, but we had to go through nine jillion small fish to end up with a decent catch of trout and a couple of flounder.

There was a lot of boat traffic pounding a very limited amount of reasonably clear water and the birds would not hold for any length of time.  As the water on the east side of the lake started clearing a little around mid-morning, the bite improved.  We caught fish on several different colors, but the majority of our keeper fish ate pumpkin-chartreuse tails.

By the time we left, however, the wind was howling and most of the lake once again looked like day old chocolate milk.  Yesterday morning, I met the LeBeau brothers at River Rat Marina and the wind was already ripping out of the east.  It was not raining at that point, but we left the dock in rain gear anticipating a very wet ride.

For some unknown reason, the water had cleared up a great deal on the southeast shoreline over night, there were fewer boats on the water, and the trout were doing their thing.  It was not a matter of sharing flocks of gulls....it was trying to decide which group to fish!

There were still a few small fish mixed in, but even they were fish that you would have measured had a quick limit been a priority.  Larry and Duane just wanted to keep a few to take home so we didn't even stop to check fish that were under 16 inches.  We had enough good fish in the box by nine o'clock to allow us to do some experimenting and Duane gave them a shot at everything in the box.

Pumkinseed-chartreuse was still very good to us in both the Assassin Sea Shad and longer Tidal Surge Split Tail, but I think Larry may well have caught the majority of the big trout on a chartreuse laminated Trout Killer.  Duane also caught some very nice trout on  a pearl Skitterwalk.  I think the only lure he did not catch a solid keeper on was a Rat-L-Trap.

You could have stayed with most of the schools as long as you wanted, but we moved just because we could and we were also trying to find some redfish which we failed to do.  Anytime we worked birds a half mile or so off the shoreline, it was tougher only because the water was very muddy and the waves made it difficult to stay with the school.  The trout, however, didn't seem to mind the dirtier water at all.

We finished the afternoon, working a short stretch of shoreline with tails tipped with shrimp and kept two solid flounder.  We were blowing down the bank so fast it was difficult to get a very good sampling.  As the wind swung more to the south, the water continued to muddy up so we called it a day rather than run back south just to see if the gulls were still working.

Now that I am done with this, I am going to change hooks on a pile of top waters and get ready for tomorrow.  It should be fantastic with a 20-25 mile per hour wind forecast.

I have a question perhaps some of you can help me with.  I alternate a bunch of plastic lure boxes made by several different companies depending on what my program is for the day.  My problem is that they apparently are not very water tight and by the time I get back to them, I have tails that need drying out or rusty hooks that need changing much too frequently.

Have any of you found one of the clear flat boxes that stay drier than another?  Thanks for the help.

Flounder are on the move!

It only took only one exceptional report to induce an unplanned fishing trip.  In spite of the limited time and a howling wind we still caught thirteen flounder from 16 to 20 inches long.  We were done in two hours and left the flounder biting and birds working as well.

We caught all of our fish on either a silver phantom-chartreuse tail Sea Shad or the same bait in new penny.   I can't explain any of this, but I am going to take my chances with the weather until it takes its toll.  Bill Henry provided that report as he and two friends limited on trout and slot reds and kept ten flounder as well Saturday.

I am currently 0 for 3 in my own cancellations due to bad weather forecasts this fall.  All three of those days I fished anyway and had great trips.  I just need to fish more and forecast less.  I apologize for the brief report, but I've got to get on the phone and call some of my folks I backed up that are willing to take a chance.  That ought to kill the fishing for a while!

Redfish and flounder still doing their thing

I didn't fish today as I had a lot of boat cleaning to take care of and it was still raining.  I had bags of wet Salt Water Assassins and Sea Shad scattered from one end to the other, not to mention wet rain coats and empty water bottles.  I did check the lower river at three different launches this afternoon and the water had dropped out a little, but was very off-colored.

I don't know how it can possibly drop out, as much water as they have all over the woods just above us.  In spite of all of that, I talked with folks that caught lots of redfish yesterday and today around the DuPont Outfall.  The best news, however, was the flounder action.  The folks from Parks and Wildlife held their annual Flounder Roundup today and Mike Rector called to say that they were both surprised and pleased with the results.

Mike participated and brought in three nice flounder that he caught up in the Heights.  He added that this was perhaps the most successful roundup in their brief history as they had collected 47 fish for the program.  He also said there were still some trout back in the marsh.

Dan and Patti Croak didn't fish the Roundup, but they had four reds and sixteen flounder and were back at the launch before noon.  They caught their fish on the La. shoreline on limetreuse Sea Shad tipped with Fish Bits.  I've never used Fish Bits, but that may all change Monday morning.  Dan said he had been doing well with them fishing Oyster Bayou and decided to give them a try on Sabine.

Its day-to-day, but bite still on

At 5:30 this morning I was pleased that we had elected to postpone our trip for the day.  It was pouring down raining and the lightning was non-stop.  Two hours later it was calm and sunny and I was wishing that I hadn't canceled.  Gene Locke called and an hour later we were running south in the lake to see how much worse the water had gotten over night.

By the time we could safely slow to a stop, which was somewhere around nine, the lake was covered with clouds and the NW wind that was supposed to kick up later in the afternoon was already roaring.  We put on our rain gear before heading back north and I was once again pleased that I had canceled.  Weather men and women can usually at least get the right day when forecasting rain, but they don't have a clue when it comes to wind!

We were almost home free when we stopped to check out one small flock of gulls between Middle and East Pass.  It proved to be a good decision.  Small specks were mixed with redfish ranging from throw backs to 24 inches and they were hounding small brown shrimp.  The water was falling out so fast that the troll motor was useless, but the fish kept the shrimp pinned down in one small stretch of the Pass.

It was a virtual stalemate as the wind tried to blow us out across the marsh and the tide was hell bent on depositing us at the jetties.   You could not see a lure six inches below the surface, yet we were catching fish on a shrimp colored tail that was as brown as the water.  So much for lighter colors or anything that might be a little easier to see.

We eventually ran back into the river and found even faster moving and muddier water.  We checked several areas that had been good prior to the flooding without catching the first fish.  Once we switched over to a pearl-chartreuse Sea Shad, however, things quickly changed. We left the fish biting around two o'clock, but we went through a world of redfish, trout up to three pounds, and one very nice flounder. 

The good news is that the water may get higher and fresher, but it can not get any muddier than it was today and we still caught fish.  Even the water on the north end of the lake, which was extremely dirty, was still very salty.  I think the fish in the river are going to get tougher to locate, but the bite in the lake may well survive all of this.  The wind will have to get more user-friendly than it was today in order for us to find out.

Fog and high water couldn't slow the bite

Today was just about as unpredictable as it gets.  I worked a half day with a big group of folks and seven other guides that wouldn't have given you a torn up Assassin for our chances in the steadily rising water.  By the time the boats were in the water at daylight, the water was so high the clients had to roll up their pants and wade across the dock to climb aboard.

The water in the bayou and river had that chocolate pudding look and was out running the tide as it raced toward the lake.  The lake and the intracoastal was socked in with fog and it was hard to look for gulls and watch out for floating debris at the same time.  Once we got to the mid-lake area, however, the water was still in great shape and there were gulls everywhere.

We found a mixture of redfish, specks, sand trout, and spanish mackerel chasing shrimp.  Once the birds left, you could stay in one spot and wait for the shrimp to come to the surface in an attempt to save their grits.  We caught fish on glow-chartreuse Assassins, pumpkin-chartreuse Split Tails, She Dogs, and a Shrimp Cocktail rigged on a 1/8th ounce jig head.  At least two of the other guides did well on the small Skitterwalk and a bone diamond Sand Eel. 

Everyone around us caught fish until it was time to go in for gumbo at 11:30.  We went through two different schools of reds that spooled three reels filled with 8 pound test or maybe I should say they went through us.  We knew before making the first cast that we were going to lose whatever was tied on, but it didn't stop anyone from trying!

We never caught any solid trout mixed in with the smaller schoolies.  Any time we found keeper trout they were running together.  Outside of the easy bite in spite of all of the runoff, the most unexpected surprise was steadily being cut off by Spanish Mackerel.  We released one and gave up at least six or seven jigs to others.  I think Steve Davis' crew won the big speck pot with a 23 inch fish.

I don't know that anyone bothered to total up all of the fish at the dock, but we cleaned a pile of fish.  It was also the first time that I have had an opportunity to sit and talk with some young guides that I seldom get to talk with, must less fish around.  Judging by what I saw, the profession is in good hands for years to come. 

We hardly got rained on all morning, but by the time I made downtown Orange, it was pouring and it is still pouring at 8 p.m.  I could barely find my driveway as the ditches and street all looked the same.  It is going to take some serious north wind to get rid of all of this water.  I have rescheduled the next three days hoping that things begin to line out by the first part of next week.  Having a great bite waiting on us in the lake and not being able to get there is the pits!

Hopefully our fish will adapt well to fresh water for a while until it quits raining.

The game has changed!

We had to make a decision yesterday while standing in a foot of water with the wind blowing 45 miles per hour so we canceled today's trip.  Not surprisingly, the only two guides that elected to go did well on flounder, specks and reds in the lake.  The biggest obstacle was figuring out exactly where the launch was and dodging barrels, timbers, and ice chests in Adam's bayou.

I stayed around long enough to help folks clean up a little and the water in the bayou had already dropped out 8-10 inches by noon.  I have absolutely no predictions as to how all of this will play out.  More rain will only compound the problem, but they are also forecasting a strong north wind for Thursday.  If that happens, we could get rid of a lot of unwanted water in a hurry.

I think water clarity is going to be a bigger problem than anything else.  The river and the lake were so salty prior to the flood that we shouldn't have much of a turn around.  I am not even sure the river program is dead, but it darn sure took a hit.  I know of at least ten guides that will be on the water Wednesday, so we should have a little clearer picture tomorrow night.  Even with all of the runoff, I would not be surprised if the lake continues to produce good catches.

Big trout on the move

Wednesday was the first time in a 36 year guiding career that I had to stop catching big trout long enough to call and have a client cancel an upcoming trip.  He decided to go with the forecast and if it was correct, Friday would be a possible water haul due to the approaching front.  I knew we would be wrong either way we went, but its hard to cancel when you are limiting on big trout.  Following the call, Mark Morris, his dad, and I continued catching fish until he just had to quit to catch a plane!

The front was supposed to come roaring through tonight, but thus far it hasn't materialized.    I've missed one day in three weeks and have a ton of stuff to do, but I may go by myself tomorrow just because the big fish have been on the move.  These trout are worth being irresponsible!

We have had a fantastic three weeks, but the last two days topped it all.  We had been limiting in the mornings, coming in for lunch, and fishing for fun after that for another couple of hours.  The afternoon hours had been producing even larger fish.  Yesterday we decided to keep a decent catch in the morning, but not a limit in hopes of filling it with a few larger fish after lunch.  It worked!

The average trout in the after-lunch period was easily three pounds and I will just say that the biggest of the bunch was very large!  Today we decided to try the same thing knowing full well that the plan could blow up in our face if the front came roaring in.  It did in fact blow, but the plan was a good one.  Once again the fish moved much deeper and the big trout stole the show.

I fought the wind long enough for us to sit in 21 feet of water and catch our fish somewhere between 12 and 16 feet deep. I boated the first big trout, just a tad over 6 pounds. and Don Barnes immediately put a 7.2lb. and 6.3 lb. fish in the boat while I tried to hold with the troll motor.  Paul Wanchick missed another big fish before Don jumped off a trout easily larger than his other two fish.  We boated three more trout in the 3-4 pound class before yielding to the wind.

All of these big trout have been moving up onto a very small ridge the past two afternoons.  We have been fishing 8 pound test exclusively with a fifteen pound shock leader and it has made a difference.  I got lazy the day before and picked up a rod loaded with 12 pound test.  Before I could put it down, Mark and his dad had already gone through a half dozen fish.  A seven pound plus trout in 20 feet of water in a strong tide is a load on 8 pound test, but we haven't broken off the first fish.

I really believe the key to our big fish pattern has been the shrimp burgers at The River Rat Marina each day.  If they would cook us one at 5:30 in the morning, we could catch our big fish early and be done by noon!  The fish in the morning have been in shallower water (10-12 ft.) but much deeper in the afternoons.  We also caught more flounder than we have been catching and missed two nice reds.  The wind was blowing so hard today that we drifted over the deep breaks much too fast and missed a lot of fish.  By the time we would land a trout, we were fifty yards down the bank.

The only place I really fought it with the troll motor was the one spot where we have been catching at least one big trout every day.  There was little doubt that the fish were responding to the incoming front.  When they turned on, at least one person in the boat had a fish on darn near every cast for about an hour.

If this front doesn't prove to be as strong as predicted, this bite may well hang on for another week or so.  If it does roar through, I think those fish will move, but the bite in the lake should get much more consistent so that won't be a bad trade off.  It could drive some bait out of the marsh, but I don't think there will be enough temperature change to slow things down.

I still have that pretty lady's jacket that I found floating in Adam's Bayou .  Someone lost it around noon last Saturday.  If it is your's give me a call.  You don't even have to tell me what color it is or what size it is if you'll come get it.  Its a nice jacket. It looks red to me and it looked pretty big all wet. Next week, it's going to Goodwill. 

How long can it last?

I made a most enjoyable trip today with Brad DesLatte and his dad.  Yesterday, we kept it all in the family as well as I fished with brothers, Mike and Pat Murphy.  Tomorrow I will fish with yet another Father-son duo if the weather will hold.

The south wind started pumping a little harder today, but it had no negative effect on the fishing.  The fish continued to bite well both days and should do so until the wind switches around.  Even that switch will not be much of a factor if it isn't blowing 25 miles per hour.  We don't even have a Plan C for that kind of wind.

We caught a pile of fish yesterday with both Pat and Mike landing a bragging fish.  Mike caught the first of our limit of redfish and it was covered with spots.  Not to be outdone, Pat let us put a few more trout and redfish on ice before sticking and landing a 37 inch 19 pound red that hit a 1/16th ounce jig.  He was fishing 8 pound test and got spooled twice before winning the battle.

We caught fish at every depth, but our best fish, including the reds, were in 12-18 feet of water.  We did not see the massive schools of shad working the shoreline in the choppy conditions today, but the fish were still there.  We never sat and pounded any one spot and found fish almost everywhere we went.  Most of the trout were in the 16-19 inch range.  The water is still incredibly clear in the Intracoastal and the river....that may, however, change a little tonight!

Chuck called me on the water early and said they had lots of gulls working the south end.  For the most part, it proved to be over sized reds and undersized trout.  He ran back north and was fishing live bait the last time I talked with him.  We will have to see how this all plays out with the rain and the front, but it has been the bite that just will not end.  I leave the dock every morning thinking this will be the day the fish change their program, but that hasn't happened yet.

The water was stacked up today in both the marshes and the river and the outgoing tide was unable to usher much out with the strong south wind.  If we truly do get the 25-30 mile per hour north winds they are predicting, we will immediately have less water around here.  Once it settles down, look for it to get "fall crazy" in the lake!