Colburn's Sabine Connection

Big trout ignoring muddy water

It was cold and overcast Monday, but at least it wasn't raining.  I felt reasonably sure the weekend downpour had killed the bite, but I had to find out.  I was wrong again.  My brother and I left The River Rat Marina around noon and I had a big trout eat a crankbait on the second cast.

Little brother thinks there's nothing to it.

He only fishes about twice a year, so I was pleased that the fish decided to cooperate.  The water was even more off-colored up and down the La. shoreline and had cooled down to 52 degrees.  It didn't seem to make much difference.  We kept fifteen trout and one slot red.  We didn't catch as many sure'nuff big trout as we did last Friday, but he kept one that pushed six pounds and the others were 23-24 inch fish.

We caught our reds and a few trout on Assassins rigged on 1/8th ounce heads.  All but one of the largest fish, however, hit suspending crankbaits.  The Mirrodine and Crazy Croaker were a little better for us today than the Catch V.  Electric Chicken was by far the best color in the muddy water.  I do not know if it is a larger more visible target or because the trout are on a fish diet, but the longer soft plastics are working much better for us.

It rained all day again today.  I have been taking advantage of the brief warm-ups with light winds, but they have been rare occurrences.  In fairness to the clients that I have been backing up for the past three weeks, these have all been last minute trips.  They have been trips to kill for, but as sure as I call a client on short notice, the weather will go totally to pot and I hate apologizing in the rain.

Nice trout hit my Mirrodine on second cast.

I postponed folks Monday due to the weather forecast (they'll be pleased to see this), but it was nice geting my brother on the water.  Now he's looking for a boat and thinking I make much too big a deal out of fishing.  There's nothing to it.

I think I will fish the remainder of the week regardless of any rain forecast.  I won't challenge a 25 mile per hour wind out of the west or northwest, but I hope to find that the rain doesn't bother them either.  If that proves to be true, stick to your guns, grab your rain gear, and ignore my overly conservative nature when I try to postpone your next trip.  These are trout worth getting wet for! 

A very special day!

If I never trout fish again, I finished up on a day every hard core trout fishermen deserves to experience!

I am officially out of the business of speculating as to what the trout in Sabine Lake will do based on weather conditions.  The second trout I caught yesterday afternoon weighed 8.4 pounds.  Because of an unususal color patern on one side, I put her in the livewell long enough to get a camera.  When I opened the lid to get her out, the water was so muddy I couldn't see her!

She was the only fish I weighed or even measured all evening.  I say that only because I had the opportunity to weigh and measure trout all afternoon.   I caught one more sow as larger or larger on the same flat off the Neches in water that was as brown as chocolate pudding and almost the same consistency.

I spent the remainder of the evening fishing flats on the Louisiana shoreline and it was the most incredible bite I have experienced in several years.  The water was 56 degrees with about a foot of visibility and the big trout were on a tear.  I was determined to bring home a few trout to eat, but was hard pressed to catch a fish under 25 inches. 

I finally talked with two other anglers that were working the same pattern, but were using five inch Assassins.  They were catching trout faster than I was and most of their specks were in the 22-24 inch class.  I switched to a redshad-chartreuse tail Assassin long enough to put a few of those fish in the box, but the big fish wanted suspending baits and you don't experience a happening like that every day.

I had been throwing a Catch 2000 and Crazy Croaker most of the afternoon, but finished up with an electric chicken Catch V.  I have had those rare occasions when you find a group of big trout on a piece of structure or isolated reef, but these fish were scattered all over the flats in 2-4 feet of water.  I missed several specks that I would like to have just seen, but it was so wild that I didn't care at that time.

When a fish in the 6-7 pound class could not be saved after swallowing a V down to her gills, I called it a day.  I have had days close to that on Big Lake over the past few years, but only one other time on Sabine.  Every year we have those days when we find a few big fish stacked in cuts like the Gator Hole, but these fish were all over the flats!

I am now convinced that it cannot get too fresh or too muddy when big trout decide to eat.  I plan on being able to answer that question with even more rain on the way to test the theory.  The bottom line is there is no bad time to trout fish....wind permitting.   

Cold and wet, but a little better

We fished Big Lake today until we just couldn't stand it anymore.  The water did look a little better than last week and we managed to catch five trout before calling in the dogs.  We fished in a light rain all morning and it was just cold enough to be miserable.  Had we been catching a lot of fish I don't think we would have even noticed the cold, but when it is slow,,,,,,!

We stayed on the north end with the exception of thirty minutes spent in a bayou catching rat reds on bone diamond Sea Shad.  Our trout actually came out of the dirtiest water that we fished.  The largest fish may have weighed four pounds.  Jason Terry missed a big fish on a black-chartreuse 2000 that could have been a redfish.  He swears it was a trout, but we never saw the fish.

We may have missed 2-3 other strikes all morning long.  The trout we caught were on shell in less than three feet of water.  Our best fish hit a pink Crazy Croaker, but the rest of the fish hit Catch V's in bone or electric chicken.  We did talk with two groups leaving the landing when we were coming in that said they had a decent late evening bite the day before.  A hot cup of coffee was more tempting at that point, but we may do the afternoon deal later this week.

At least for right now, we cannot catch a break on Sabine.  It is still raining with more forecast for tomorrow.  The bayous are high and muddy and they are generating around the clock on Toledo Bend.  The fish still have to eat, but putting together a consistent pattern is a challenge.

Cold, wet, and windy

If you received a gift certificate for a trip with me this Christmas.....hang on to it.  It is good for the entire year and you would be wasting it by fishing with me right now anyway.  Hold out for better conditions.  It is miserable right now and I am not into having to apologize for a wet butt and empty stringer at the end of the day.  It is far better that I zero than you!

Dave Keltz and I gave it a try yesterday simply because he could stand it no longer and it was predictably bad.  The water was both low and muddy, it was raining, and the wind was blowing 10-15 miles per hour.  He caught two solid trout right off the bat, but it didn't take long for the excitement to wane.  Especially when you discover that you have one little tiny hole in your waders.

The water on the flat we fished was 48 degrees when we got out of the boat.  I never checked it again.  Dave caught both trout on a chartreuse Catch V.  I never got a bite, but I was somewhat distracted by the rising water level inside my waders.  We didn't see another boat on the water.

I initially hoped that we wouldn't get much rain out of this front, but while it only drizzled most of the week, it poured on us for about an hour.  If paying your dues ensures great trips in the future, I am in for some awesome days.  I have been getting wet and cold with little results all month long.  For the folks waiting on my call to chase our big winter trout, there is a good reason that your phone isn't ringing.  I ain't catching em! 

Ugly water....slow bite!

We have fished, but we haven't "caught" since the last flood.  The rivers and bayous are still high and muddy and it has really been tough.  We fished Big Lake Wednesday, went back to the Boat Show Thursday, and fished Sabine Friday morning.  We caught almost as many keeper fish at the Boat Show as we did on either lake!

I don't know that I have ever seen Big lake so dirty.  The only decent water we found was down around Lambert's, but the rest of the main lake and West Cove were just terrible.  I caught a keeper red on the first cast of the day and a keeper trout eight hours later on the same bone diamond Assassin.  I still do not know how either fish found that lure in water that muddy.  The only good news was that we found a lot of 57 degree water!

We fished four hours Friday and, surprisingly, Sabine was not any dirtier than Big lake.  As a matter of fact, the Sabine river looked better than Big Lake.  This is a relative assessment as you would not have been pleased with this water clarity either, but it was better.  The south wind that has ripped us for the past four days has the water stacked up in the bayous.  The Neches looked much worse than the Sabine, but that is not unusual.  That is why the water on the east side of the lake always clears first.

We did manage to catch two 17 inch trout and 7 or 8 rat reds in Cow Bayou on red shad and bone diamond Assassins.  At least I had to replace a tail on this trip. The fish were in 6-8 feet of water on a stretch of bank close to the Intracoastal.  If the weatherman is correct, the flags will swing around in the other direction for a few days and the temperatures will drop.

Hopefully, the water will start to clear after this front and the big trout will be hungry and on the move.  I've got some seminars and two more boat shows to do in February, but they will be sandwiched around a lot of fishing.  I am hoping some catching will take place as well!

Everything high and muddy!

We made a run this evening just because the sun finally came out.  The Neches, Sabine, and the bayous dumping into the lake are high and muddy.  There was a little bit of sem-clear water in the back of the Gator Hole on the southeast side of the lake.  The rest of the lake is sure enough dirty.

We ran upriver on the Sabine and the water was pouring through the flooded woods.  It looks like we have more rain on the way this weekend.  We recovered quickly after the last flood, but it will take a while for things to get better this time.  We usually fish Calcasieu as a change of pace as well as the shot at a big trout this time of the year, but it looks like it will be the only game in town for a while.  I have guessed wrong many times over the years, but we have a lot of dirty water to deal with.

I'll be around the CastAway booth  and the Texas Marine layout most of the day tomorrow at the Houston Boat Show. Come by and visit!

Rising water and Boat Shows

We didn't fish today as I was way behind on honey-do's and switching fishing gears.  It is time to chase big trout, so I've been changing out tackle boxes.  We made a short run yesterday, more to look at the water than anything else and it had muddied up.  I talked with Johnny Cormier on the water today and he said the lake continued to muddy up all day long.  There was some bird activity and small keeper trout, but overall it was a tough day.

The redfish bite in the river has finally slowed down.  It had to happen sometime, but it was an incredible run.  The stripers are still doing their thing provided you hit it just right, but it is over with in a hurry.  After talking with Frank Beauchamp this evening, it appears that we have a lot of unwanted water yet to come down the river.

He said he was at his camp on Cow Creek north of Orange this weekend and the water climbed out of the creek banks and up under his camp in one night!  Cow Creek dumps into the Sabine so we have more water on the way.  We got some serious rain, but they must have gotten far more than we did between Toledo Bend and Orange.

I am not trying to paint a doom and gloom picture as these are normal conditions for us across most winters.  We will still catch our fair share of big trout over the next two months off the north end and along the La. shoreline.  I will easily pull as many trips on Calcasieu as I do on Sabine through March and even more if the rising water hurts us too badly over here.

I will be hanging out at the CastAway booth at the Houston Boat Show Saturday with Kim Smith and the gang.  I will be there at least one more time the following week, but I don't know when at this point.  Probably towards the end of the following week as I have the early part of the week booked.

Drop by and we'll talk about fishing as well as their new rods.  I look forward to meeting some of the folks that read this report and e-mail some much appreciated responses.  If there is something that I am overlooking that would help you plan your next trip just let me know.  If it is do-able I'll give it a shot.  See ya there!