Colburn's Sabine Connection

Too much wind and no water clarity

After the toughest day I have had in two months on Sabine yesterday, I rebooked a party for today, loaded up and spent a very enjoyable day on Toledo Bend.  The bass were much more cooperative than the trout were the day before.

The south wind literally blew us off the lake Monday, but more importantly, the water clarity was poor everywhere we went.  We fished all the way from East Pass to the Causeway before the wind came up and there was little or no water clarity anywhere.  The surface temperature was as high as 63 degrees in some of the backwater, but it did not do us much good.

I will spend the day at the Holder Fishing Show at the George R. Brown Center tomorrow and be back on the water Friday and Saturday. Gotta get better!

Great Conditions and Great Fishing

Another good trout on a foggy day

We postponed today's trip due to the predicted wind and it roared in as advertised.  You probably had to run to your favorite fishing spot by GPS yesterday, but it was a perfect day to fish.  The fog didn't lift until around noon and the lake was dead calm with surface temps all the way up to 63 degrees.  We fished three different shallow flats and moved around only because we chose to.

For the first time in several weeks, the water on the extreme north end of the lake looked as good as that on the Louisiana shoreline and the trout were there as well.  My largest fish ate a pumpkin-chartreuse Catch 2000 in four feet of water, but we caught a lot of solid trout on soft plastics as well.

That pumpkin-chartruese 2000 is not a stock color and was one of several new patterns that Lance Stringer asked me to try out.  He recently decided to look into the saltwater side of enhancing proven lures and I only had two or three patterns in the Catch V and 2000.  He didn't even have a name for the colors, so I don't know what to ask for in describing the only one I lost.

I eventually stuck with the pumpkin-chartreuse because I had asked him for it specifically and our larger fish ate it like candy.  He painted a Thunderstick with trout colored sides and a deep red metallic back that I will not take a chance on losing until I get at least two more!

Lance has been providing an edge for a number of successful bass pros over the past month that have done a great job of keeping it a secret.  He came up with a red-chartruese pattern that found its way on more than one lipless crankbait and it has been a difference maker on both Rayburn and Toledo Bend since early January.

His paint jobs are almost too pretty to fish, but I went through a number of trout and I still don't see any scratches.  He is especially proud of the highlights he includes in his final coats of epoxy, but more importantly for the trout fishermen, it makes them tough as nails as well.

I can understand why the Rayburn and Toledo Bend fishermen have been keeping him in his painting booth.  He said that most of them are calling for his red-chartreuse pattern, but he can paint virtually any color scheme you want.

I don't know what the Neches looks like, but we ran up the Sabine at the end of the day and the water looked very good.  That's half the battle so the water clarity should continue to improve if we can dodge any more flooding. We have basically been beating the La. side of the lake to death chasing pockets of clearer water.  It was nice to have a larger playing field for a change.

We picked the right lake today

With one more Boat Show behind us, Gene Locke and I opted for Sabine over Calcasieu at the last minute this morning and it proved to be a good decision.  The conditions were perfect with a southeast wind and light rains.

It took three stops and a long boat ride, but we found a little clearer water on the south end of the lake with a surface temperature of 55 degrees.  When I say "better" I am talking about 6-8 inches of visibility.  A fairly strong wind most of the morning and a good incoming tide had the water up in the grass.  Rather than follow the rising water and feed closer to the shorelines, the trout chose to hold at depths of 5 to 5 1/2 feet.

We made extremely long drifts and caught three or four very solid trout up to four pounds on every drift.  Early in the day the strikes were very light and hard to detect, but that all changed around noon.  When we left to go check out some other areas, they were just hammering an Assassin crawled across the bottom.  We also caught several redfish, but only one in the slot.

I think we have another front headed our way for the weekend, but at this point, the bite is back on.  We did not get into any of the 6 to 8 pound trout of a couple of weeks back, but these were all solid trout and a good start to getting back in the groove.  We only kept  enough to eat, but we had boated 27 fish before we quit to look at some new water.

Gene has really been not only a good friend, but a tremendous help over the years.  He has never passed when asked to scout between trips and he leaves the house knowing we are going to leave an area just as soon as we start catcing fish.  I am waiting for that day when he decides to hide the keys and that will be okay as long as he remembers where he put them.  Good guy with a world of patience!      

One more monsoon for good measure

After getting pounded last night by the wind, a driving rain, and even hail, I called off trips for today and Wednesday.  We might make it out Thursday if the wind will give us a break.  We've got water backed up in the woods again and that isn't good news for a lake that is already fresh and muddy.

John and I made a run to Big Lake hoping the weather man guessed wrong again, but the wind was howling at daylight and only got stronger.  The water looked predictably bad and there was no way we were going to fight the waves just to check water clarity.  It looks as though we are in for more cold weather, but hopefully no more rain any time soon.  We don't get normal rains anymore!

I will be over at Texas Marine in Beaumont this weekend talking with folks at their in-house boat show.  I will do a seminar Saturday morning at ten, but we will talk fishing all weekend long.   If we can't go fishing we can at least talk about it.  See ya there!

Fishing difficult with heavy heart

In spite of two of the best weather days you could hope for in February, I managed to struggle through the latter part of the week, but I am hoping that it was more my fault than that of the fish .  We had very poor tidal movements and one of our better areas just got muddier and muddier, but the larger concern was that big trout just seemed to have evaporated.

Wednesday the rat reds had invaded a flat that has been very good to us for trout up to nine pounds.  We caught one keeper trout in about five hours of fishing.  Unwilling to believe the big sows could have evacuated water that warmed from 46 to 59 degrees, we hit the same flat twice the following day and never caught the first fish.

We continued moving further south and finally found some very solid trout and more rat reds holding slightly deeper in 4.5 -5 feet of water.  The water looked only marginally better and the trout were scattered just like they had been on the north end of the lake.  The biggest change was that we caught only one good trout on a Crazy Croaker and one on a Mirrodine.  Every other keeper hit five inch Assassins rigged on quarter ounce heads.

The following morning we logged a quick four hours in a stiff wind and cooler temperatures. We caught seven trout, one 26 inch fish, and a keeper red on a chrome Mirrodine and pumpkin-chartreuse Crazy Croaker in the same area.  I had never fished the faster sinking Crazy Croaker with the red eyes (I think that is the only one Tidal Surge makes now) and we did better with it than the original slow sinker.

My obsession with fishing was once again jolted into the proper perspective when Heath Duhon lost a difficult battle with bone cancer late this week.  His parents, Ronnie and Rhonda, are like family and I can imagine no greater pain than the loss of a child.  I ask that you would keep them in your prayers this weekend as they deal with the funeral and healing period to follow. 

There are worse things than not getting a bite all day long.  We'll be back on the water next week, even more thankful just to be there, with that thought in mind!    

Sure glad Jimmy called!

A good way to start the day.

The water was no warmer Sunday morning following our first sunny day on Saturday, but the trout and redfish were more cooperative.  Jimmy Foley of Houston was very persuasive in booking a last minute trip and we are both glad that he did.  It was a very good day.

Even though it was cold most of the morning on the water, we could not have asked for better conditions.  The water temperature never reached the 50 degree mark until late in the evening, but the strikes still came just often enough to keep us focused.

"Now, that's a big school trout!"

We were also finally able to find some fish in the mouths of the bayous as well as the lake.  The first fish of the day was a solid seven pound-plus trout that inhaled a Catch V in four feet of water.  For the first time this year we also had a small group of trout in the 4-6 pound class chase mullet to the surface and immediately jump on any lure you put in front of them.

Regardless of how long you have fished, that is exciting.  Its hard to even find the thumb bar when trout that size are wallowing across the surface.  Needless to say it didn't take Jimmy long to run to the front of the boat and we both hooked up on two of our larger trout as well as a nice slot red.  Jimmy's trout was in the five pound class, but he lost an even better trout right at the boat when he had to give her a little slack in ducking the fish I was fighting.  It was crazy!

If the bayous will continue to clear, the fish will be a little easier to target.  At least for right now, we are making incredibly long drifts and long casts without getting on the troll motor.  We also caught more trout on tails Sunday than we had been catching.  This big fish bite could all end tomorrow, but if this weather holds out, I wouldn't bet on it.

I know I've got some folks waiting on Big Lake, but I can't leave Sabine right now!

Bite slows with cooler water temperature

Thursday norning I made a quick round in the rain and a stiff wind and still caught some very nice trout on Catch V's and tails.  The water was still in the fifties, we had lost a degree or two, but it was still an aggressive bite.  Aaron Jablonsky and his crew drove in Friday morning and it was cold, windy, and misting when they arrived.  The weatherman said it was going to be partly cloudy to sunny with light winds.  He missed again and we froze our collective tails off!

Wayne Walker beat a cold winter day with a personal best.

The water was muddier than the day before and we never saw 49 degree water all day long.  We only kept four fish, but Wayne Walker caught his personal best and we got swings at a few more trout.  They were hitting extremely light and the hook fell out of the mouth of every fish we netted.  The largest trout of the day, a 5 to 6 pound fish pulled off a Catch V as it slid across the net very early on.  That had to be a sign, but they were tough fishermen and we stuck with it all day!

We are supposed to have some more sunshine through the early part of the week, but I am not holding my breath.  If these big trout do not crank it back up on Sabine following this mini-warm up, I will be back on Calcasieu the following week.