Colburn's Sabine Connection

Good trip and good weather

You could not have asked for better conditions than we had today on the lake.  It was a little foggy early, but a light northeast wind quickly blew that out.  Had I taken a chance and started later this morning as discussed last night, we would have missed the best bite of the day.  I had some good fishermen with me today and they took advantage of a bite under the birds that ended earlier than it should have.

What were you doing when the sun came up this morning?

We caught fish pretty much non-stop until about one o'clock, but did very little after that.  Our first fish was a nice slot red right at daybreak and we never caught another keeper red.  We ran flock after flock of gulls all morning long and caught a pile of fish, but kept only 18 trout up to three pounds.  The birds held pretty well and even more importantly, the fish held well after the birds left.

We quit chasing birds around noon to drift a flat in 4 to 5 feet of water and caught our largest trout of the day.  We quickly caught seven good fish on the initial drift, but it got crowded in a hurry.  We were swimming a glow-chartreuse Assassin on a 1/8th ounce head.

The water still looks much better on the northwest side of the lake, but I believe there is more gull activity in the dirtier water along the Louisiana shoreline.  The gulls started earlier today and quit earlier as well.  There was a lot of boat traffic for a Wednesday, but that's just part of fishing the birds.  Once again, we had a good out going tide later in the day.

Redfish keeping gulls on the move!

John and J.K. caught a little bit of everything!

The weather conditions were almost identical yesterday and today, but the fishing wasn't.  Monday I fished with John and J.K.Toler and we finished with a nice box of fish, but it was just slow and steady all day long.  The birds didn't work very long for us and we fished every where from the river to the lake.

All of our fish were good solid fish, but we were never able to catch a bunch in one spot.  When you did locate fish, however, they were aggressive.  We finished the afternoon strong when we found a pretty good school of slot reds blowing up on mullet on a flat off the river.

From mid-lake on west, the water was in great shape.  The eastern shoreline was holding fish, but the water was not very pretty.  All but a few of our fish hit either a pumpkin or silver phantom Sea Shad rigged on a quarter ounce head.  Two of our largest trout hit a glow-chartreuse Assassin eel under the birds.

Today, following several round trips between the river and the lake, we finally caught a bunch of solid fish.  Unable to get anything going early in the lake, we returned to the river with the same results, then back again and back again before figuring out what was going on.  We were fishing the dirtier water under good flocks of gulls that would leave as soon as you arrived, but you knew the fish were there.  Very frustrating!

When we caught a few fish initially, they were either small trout or rat reds.  We talked with some other folks early that had caught a few keepers on plastics, but things really lit off for us when we switched to a Catch V and started fishing slicks after the birds left.

When we saw a group of gulls working, we would idle into the area until we saw a slick or two. If we failed to see a slick, we would ease over to the next group.  I do not think that we fished a single slick around the gulls that didn't hold a few keeper fish.   All of our redfish hit a Hoginar reeled very slowly across the bottom, but the larger trout wanted the Catch V just beneath the surface.

It was too windy early to take advantage of the clearer water in the mid-lake area, but it calmed down around noon and you had the run of the lake.  The past two days we have had a big outgoing tide most of the day.  The water was higher than expected at daylight, but it was still pouring out when we left.

I think the redfish were making it difficult for the birds to hold today.  We caught them all over the lake, both slot fish and rats, and never saw the first sign of bait most of the time.   It is hard to stay in an area and slow down when you are surrounded with flocks of gulls, but that was the ticket for us.

Based on the past two days, if I were not fishing clients I wouldn't even leave the house until nine o'clock. As sure as I did that with a group, the fish would go nuts at daylight and I would have no one to blame, but myself!   

Good news....bad news!

Following the big blow Monday, the lake continued to improve the remainder of the week. Thursday was very productive provided you were in the right spot, but today was another one of those days when it was difficult to do anything wrong.

The water was in good shape across most of the north end.  We caught our largest trout, fish up to five pounds, swimming Assassins over shell in 4 to 5 feet of water.  We were very close to a limit when we decided to fish the birds a little while.  It was pretty easy and we finished out limits of trout in the 16 to 18 inch class, but that program is a good news bad news story.

Steve Ragan caught our only slot red of the day on an LSU tail

The good news is that the birds are working all over the lake and there are a lot of solid trout underneath them.  The bad news is that if that is your strategy this weekend, you better have a fast boat and thick skin!

I realize that it was a beautiful calm day and the first really great bird action we have had this fall, but I have never seen so many folks running up on other folks that were already working a set of gulls.  A number of times there was another flock of gulls with no one on them less than 100 yards away.  We stayed far away from the melee, but it was amazing to watch.  "Amazing" was probably not a word one of those under assault would have used to describe the inevitable intrusion.

We found a lot our fish under birds sitting on the water and said a silent prayer that they would not get up and tip off the armada.  We caught all of the fish we wanted working pumpkin and glow-chartreuse Sea Shads on a pretty quick retrieve.  We did have one nice slot red that hit an LSU tail.  More than once we continued to catch fish after the birds and boats left by just hanging in there and watching for surface activity.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another great weather day and I feel certain the birds will work just as hard.  Remember....Be patient once the birds leave, shut down the big engine well short of the gulls and use your troll motor, and drink lots of coffee before you leave the house.  You are going to need something to settle your nerves.....its all yours for the weekend!      

Right place at the right time!

Wade Salazar with a nice trout from weekend trip.

Today was an absolutely perfect day.  The southeast wind that has hounded us for the past week died in the face of the approaching cold front providing perfect conditions until noon.  It wasn't like we couldn't see it coming as the black storm clouds slowly surrounded the lake, but I was determined to take advantage of the unexpected window up until the last minute.

After wasting the first hour of daylight in the bayou, I ran to a flat on the north end of the lake hoping to find a few slicks.  I had three generations of Richardsons on board that won the donated trip at the Northeast Houston CCA banquet and they were open to the possibility of catching fewer, but better trout.  "Fewer" was quickly forgotten as I boated a 20- inch trout on the third cast and Eli quickly foolowed suit.  We left them still biting four hours later!

Eli caught his share of the good ones!

The catching is good when you are removing a She Dog from the mouth of a five pound trout and your group decides it is time to go.  Steve made the call as it was obvious to any less addicted trout fisherman that we didn't have much time left with the storm breathing down our neck anyway.  Just as we climbed out of the boat at The River Rat, it roared across the parking lot.  I would have stayed a little longer had I made the call and we would have gotten soaked.  I just cannot stop when they are biting!

The majority of our trout were in the 19 to 21-inch class with three or four really good 'uns.  They wanted the Assassin eel rather than the smaller Sea Shad and they would crush it when they caught up with it.  We had very few fish pull off all morning.  When we did find fish in the slicks, we caught multiple fish each time, but we also caught some of our better trout just covering territory.

Our largest trout hit a bone She Dog (most of the paint was gone) in two feet of water right before calling it quits.  We caught trout as deep as 5.2 feet, but spent most of our time in 3-4 feet of water.  Had we run out in the lake to start, there is no telling how many 3 to 5 pound trout we could have caught.  We fished four different flats and caught fish on all of them.

My elation over our good fortune was tempered somewhat knowing it will all change following this norther if it truly blows as hard as they are predicting for the next two days.  We will start seeing more gull action on the north end, but I much prefer what is going on right now.  Speaking of gulls, I talked with another guide tonight that had a great morning on trout under the birds on the south end.

He said there was little or no competition and they just ran from flock to flock fishing plastics.  They caught trout up to three pounds, but he said they went through at least seventy-five fish and could keep only nineteen.  They caught all of their trout and two slot reds on pearl-pink tail and bone diamond paddle tail grubs.  Most of their better fish hit the plastic fished under a popping cork.

We canceled the next two days for fear that this wind would be a major problem, but  I am going scouting anyway because you don't know if you don't go!

Can't get caught up...more tomorrow night!

I will try to get back with some pictures and a more detailed report tomorrow night.  It will probably be a worthless  report in that we have a serious north wind predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday.  We have been dealing with a tough southeast wind all weekend, but we are still catching fish.  The flounder bite has improved and the only day we were able to fish the flats on the north end we caught some very nice trout on tails.

The water looks great right now and the shrimp have been on the move on tide changes.  This might just be enough north wind to get the gull action going.

You just never know!

Can't say we didn't see it coming!

When Gene and I left the landing at daylight, it was drizzling rain and the wind was blowing 15 mph out of the southeast.  Then the weather got bad. Not many folks would have volunteered to help scout under those conditions.  Ironically enough, had I known how bad the weather was going to get, I would have waited until tomorrow.

The wind was just warming up at daylight.  By nine o'clock it was blowing a steady 25-30 with a driving rain.  Tonight's pictures do not do the weather justice.  The bayou where most of the shots were taken was not fifteen yards wide and it had three foot swells.

Just hanging on....

When we were taping our radio show on the water for KOGT, it was pouring down raining and we did not have a single fish in the boat.  An hour later, we caught our first trout and the bite never ended once it started.  I have no idea how many fish we caught and released, but the majority of the trout we kept were in the 19-21 inch range.  We also kept five slot reds up to 28 inches and one nice flounder to bake.

Because it was so hard to hold the boat in place, we took turns running the troll motor.  The troll motor operator was pretty much a spectator and net man as it was tough just staying on the front deck.  When I took a picture of the first trout Gene caught, I was afraid it would be the only fish of the day, but it was a good shot of how rough it was in supposedly protected waters.

Proud to have a keeper at this point.

We had six or seven average keeper trout early, but never caught another trout under 18 inches from noon until 3:00 p.m.  The reds were mixed and we released a pile of 16 to 19 inch fish.  We would never have known that  many fish were there had we not slowed down and fished deeper.  You never knew where the next redfish would come from. but the trout  were feeding on a break in 8-10 feet of water.  We caught ninety percent of our fish in a thirty yard stretch of shoreline.

The weather never improved, but the fishing did!

The water was so high with the wind and an all day incoming tide that we drove the 22 foot Blue Wave up in the grass ten feet from the original shoreline to take a break.  The docks at the landing were completely under water.  I cannot ever remember catching that many fish under those conditions, but I can't wait to get back.

I postponed another party tonight because I don't trust this bite yet, but I think it is the real deal.  I hope Lane and Carol aren't upset that we postponed their trip for today when they read this.  You don't know if you don't go, but I was the one that recommended they push it back in hopes of better weather. I am sorry you missed a good bite, but I will make the same call everytime      

The wind was the big winner

We just could not get it done in the wind yesterday.  We retreated to the bayous, even the river was too rough to fish, and found some small trout in 8-12 feet of water.  We did miss a few fish on topwaters right at daylight, but we didn't fight the waves long.  Much of the lake was silted up, but everything on the east side of the lake looked good.

The lake will clear up over night if this wind will give us a break.  I backed a up a group from Tyler scheduled for today and tomorrow to next week in hopes that either the wind switches or I can put together a productive program tomorrow.  If it isn't enjoyable, I don't believe its worth spending your money on and fishing in whitecaps is not enjoyable!

Looking at the weather forecast it will probably be more of the same.  If that is the case, I will probably spend most of the day flounder fishing.  I have been wanting to see if the flounder bite is really in high gear anyway. I'll know more by tomorrow night. 

Beautiful weather made for easy day

Paul Shaw and Charlie Glass took advantage of the beautiful weather!

The stiff north breeze yesterday morning made it a little difficult to fish the open lake pattern we had been on for a while, but it got the shrimp and gulls going.  We fought the wind a little while before opting to take advantage of a very easy and unexpected bite.

We fished the mouths of the bayous and took advantage of the shrimp pouring out on a steady outgoing tide.  The birds worked all morning long.  Neither Charles Glass nor Paul Shaw were into a meat hunt, which it very easily could have been with a reasonable number of 15 to 17 inch trout mixed in with lots of smaller trout hustling the shrimp.

We played the game for a little while before opting to work the shoreline with Sea Shads in glow-chartreuse and morning glory and a small natural shrimp tail.  Because most of the birds were working in a very small area, it quickly drew a lot of attention.  We caught far more rat reds than we did slot reds, but we never went long without a bite.  We finished with a solid catch that included flounder as well.  The weather, good company, and the easy bite made for a perfect day.

I spent the entire day today restocking tackle, cleaning and refilling reels, and getting things ready for a number of consecutive days on the water starting Monday.  I will be at the fair tomorrow night giving a talk on our fall patterns on Sabine for Texas Marine and possibly take the rest of the weekend off.  The fishing has already been better than it should have been considering the conditions so look out once the marshes empty!

I talked with three groups tonight that were on the lake today. The group that flounder fished had four reds and nine keeper flounder they caught on tails south of Garrison's.  One group caught seven trout up to five pounds on Super Spooks and  shad under a popping cork fishing the revetment wall until they could no longer fight the wind.  Gene Locke said that he and Bob Crew kept five nice trout and caught some more smaller fish in one of the bayous on the La. side.

More of the same and we aren't complaining!

Floyd Booker with one of the better trout of the day

We had another good day on some very solid trout in less than perfect conditions.  The water was as high as I have seen it this fall and an east wind was doing its thing early, but the same pattern we have fished for two straight weeks remained strong.  The water clarity is great all over the lake.

The sun broke through around noon, the wind slacked off some and we ran a lot of the lake just looking. We did fish the first group of gulls working over keeper trout that I have seen in a long time.  We didn't fish them long, however, as we were more interested in the reward for grinding away in 4-5 feet of water.

We caught all of our trout except one on She Dogs and five-inch Assassins.  Glow-chartreuse was the best color early, but when the sun came out we switched to pumpkin and did even better.  The one trout I caught on a Catch V was our largest trout, but it was a loner.  Johnny and Mike Rector called during the day and both of them were on fish on two different patterns.  Both calls helped us out.

Floyd Booker had a unique backlash technique that he employs when the bite slows down that works very well.  He caught his biggest trout on an Assassin using that approach, but you will have to ask him exactly how it works.

We are supposed to get a big north wind later in the week that should push some water out and the shrimp as well.  I feel reasonably certain that will ignite the easier bite under the gulls, but we have been on a roll and I hate to see this bite end.  We have been catching some very big trout for this time of the year with little or no pressure.

It is not an easy pattern to fish, but it has been steady throughout the day with any tide movement at all.  Fifteen to twenty trout is a good day for us, but they are heavy fish!

Wind, rain, and trout!

  Thomas Crenshaw with a double handful of flounder

And then the wind blew and blew some more.  It even rained depending on where you were at the time and all of that started before daylight.  For the most part, it was a case of hang on and cast, but there were enough solid trout between the whitecaps to make the balancing act worth the effort.

We never just killed them in any one spot, but we caught fish pretty steady from daylight until 2:00 o'clock.  Had I not had two good fishermen with a lot of determination, we would not have done as well.  I don't know how many fish we caught and released, some were released earlier than we intended, but we finished the day with 17 trout up to four pounds and two nice flounder that didn't know we were trout fishing.  We did miss another big trout on a bone She Dog, so we extended that dubious record one more day.

We made one short run to the La. shoreline to get out of the wind and caught a lot of small fish between Bridge and Willow.  The remainder of the day, we drifted in the teeth of the wind in 4-6 of water making long casts and slowing our retrieve down more than we have had to of late.  Even in all of the wind, we still caught our largest trout on She Dogs.  The biggest percentage of our keeper fish, which included several trout in the three pound class, hit Assassins rigged on 1/8th ounce heads.

The water is still stacked up and slow to release on outgoing tides.  Some of the major flats on the north end are getting a little sandy looking, but the water out in the lake is fine.  We never ran across any schooling redfish, but they would have had to really raise hell for us to see them in those whitecaps!