Friday turned out good, but it was frustrating early. You could not have asked for better conditions, but the fish were not impressed with the weather. Sam Creel and Eric Robichaux were ready to go at daylight and we found a few birds working right out of the chute. After catching a few small trout on plastics we switched to topwaters and I immediately pulled off a good trout on the first cast.
Sam and Eric both hooked solid fish and broke them off. We were going through She Dogs like they were live bait. We left the north end and ran to the flooded grass on the La. shoreline. I missed one good red and we never got another strike. That was a first as that bite has been money in the bank.
Sam and Eric finally got their guide to take them to a good spot after lunch!
We then ran back north and I still could not find the fish. Rather than waste the ideal conditions trying to make the lake work, I ran back to the river. We bounced glow chartreuse and Texas Roach Sea Shads off the bottom in 15 to 18 feet of water and enjoyed a much better afternoon.
We kept four big slot reds and ten trout up to three pounds. It never fails when you are pressing that you lose a lot of fish and that was the case as we easily lost as many keeper size trout as we boated. We also went through a lot of smaller fish.
I couldn't find the reds in the grass again Saturday, but we didn't give them long to do their thing. We found two good schools in the mid-lake area, but were even happier to find the trout on a flat on the north end in 3 to 5 feet of water. Our best fish was only 4 pounds, but we caught a lot of fish swimming a 5-inch chicken on a chain Assassin rigged on a 1/16th ounce head. We never saw the first gull or any bait, but were fortunate to spot a couple of slicks.
I don't recall ever seeing redfish schooling in the ICW, but we fished two different schools working shad on the way back in. The fish were on the east side across from Cow bayou and they stayed up even with the barge traffic. I wouldn't hang my hat on that bite, but I would at least give it a look if you pass that way running to the lake. That action was taking place on an outgoing tide.
hello dickie first time to comment.i must say its nice to log onto your site and atleast get some idea of whats going on.this year has been phenomenal for myself and fishing partner i have caught more trout over 5lbs.than ever.shedogs have been are weapon of choice.chrome flavored has been the best for us although blk.chrt. and glow on occasions were good.we stumbled onto these fish on the neches and have basically followed them into the lake and have finally hung the trout rods up and started offshore but for some reason the trout are there to.hope your season was as good as ours and if the salinity is high give the submerged island in front of the mothball fleet on the neches a try for those big shedog trout and reds...
Posted by: mike godeaux | September 22, 2009 at 10:52 PM