Another day of runoff water but the bite is still holding up.

There were only a handful of boats on the water early. but a perfect afternoon drew a little larger crowd.  the bite was not as crazy as it was yesterday or across the weekend, but it wasn't bad...just different.

We had a good outgoing tide, but the water in the lake is getting a little dirtier and a little fresher each day.  Johnny Mallory painted a bleak picture telling me that he could hear the water roaring out of Toledo Bend and see the mist spraying off the spillway while standing on the deck of his camp in Indian Creek.  He added that he had never seen the lake come up that fast and that we have more fresh water than we could ever imagine headed our way!

Thus far it still hasn't bothered the trout, reds, or shrimp.  I checked most of the lake today and while I didn't see the numbers of gulls we have been seeing, I did find gulls scattered from one end to the other.  Once again, catching slot reds was no problem, but I had a hard time locating solid trout until later in the day.

I wasn't keeping fish, but every solid trout I boated hit a MirrOdine XL, a Catch V, or an Assassin fished just below the surface.  I probably caught 15 or 20 redfish and the majority of them came out of two schools on the west side of the pipeline just south of Johnson's.  The water looked a little better in that area than anywhere else, but I don't think it made the fish much difference.

I fished several different programs to cover all my bases for tomorrows group, but I will start with Texas Roach or pumpkin tomorrow.  I caught far too many small specks and sandies on lighter colors.  The reds didn't care what color it was as long as it made it to the bottom.

I have been fishing this lake a long time, but I had something happen this morning that I have never had happen before.  I was chasing a flock of terns on the troll motor that were obviously feeding over fish, but it took forever to catch up to them without spooking them.  When I did catch them, a fish immediately slammed a Texas Roach Sea Shad and went airborne.

To my surprise, it was a flounder and it fought on top like it thought it was a trout.  Are you ready for this.....five casts in a row produced five flounder that all hit the lure before it sank a foot and immediately cleared the surface.  Another fishermen a healthy cast short of the action watched it all and acted as though it was old hat.  His take on the whole thing was, "You know you coulda kept two of them flounders!"

As good as this bite is, the fish are obviously going to have to deal with a lot of fresh water over at least the next week.  The bite in the river is history for now, but the lake bite might hang in there.

Comments

[twitter.com/Mikem59]

Dickie, nice informative post on what to expect. Sooner or later Sabine would have to cool off. I don't recall seeing you post reports for Keith Lake, do you frequent it when the river or Sabine Lake pattern slows down due to the fresh water influx? And, by the way, a TP&W gentlemen told me the back portion of Salt Lake was 10 ppt, nearly twice what they normally see this time of year.