Colburn's Sabine Connection

Sabine Lake Improving

We got a little colder than we anticipated and the wind blew a little harder than we would have liked, but the fish were a more cooperative this afternoon.  Over a four hour period we caught redfish, trout, and flounder on red shad and fire tiger Assassins in several of the drains on the Louisiana side of the lake.

The largest trout weighed only three pounds, but the good news is that the fish were starting to stack up in these areas and were that aggressive on a very weak tide change.  The water clarity was much better and salty all the way back to Coffee Ground Cove.

We made a quick pass in the marsh on the way back in and caught one good red on a bone Catch V.  The fish seemed to be congregated in the deeper drains.  Could be the start of something really good if the rains hold off!

Finally Beat A Front

Gotta get this one in quick as I have to get out of here, but we finally got on the water just prior to a front rather than afterwards.  The wind had already switched and it was misting, but otherwise perfect.  Both the trout and redfish were feeding over shell in 2 to 3 feet of water and they were aggressive until we dogged it off around 2 p.m.  Never caught a fish over mud between reefs.

Easily the two hottest lures were a bone/orange Catch 5 and a bone-chartreuse Rubberback.  We caught two solid trout early on bone diamond Assassins, but the great bite was on the other two baits.  We had one trout almost 28 inches and released probably ten more over 25 inches.  Because we were so scattered out across the flat, I'm not sure what everyone caught and released, but they were in no hurry to leave their spot!

This was easily the best trip thus far on big trout for us!  We have been catching numbers, but only an occasional big fish.  I'll try to finish up on this later, but I have to run.  Thought it might help you decide where to go this weekend.  Almost forgot one minor detail.  We were on Calcasieu.

Fishing hotter than the weather

     At daylight it was just too cold to go fishing, so we decided to take care of the things around the house that never get taken care of.  By noon, the wind had died, the sun had warmed things considerably and we had abandoned the idea of being responsible.

     We made several drifts over shallow shell without much luck prior to figuring out the trout weren't on the bottom.  We switched to a lighter head and caught trout up to 22 inches in lenghth virtually every drift for the remainder of the trip.  The lure of the afternoon was a fire tiger Assassin.  All of the fish were holding over shell in less than five feet of water.

     Earlier in the week, prior to the front, the trout were on the same pattern from the Texaco Cut to Turner's.  This afternoon we spent most of the time drifting the west side of the island without ever having to check out any other water.

     It was a liitle surprising that the fish were still that aggressive, but for the most part, these were small fish.  The lake is in great shape and there is a big fish bite that has been going on for a while.  At least three fish over ten pounds that I know of have been caught in the past two weeks.  Two of those fish were released and one is already at the taxidermist.

    One was taken on a Rubberback, one on a Corky Fat Boy, and one on a Catch 2000.  All three lures were some combination of glow-chartreuse.  If you've never fished this lake its a great time to start!

numbers....no size

Fished Calcasieu yesterday ahead of the approaching front.  Waded what has been some very productive water and struck out.  Water is as clear as it will get, but there was very little bait moving and the results were predictable.

The bite, if numbers interests you more than a swing at a magnum trout, turned out to be drifting soft plastics over the shell in Turner's.  There were a surprisingly large number of boats fishing that pattern on an incoming tide after lunch and they were all catching fish.  I think everyone had their own idea as to what color worked best, but morning glory, limetreuse, and fire tiger in smaller plastics like the Sea Shad all caught fish.

The most consistent bite seemed to be in 3 to 5 feet of water.  Most everyone limited, but a large number of the fish were 13 to 15 inch trout.  Even at that it was a very good bite.

I did talk with some folks that were on the water at daylight and they had several big fish they caught on topwaters.  The bite didn't last very long, but they still had several trout in the 25 to 27 inch range.  On Calcasieu or Sabine that is a heavy fish! 

Looks like we are going to have to weather yet another freeze across the weekend, but Calcasieu is close to really turning on.  The next warm-up should do it.  The big fish bite that folks wait on every year is usually over while they are still waiting.  The wind can mess up anything, but I wouldn't pass up a trip due to the cold.

Calcasieu bite improving

Much too cold to start early, but we tried it anyway.  Never got the first bite until 9 o'clock or so.  Might have gotten a few strikes before then, but we would have never known.

We found trout in Turner's and along the east shoreline north of Hebert's.  Early on we did best standing waist deep and casting 2000's and Corky Devils into deeper water.  As the day warmed up, the trout scattered along the shoreline in 2-3 feet of water.  We never found one key spot or a solid concentration of fish.

All of our fish hit either a black-chartreuse 2000 or a glow-chartreuse Corky Devil fished s-l-o-w!  We may have missed five or six fish more fish, but the one's that stayed hooked were solid fish anywhere from 19 to 26 inches.  Missed one very good fish that could have been a red, but we never caught another red all day long.  That fish hit the Corky just after pulling it free from the shell.

The water is still much prettier than the water in Sabine and we are seeing  more bait on the move. Talked with two other groups that drifted the shell in Turner's all morning and they said it was tough.  They finished up with three small trout and two flounder that hit chartreuse Deadly Dudleys.

Calcasieu trout waking up

I feel certain this weekend's freeze will once again slow things down, but we were able to take advantage of the latest warm-up in almost unfishable winds yesterday.  Both the trout and the reds were cruising the shallow shell feeding ahead of the incoming front.

Most of our fish came out of three feet of water or less.  We released all but one of the fish, a 28 inch speck that ate a Catch 2000 too deeply and couldn't be revived.  We caught nine other trout between nineteen and twenty-six inches in length.  We released two slot reds and several smaller ones as well.

All of the trout were caught from the Texaco Cut north.  Charteuse-gold or bone-chartreuse produced most of the fish, but the two largest trout ate black-chartreuse.  Had the wind not kept us so pinned down in such a small area I think we could have done even better.  The water clarity is exceptional, especially when compared to the water we have been dealing with on Sabine.

We spent too much time drifting the shallow reefs with soft plastics, a pattern that has been very good for us this time of the year.  That program will undoubtedly improve in the near future.  In spite of the warmer temperatures, the fish still wanted both the Catch 5 and 2000 fished just fast enough to keep it off the bottom and the strikes were very subtle.

Subtle may not be very accurate in hindsight as the wind and wave action kept a serious bow in the line.  The super slow retrieve was, however, the key to getting consistently bitten.  Hopefully this latest front will push the trout back out of the marsh and into the lake on Sabine.  We'll find out next week.

Stripers save tough day

The bite has really been tough for us in spite of very decent weather conditions.  We got hung up early in the fog and the wind limited us a little later on, but everything else was in our favor.  We fished from Blue Buck to Coffee Ground Cove and caught three trout and two redfish.

We couldn't draw a strike on anything other than morning glory-chartreuse Assassins.  The fish we caught were holding over scattered shell just outside the mouth of Bridge Bayou.  We saved an otherwise disappointing day with four stripers we caught in the river on  the five inch bone-diamond Assassin rigged on a quarter ounce head.

The largest fish was only nine pounds, but at least they are showing back up again.  We caught every fish between 14 and 16 feet deep.  Can't help but feel like you are wasting an excellent opportunity with the warmer weather, but until we find more mullet, etc. the trout and redfish bite will continue to be tough.

Water clarity is plenty good and surface temp has been high 50's or better!

more mosquitoes than specks

The bite was very tough today.  The incoming tide had the water pushed up in the marsh and the fish were scattered.  At least they were scattered on the Louisiana shoreline.  The wind picked up late,but the fish just wouldn't do their thing.

The better bite was in four to five feet of water and we  usually aren't catching the kind of trout we target this time of year at that depth.  There had been some good numbers of 17 to 20 inch fish holding at that depth earlier in the week, but they weren't there today.

What trout were caught hit either black-chartreuse Catch 2000's or Corkys in the same colors.  I did talk with two other anglers that were wading the Garrison Ridge area and they had 2 reds and seven trout they caught on gold Super Spooks in three feet of water over the shell.

The water temperature is still hanging around the sixty degree mark, but it has been difficult to locate good concentrations of mullet working the flats or grass on the shoreline even with the warmer water.  The weather looks very favorable at this point for the upcoming week so it may possibly break loose again.  We still haven't spent much time on the reefs on the south end of the lake and that could be a big mistake!