Colburn's Sabine Connection

Rita puts fishing on hold

This is pretty much a "For what its worth" report with Rita headed our way by the weekend.  The conditions were perfect yesterday, but the bite only lasted a couple of hours for us.  From daylight until around 8:30 there was a lot of gull activity from Sidney Island to Stewts, but most of the trout were small.

You couldn't throw anything they wouldn't hit.  Even a larger topwater lure wouldn't attract larger fish.  We eventually moved in between the gulls and the shoreline and found trout up to three pounds that would eat a bone/chrome She Dog.  We gave up on the lake around noon and returned to the river to fish finger mullet on the deeper breaks.  We caught a few small trout and one very nice flounder before calling it a day.

At this point no one knows exactly where the storm will come ashore, but waiting too late to make a good decision could be a bad mistake.  Take the safest route and we will fish later!

Keep an eye on Rita

The wind finally settled down a little and there was a fair topwater bite early both Saturday and Sunday on the north end of the lake.  There was also a little gull activity, but the fish working under the gulls were small. 

We had to make a decision early and stayed in the river all morning long.  We caught a few fish on shad, but our better trout hit a DOA shrimp fished under a mauler.  We also caught a few nice redfish on everything from Chrome She Dogs to Hoginars.  The river is full of shad and that is unusual for this time of the year.

Hopefully Rita will not hit us and the fishing will continue to improve. 

Wind continues to blow

We have absolutely gotten blown away this entire week.  The water is very sandy on the north end, but it would clear overnight if the wind would give us a break.  We fished today and did well in the river and bayous.

We caught our flounder on the flats bordering the river, but all of our trout and redfish came out of the bayous.  The water was already up in the grass and the tide was still coming in when we left around 2:00 p.m. We couldn't buy a bite on artificials, but the trout and redfish were both eating live shad fished on a Carolina rig.

We caught the majority of our fish right at the mouth of two different bayous in 8-12 feet of water.  The water is just beautiful in these areas and the river as well.  We were just starting to see some five pound plus trout on a more regular basis prior to all of the wind.  A thirty inch fish came off the La. shoreline earlier this week.  The big trout hit a croaker fished on a Carolina rig.

The weatherman is saying that we will see lighter and more favorable winds next week.  If that happens, look for some super catches to come off the north end of the lake.  You can cover your backside by filling your livewell with shad, but I don't think you are going to need them if the wind lies.  With the opening of teal season and the high gas prices the traffic should be very light on the lake this weekend!

Skinny water and chrome Top Dogs

A stiff wind eliminated a great deal of potentially good water this afternoon, but both the trout and redfish were still hanging around in water less than a foot deep.  Every time we located a school of fish, the better trout were right in there competing with the redfish.  Most of the reds were in the slot and several of the trout were in the four to five pound class.

I am still not sure what they are feeding on as we kept no fish, but they definitely preferred chrome Top Dog Jr.s over any other color. The local fishermen also found some pretty good redfish in the river and the bayous fishing live shad and spinnerbaits.  It looks like the river fishing is getting much more consistent with the stronger tide movements.

The early morning bite has been exceptional, but it hasn't lasted very long.  It could well be that I just haven't figured out what they are doing after that early flurry of action.  Until I figure them out, hunting them is still more fun than mowing grass!

Early and Late..nothing in the middle!

The north wind pretty much blew things out on Sabine Wednesday and Thursday.  We have been spending most of our time helping out with the evacuees anyway, but we did manage a full day on the water today.  The La. shoreline was off-colored and the outgoing tide was still pushing  a lot of dirty water out of the marshes and into the lake.  The rest of the lake still looked good.

We found some fish very early and probably should have stayed with them.  The trout and redfish were shallow and there were even a few sets of birds working several hundred yards off  the shoreline.  There were some small trout mixed in, but the largest trout pushed four pounds.  A chrome blue back She Dog was easily the hottest bait all day long.

When that bite ended, we did not catch another fish until 2:30.  It started with a few birds working the shoreline behind Stewts.  We very nearly passed on them as they were working over less than a foot of water.  The fish eventually moved off the shoreline and into deeper water, but they were doing their thing in that ultra skinny water in the heat of the day.it was a mixture of reds and trout and they were eating that same She Dog better than anything else.   When we left the birds were still working so it may very well be a great late afternoon bite.

Good fish on shallow flats

The wind was more of a problem than it has been of late, but it didn't slow the bite too badly.  The early bite was very good on the flats on the extreme north end of the lake as well as Old River Cove and Hickory.  The only bad part was that you had to choose one or the other and the few folks that  chose Hickory were the big winners.

Gold Johnson spoons and chrome/black back Top Dogs worked over the shallow grass produced some super redfish action and trout up to 6 pounds 9 ounces.  That bite lasted most ofthe morning.  The bite behind the islands produced more trout than reds, but a good percentage of them were keepers.  A few of those fish hit topwaters, but the best bite came on LSU colored soft plastics fished under a Mauler.

The folks that elected to stay in the river found very few trout, but more than made up for that with limits of reds and some very nice flounder up to three pounds.  They caught their fish on live shad and finger mullet fishing the 10 -12 foot breaks.  I think we may back up in the river as well tomorrow to see just how serious the flounder are, but it will be hard to ignore those shallow flats on the north side of the Intracoastal.

Great fishing in the mornings....hurricane shelters in the evenings

The fishing has just been incredibly good the past few days. We have been fishing mornings and working at a red cross shelter the remainder of the day and no one knows when those folks can get on their feet.  I don't know what is happening in the evenings on the lake, but the mornings could not be much better.

Yesterday, Gene Locke and I kidnapped Richard Albair, who owns and runs Bridge City Bait for a short fishing trip.  We had a blast as the trout were all over the north end as well as the redfish.  Our best trout nudged the five pound mark and our largest red was a hair over the 27 inches.  We caught our fish on plastics under a Mauler and topwaters.

Today we limited on trout and kept four redfish in less than two hours time.  Most of the trout hit a bone diamond or glow chartreuse Sea Shad under a Mauler, but the largest trout and all of the reds ate a bone He Dog.  The reds were just blowing up all over a Spook and a smaller She Dog, but they weren't missing the He Dog.

Once again we never got off the north end of the lake.  I think we could have limited in one spot had we never left the barrel channel just south of Sidney Island. The morning conditions have been perfect, but we have had some serious weather blow in around noon each day.

If you are a client that I have backed up all spring and early summer because the catching was too inconsistent...now is the time to try again.  More especially if you live close enough to drive in and out on the same day.

I have cancelled several trips scheduled over the next few weeks due to the uncertainty with the New Orleans refugees.  At least over the short term, they desparately need any lodging they can find and I have no intention of forcing them out of their room for a fishing trip.  I have discounted the trips for those clients that rescheduled in appreciation of their kindness and understanding.

If you live close enough, however, to drive in and out on the same day give me a call.  This is the kind of action we have been waiting for!