Colburn's Sabine Connection

Trout and reds hungry following front

After struggling with the cold and scratching around in the mud due to an unwanted north wind and low tide Friday, we enjoyed improved fishing the remainder of the weekend.  I missed Saturday's nearly perfect weather, but talked with two other resident angers that had great evening trips.

One group waded all day Friday and zeroed.  The following two days they limited on trout up to four pound drifting the same area. They caught all of their trout on limetreuse and red shad Culprits.  The other group caught six trout and a limit of redfish on gold Traps.  They found their redfish under the birds.  Both catches came off the extreme south end of the lake late in the day.  Both groups said the shad were all over the surface about a hundred yards off the shoreline and the fish were with them.

We caught our better trout Sunday in 3 to 4 feet of water bouncing glow chartreuse plastics off  scattered shell.  We never found a big concentration of fish, but every small patch of shell seemed to hold a fish or two and they were taking the bait like they were hungry.  We did fish one flock of birds early for about a half and hour or so and caught fish darn near every cast, but most of them were small.

Hopefully that was the last major cold front as our fishing is ready to bust loose.  The water is in excellent shape and the bait is everywhere.  I just can't believe someone hasn't done a number on the trout on the reefs on the south end.  That bite is right around the corner.  I also look for the first double digit trout to show up in the next couple of weeks.

If I can help you with any questions regarding patterns, colors, etc. before you make your next trip feel free to call or send an e-mail.  If you would like to book a trip with us we still have some open days in the upcoming month.  Its a good time to be on Sabine!

Trout apparently bit in spite of wind

Just a quick report for those of you that can't stand it any longer.  In spite of a howling wind that kept my rig on the trailer, I still received two reports from good friends that caught trout on the lake yesterday.  Both catches were made between 3:00 p.m. and dark.

One group found the birds working on the north end of Pleasure Island in three foot swells and caught 14 trout and 2 redfish on LSU colored soft plastics rigged on 3/8th ounce heads.   They said they caught at least half of their fish drifting the same area after the birds left.

The other group had only five trout, but two of them were over five pounds.  They waded the Coffee Ground Cove area and caught their fish on black-chartreuse and pink Corkies.  They pulled off two other big fish that were either very good trout or redfish.

This late cold front might slow both of those bites down over the next couple of days, but its encouraging to know someone can still catch fish in wind like that!

Wind just wont' give us a break.

I wish I had a good report, but we stood under the awning at the marina and watched it rain all day today.  We have had a long run of unfishable wind this month after experiencing a very good January and February.  I might have to go back to Toledo Bend if this doesn't improve!

We got a pretty good rain today, but the water still looked good.  A stong south wind and big incoming tides have the water in the lake and bayous well up into the grass for the first time this spring.  I talked with two bass fishermen that caught several small reds and four keeper flounder working Whacky worms in the Black's Bayou area yesterday. 

If this little front doesn't hammer us too badly wind-wise over the next couple of days, we should start seeing some good catches of flounder.  It can't hurt the trout fishing either as we needed something to kick start the bite on the southeast shoreline. 

I postponed yet another trip scheduled for tomorrow rather than fight 20 mile per hour winds so the wind probably won't blow at all.  Hopefully it will let up for the latter part of the week.  We may drag up and move over to Big lake, but there aren't many places to hide over there in a stiff north wind either.  The long awaited big trout bite is just now starting over there, however, so it may be worth the misery even in the wind.

Big Lake is waking up!

We took a chance on the weather after cancelling a group and once again the conditions could not have been more perfect.  Had we not cancelled it would have poured and the wind would have blown 30 miles per hour all day. We fished with Frogg Toggs on most of the day, but the wind gave us a break and the big trout were on the move.  Becasue of the predicted wind we made a run to Big Lake rather than fight Sabine. 

We caught trout from the time we arrived until the time we left and never got out of the boat to make a wade.  Ron Harneson caught the largest trout, a fish very close to the eight pound mark, on a chartreuse Corky Devil.  We didn't keep any fish or weigh any, but that guestimate couldn't have been far off  the mark.  We had six or seven more trout in the five pound class and that trout was much larger than any of them..  We were fishing in his new boat and a set of scales wasn't the only thing we were short on!

Most of our larger trout bit Catch V's.  The fish really got active from around ten in the morning until about three o'clock.  We saw two other guided groups catching good numbers of smaller fish drifting soft plastics over the shell.  We found our trout hanging over mud and shell in 3 to 5 feet of water.  Today was the first time in several weeks that we have been able to lower the anchor and catch more than one fish without continuing to drift.

  We also talked with a pair of anglers that had four or five small redfish and sixteen very nice flounder that they said they caught in Oyster Bayou on shrimp tipped jigs.  We saw the fish, but were at their mercy as far as location and lure.  Their largest flounder might have made three pounds, but they were all good solid fish.

Blown out again

We have been backing up trips for a week now and the forecast doesn't look much better for the next few days.  The wind has just shut everything down.  Far too much shoreline is getting blown out on a daily basis for us to run productive trips. The good news is that we have had some excellent incoming tides and there is more water in the marsh than there has been all winter long.

As soon as we can get back out, I look for the reds to be back in the flooded grass and the flounder bite to be much improved.  Robert Vail called last night to say that he lost his scag and a prop last week when he hit yet another obstruction just off the north end of Pleasure Island.  He had just come up on the flat out of the ship channel when he hit whatever it was.  He is going to mark it as soon as he can get back out. 

Remember to run a little slower and swing wide around any type of markers you might see on your next trip.  Marking or removing any debris you find will help us all and could save a life!

Fog making it tough to run

The last two days have been carbon copies for us.  The fog has been a problem early, but it hasn't taken the southeast wind too long to blow it out.  We actually did a little better yesterday as far as the numbers we put in the boat, but we had a couple of shots at real good trout today.

We have been spending more time on the Intracoastal side of the islands than in the lake which is a little unusual for this time of the year.  We have caught more fish on red shad or pumpkin chartreuse Assassins only because we are catching a few reds and flounder along with the trout.  All of the better trout, however, were caught on a black-chartreuse Corky Devil, a bone Catch V, or a black-chartreuse 2000 both days.

The best bite for us has been a little later in the morning.  We were going to try the La. shoreline south of Green's this morning, but it was just too foggy and we were afraid the wind would pick up late anyway.  It eventually diud just that.  We fished a lot of 67 to 69 degree water which is awful warm for this time of the year.  In spite of the warm water, most of the trout were hanging right on the breaks next to deeper water.  We saw very little bait activity either day.

Good Show....good fishing!

We did it all today.  Got sunburned, filled up a brand new pair of waders with cold water, and caught some very solid trout.  After spending a most enjoyable day at the Holder Show in Houston visiting with old fishing friends yesterday, we decided to take advantage of some pretty decent weather.

It was only the second time I have been on Calcasieu since January and they still have their fair share of unwanted debris deposited around the lake.  As a matter of fact, I hadn't taken three steps when I got very much entangled in what turned out to be no more than three or four feet of hog wire attached to a fence post..  The results were predictable and I sat in the boat and dried off while Daryl Briers and Pete Solock caught four trout up to 25 inches on black Catch 2000s.

When that bite dried up we drifted some shallow shell in the Turner's area and kept 7 more trout in the 16 to 18 inch class on fire tiger Assassins.  The highlight of the day, excluding my nosedive, were two trout that Pete did not get to the boat.  He later informed us that he would have taken either of the two to the taxidermist.

I didn't get a real definitive look at either fish as the water was off-colored and we were in a pretty good chop, but both trout were easily over seven pounds and could have been much larger.  Both of those trout ate a black-chartreuse head Catch 2000 in less than three feet of water.  We talked with two groups of fishermen that said they limited on small trout fishing Traps under the gulls.  We never saw any birds working.

We came back through Port Arthur and there were several boats fishing the reef north of the Causeway.  The water didn't look all that good, but that doesn't mean much.  Hackberry is still badly beaten up, but the stretch from Holly Beach to the eastern side of Johnson Bayou will take your breath if you haven't seen it yet.  It's bad even if you have!

Bite is changing again

Even with the considerably warmer weather, the trout action slowed a little in the lake.  The wind has been coming up about mid-morning making it difficult to fish in the open lake.  The bird action all but stopped and the ones that are working are on top of small trout.

The good news is that some of the larger trout are starting to show back up on the flats.  Catch V's, Catch 2000's and Crazy Croakers in chartreuse, bone and solid black have all been good this week.  While the soft plastic bite has slowed, there were some nice trout taken late Tuesday afternoon on Bone Diamond Assassins in Old River Cove.

We'll fish Saturday and every day next week if the weather will give us a break.  The big trout should start doing their thing on Big Lake as well.  I will be at the Sabine-Neches CCA banquet tomorrow night at the IBEW Hall on Spindletop Road, the Holder Show at the George Brown Center in the CastAway booth all day Friday and the Golden Triangle CCA Banquet in Beaumont next Wednesday night. 

Hope to see you at any one or all of those events!