Colburn's Sabine Connection

Dealer's choice

At the risk of challenging Mother Nature and having her prove she can wash out the best of bites, our fishing just can't get much better.  We had a great day again yesterday on both trout and redfish.  I have been trying to take care of a week's worth of things I haven't gotten done on dry land this morning and Chuck already called to say they were hammering both trout and redfish.  I may not get anything done again today!

Small groups of gulls and terns are working all over the lake.  Once they leave, just stick around and stay with the fish that are chasing shrimp to the top after the birds leave.  We are catching more oversized reds in the lake than in the river, but that is a problem we can live with.

The water is in great shape in the river as well and the flounder are starting to do their thing.  It has been dealers's choice as far as colors and lures.  We stuck with topwaters yesterday evening only because we already had a limit and were playing.  Glow chartreuse, pumpkin-chartreuse and bone diamond have all been very good rigged on a one-eighth ounce jig head or fished under a Mauler.

The next norther should push even more bait into the lake, but we'll gladly settle for what is going on right now!

It is on!

Richard and Josh Taft

I have always been quick to cancel or postpone trips anytime excessive winds are predicted.  After the past two days, however, I may never do so again.  I was initially afraid that Thursday's exceptional bite would be blown out for the weekend or even ruined by muddy water, but neither event occurred.

Friday I fished an old college team mate, Richard Taft and his son, Josh, and we had a great day catching up on the past forty years while working the flats bordering the Intracoastal.  We quickly limited on reds and caught trout and flounder up to three pounds before calling it quits around two o'clock.  We couldn't fish the area I had done so well on the day before with the MirrOminnow, so we stuck with live bait.

The following day, we had exactly the same gale force conditions and knocked them dead again.  Brian Bommer and Richard Miles and their eleven year old daughters, Kate and Skye, went through a pile of redfish and trout.  I think Brian tied on as many hooks and rebaited as many lines as I did. There is no telling how many fish they pulled off or broke off aside from the ones boxed, but it mattered little.  We also had several nice flounder up to 21 inches.

Kate Bommer and Skye Miles caught these reds but wouldn't touch them.

I have never been afraid of Plan B in the fall, which has always been the river for me as long as the water is in good shape, but it isn't always this crazy this early.  We are due some serious north wind over the next couple of days and that should only improve the bite. The marsh is still full of water so we have a lot of bait and fish yet to be pushed out.  The fish I caught Thursday have to swim less than fifty yards to be right back in the lake so that bite could kick off overnight.

I have no idea how many folks I have been backing up all summer long, but you can give me a shout to book a date if I haven't already e-mailed you.  For those of you waiting on the flounder run...don't wait too long as they are already doing their thing. We still have some open days in October and November and it looks like it is going to be something else!   

A bite worth waiting for!

I fished all summer long for today and it may be over as fast as it started.  In a 3-4 hour period this morning I limited on reds and caught more keeper trout than I have caught in the past two months.  Yes is the answer to both of the obvious questions.  "I caught a bunch and yes...I have had a tough summer!"

After checking several spots for trips this weekend, I stopped in the river long enough to catch and release several reds just under the slot and one very nice flounder.  Then came the rain and more rain.  Because it looked a little clearer to the south, I ran back toward the lake, but stayed on the  Intracoastal.  It was raining even harder when a trout hit a finger mullet that I was retrieving for another cast.

I picked up a rod with a pearl colored MirrOminnow tied on and a tough month was soon forgotten.  I have caught every small trout in Sabine at least twice this summer, but these fish were all 2-3 pounds with the largest easily pushing five pounds and it was a bite a minute for three hours.  I re-tied once or twice, but never changed lures.

It was raining so hard that I had to hold my breath to keep from drowning until I could stop and unzip the hood on my raincoat.  The fish were running the bank in less than two feet of water, but I never saw the first trout chase anything to the surface.  It was tough even making out the shoreline in that rain, must less seeing a shrimp jump.

By the time I cleaned my rig up and hooked up the charger late this evening, one of those five mile per hour south winds was blowing the garbage cans across the yard.  I am afraid to even look at the weather report.  Even if this program is blown out for the weekend, it is nice to know that the quality trout are alive and well.  I don't do lightning with clients, but I was alone today and I couldn't have picked a better way to go.  You had to be there!

Flounder bite continues to improve

We struggled through the weekend in spite of weather that we could not complain about.  Every where we went we found small trout, but keeper fish were very hard to come by.  We did manage to pick up some nice flounder and a few redfish.

The lake is in fantastic shape and covered with bait fish.  Our most consistent bite, however, was in the river.  We fished today and it rained on us all morning long. We never even ran to the lake and it proved to be a good decision.  Live shad and a glow chartreuse Sea Shad fished on a 1/8th ounce head were all we needed as we finished with three reds, eleven flounder, and twelve keeper trout. 

The trout were full of shrimp, but we never saw the first fish chase a shrimp on top.  The flounder were full of both small shad and finger mullet.  When we got back in to the landing, two other groups were cleaning limits of redfish that they caught on live bait in Bessie Heights.  If you are waiting on the flounder run to start....you are late.  If it hasn't already started it is going to be something to behold!

One stiff cold front needed!

If check the weather forecast and see a fifteen mile per hour wind predicted, we are going to have to evacuate.  We fished another five mile per hour wind yesterday and it was far too rough to fish most of the lake.  We stayed in the lake rather than spending another day in the river and did okay on both flounder and redfish.

The water is in great shape and there is plenty of bait in the lake.  There is still a lot of water in the marsh, but one good cold front could change all of that and it would help.

We caught our redfish on spoons and chrome She Pups drifting shallow mud flats off the La. shoreline.  The flounder were off the shoreline, but where you found one..you found several.  A glow curl tail grub or Chub Minnow rigged on a 1/8th ounce horse head jig worked well al morning.  We sprayed them down with Bang attractant in a garlic scent rather than tipping with shrimp.

We worked 3 or 4 small groups of birds and caught only small trout under each group.  They are aggressive and chasing shrimp, but we failed to find any good solid fish. 

redfish on the prowl

We made a short, but productive half day trip on Sabine today.  Rather than spend the day catching and releasing small trout all morning we opted to run the shoreline and flats in search of redfish.  The bite proved to be much easier than anticipated.

We started on a shallow flat on the north end where we had seen several redfish the day before, but fished them only briefly.  They were much more aggressive this morning as they chased small pods of finger mullet in less than a foot of water for over an hour.  We didn't really cash in on the bite until we switched from tails to quarter ounce gold spoons.

After limiting, we caught and released several more slot fish.  We then ran south and found one more small school working under terns.  When that action ended, we finished the morning playing with the small trout on ultralight tackle.  We are still having trouble locating any concentrations of solid trout, but the conditions are improving daily.

There is still a lot of water in the marsh, but the shrimp are starting to filter out of the bayous and into the lake.  I have no problem with catching reds and flounder, but I look forward to screeching gulls and keeper trout in the open lake! 

Bite continues to improve

A little too much north wind eliminated some water I would liked to have checked out this morning, but that is the only complaint.  The north end of the lake continues to clear up and there was even more bait running the banks today.  The first trout caught this morning was just over 27 inches long and it has been a while between big trout for me.  She hit a bone Catch V in two feet of water.

We picked up three more keeper trout and a slot red before checking out the La. shoreline.  I saw very little gull activity, but a lot of shrimp with rat reds and small trout right behind them.  We also caught a few keeper flounder fishing the mud flats at the mouths of the bayous.  The flounder were well off the bank in about three feet of water.  We caught them, as well as most of the small trout on LSU Chub Minnows and glow-chartreuse Sea Shads.

We also picked up two nice trout working points in the river on the way back.  They were holding in 12 feet of water.  The water in the river is in super shape right now.   

Gulls work two days in a row!

While most of the trout have been on the small side, we finally had two consecutive days of fish working under the birds this weekend.  It has been a mixture of terns and gulls working over shrimp most of the morning.  At least for now, everything from sand trout to redfish are running together in pursuit of the shrimp.

We still found our larger trout in the bayous bouncing glow-chartreuse and new penny Sea Shads off the bottom in 3-5 feet of water.  We also caught a few redfish and flounder as well, but that is not unusual when fishing the bayous.  The better flounder have gotten even more active with the lower temperatures.

We caught only a couple of slot reds under the birds, but I talked with two other groups that limited on redfish Monday morning just south of the condos on Pleasure Island.  They were throwing Hoginars and half ounce Rat-L-Traps.  They found them schooling on top without a single gull around.

The water is looking much better as it seems to clear up in patches.  Some of the clearest water in the lake is just east of the North revetment wall, but the largest concentrations of bait are south of the tanks in front of Willow.  There is no doubt that the shrimp are starting to exit the marshes on the Louisiana side and most of them are large white shrimp.  We might have finally put a slow summer to rest!