Colburn's Sabine Connection

Rare Sunday trip produces big trout!

Maybe once or twice a year, I skip church to fish on a Sunday.  Today was one of those exceptions as I very much enjoy fishing with Jeff Farris of the Dallas area and that was the only day he could make it down here.  He brought his wife,Colleen, this time and I initially thought that a 20 mph southeast wind would doom her first trip.

Big trout will make you forget about the wind!

We chased gulls for about twenty minutes and headed for a flat two miles south of the area that we did so well in the day before.  The white caps were not quite as bad, (2-3 feet) and the water had not silted up at that time.  It would do so before we left.  We saw only three or four other boats on the lake all day as you would not have run out in the lake later in the morning had you not already been there.

After two drifts produced only one small keeper trout, we threw out another drift sock and tied on a heavier jig head.  From that point on it was two or three fish on each drift and they were all good trout.  We put some BIG tout in the boat that we released, but we possibly pulled off at least two trout that were even larger.

The heaviest of the day was a 28-inch fish that weighed 8.4 pounds.  We had all been fishing glow-chartreuse, but I switched to a pumpkin Assassin only because it was handy and the big fish found it in the waves.  I cannot recall fishing a 3/8ths ounce head in water less than five feet deep, but we did not catch a fish on anything lighter.  We were still covering very little water with each cast, but you do what you have to do.

I get to catch a big one every now and then.

We thought for several minutes that Jeff may have stuck the fish of the day, but he finally won the battle in the waves and his big trout turned out to be a 28 inch-redfish.  We caught some smaller slot reds as well, but the big trout owned that stretch of water.

Aside from enjoying a happening in the wind, the most promising aspect was that these fish were on the same pattern much farther down the lake.  I haven't checked out any of the areas that we normally find big fish on this time of the year due to the wind, so this is pretty exciting.  We are going to give the lake to the northeast blast tomorrow and get back after them Tuesday!

I had a reader call tonight with an important message for someone and I hope that it is one of you or someone you know.  He found a new tackle box floating in the middle of the lake that was loaded with lures, etc.  To claim the box call Sheldon at (409)504-9248.

Two good days of fishing!

After struggling Thursday afternoon, I was a little worried about what Friday would bring.  Not to worry....under a cold overcast sky, we had our limits by ten o'clock and enjoyed catch and release the remainder of the day.  The birds worked hard early and it was an easy bite, but the larger trout were under the smaller groups of birds later in the day.

We had hopes of taking advantage of what had been a very good redfish bite, but were forced to settle for only a couple of throw back rat reds and two keeper flounder.  We caught all of our fish on Assassins and Catch V's.

Spence's trout edged his brother's by less than an inch!

Today I fished with Spence and Brian Davis and it was a totally different scene than the day before.  We found a few keepers under the gulls before a strong southeast wind put that bite to bed very early.  We then ran to a semi-protected flat and drift fished 3-5 feet of water with glow chartreuse and pumpkin Assassins.

For about three hours, Spence and Brian did a number on trout up to 24 inches.  I have no idea how many they caught and released, but I enjoyed watching them fish.  They made a tough bite look very easy.  We made some exceptionally long drifts and continued to catch fish as long as we were in 3-5 feet of water.

Brian more than held his own all morning long.

Spence topped his brother's best trout by less than an inch, but they both caught a bunch of fish in the three pound class.  Even with a drift sock we were covering a lot of water much too fast, but it didn't seem to bother the fishermen or the trout too much.  They also kept one slot red and three flounder for the grill tonight.

Their performance was even more impressive considering the fact they didn't get into the camp until 2:00 a.m. and still had an hour drive to meet me at 6:00 a.m. at the Marina.  I don't know that I could have made the bell and fished in that wind all day long!

The water just south of Stewt's and Sidney was a little dirtier today, but the birds were still working decent schools of trout.  The warmest water we found was 59 degrees.