Colburn's Sabine Connection

Wind slowed down a good bite.

After canceling today's trip due to my inability to put together a decent program and a forecast of even more wind, I ran over to the Academt store to buy a few things late yesterday afternoon.  I ran into Robby Bourgeois and a friend of his, Dennis Bryles, and they convinced me to join them for a little trout fishing under the lights.

They have found them a very good spot to fish on the ship channel, but the water was sandy and we only caught a few small trout on bone diamond Sea Shads and avocado Flurry minnows.  The wind was still blowing, but not enough to keep the mosquitoes off of us.  We made a quick run to the jetties just before daylight and did well for about forty-five minutes in semi-protected water.

The water we fished did not look great, but there were a lot of 16 to 20 inch trout doing there thing for a little while.  We caught them on electric chicken Sea Shads and pearl-chartreuse swim baits rigged on quarter ounce heads.  As soon as they slowed down a little, we quit as Dennis had to go to work at 8:00.  I had forgotten how mad you can be at the fish at the age of thirty....I fell asleep three times while Robby was cleaning the sixteen fish we kept. 

I had not been down to the jetties in a while.  Robby said that before this wind kicked up, they had been catching easy limits every day, but very few big fish.  I also talked with Adam Jaynes today and he said they had been catching some nice flounder on the Louisiana shoreline, but this southwest wind had to mess that up at least for the short term.

Hopefully, this wind will ease up and we will see some good fish weighed in Saturday at  the OCARC tournament.  That is a fun event that draws a lot of good area fishermen.  The weigh-in starts at 5:00 at the DERA launch on Adams Bayou.

We're back for the home stretch!

I am back!  We flew to North Carolina to visit my son and daughter-in-law last Thursday and got back Sunday evening.  So much for flying.  We sat on the runway in Houston in a very hot plane waiting in line to take off for an hour and a half.  We finally took off, but it was hot all the way to Raleigh.  We really enjoyed visiting with the kids, but had it not been for our own conversations, I would never have heard the word "fish" for four days.

I did not see a single boat being trailered, in a yard, or otherwise in the Raleigh-Durham area and we rode around a lot. Even worse than that, we walked through a two story sporting goods store (I think it was REI or something like that) and they did not have the first fishing lure nor a rod or reel.  They didn't even have a picture of a rod and reel. I did see a 10-inch bass and a small white perch in an aquarium in the museum.

I haven't been off the water for four straight days in a long time.  We fished today, but I struggled.  The conditions were good enough...I just could not find any good fish.  The water was a little more off-colored on the north end of the lake than it was before I left.  Coffee Ground was much dirtier.  We didn't have a very good tide all morning, but it was coming in when we quit.  The shad were all over the lake last week, but we never saw the first school on top this morning.

I made a short run back to the river after we finished and caught more keeper fish in less than 2 hours than I did all morning in the lake.  That isn't saying much as I kept only 2 slot reds, one big flounder, and four trout that hit an electric chicken BLURP rigged on a quarter ounce head.  I caught every fish working the rocks on the north bank of the ICW east of Conway's.  I didn't see much bait working, but the water looked good and it felt good to get my string pulled on again by a solid fish.

We'll be on the water again Thursday and hopefully have a better report.

Wind made it tough today!

Mike and Jan Dore fished with me Monday morning and we struggled to catch keeper fish early.  The lady fish were hustling shad on the surface around the pipeline all morning, but we could not catch a good trout fishing in amongst them.  We caught small trout and an assortment of other fish, but just could not get a good trout bite going.                                

      Jan Dore released this one to fight again!

We switched to live bait later in the morning and caught a few very solid trout that included a 27-inch fish that we took a picture of and released.  We found those trout well up on a flat in less than three feet of water.  Their trip included a visit with their family in Pt. Neches so we shut it down around noon.

On the ride back, the wind just died and the shad started showing up in huge schools south of the separator in front of Stewts.  I cleaned and iced their fish, grabbed a bite to eat at The River Rat, and ran back out to see if anything was going to chase all of that bait.  I fished three schools of shad that the ladyfish were chasing and it was a repeat of the morning scenario.

I then ran further south and found both keeper size trout and redfish chasing shrimp and shad.  There weren't as many schools of shad on the surface, but the better fish were there and they were holding tight.  I caught  fish on a chrome-green back She Dog until I got tired of  dealing with the treble hooks and switched over to a black shad Shiner Assassin.

I had it rigged on a quarter ounce jig head and the redfish could not leave it alone when retrieved very slowly just off the bottom.  A Mr.Leo Powers and his partner, Gerald, joined me on the last school I fished and I gave them my last three Shiners before leaving. They called tonight looking for more....I am too!

I was surprised to find the tide just pouring out on the way back in, which mandated one more stop.  A southeast wind was blowing pretty hard in the open lake and I had not noticed the hard tide change.  I made two drifts from what's left of the Brown Camp to the mouth of East Pass and caught six nice trout and one 26-inch red on Texas Roach Sea Shads.  Most of the fish were in 8 to 10 feet of water.

We postponed today's trip due to the predicted wind, but I talked with two different groups that hugged the east shoreline and did well.  I know this frist report covers a lot of territory, but it was all they would share and I thank folks for any and all reports.  They had sixteen trout and four flounder that they caught in the ship channel between the Causeway and Lighthouse Cove on shrimp.  I don't even know if they were using live shrimp, but I saw the trout and they were all 17 to 20-inch fish.

The other group caught a good box of flounder and released more than they kept.  They were working the Louisiana shoreline with curly tail grubs.  They were done by noon!       

Trout have been on a tear the past two days

My nine year old grandson, Andrew, was all too happy to help me scout out a new bite the past couple of days and the weather could not have been more perfect.  We had just about worn a terrific bite out on some very large trout with live bait this past month and it was time to find out if we could still fish.

Andrew  put the largest trout in the boat today!

As it turned out, there was very little that did not work Thursday and today.  We kept no fish Thursday, but easily went through 50 to 60 fish and didn't get started until 8  o'clock.  We caught fish on She Dogs, swim baits, spoons, plastics under a Paradise Popper, and live bait.  Andrew narrowly missed getting on the S.T.A.R. board with a big gafftop that hit a GULP shrimp drifted under a popping cork.

The shad are all over the surface on the north end of the lake and we would patrol them until we found ladyfish blowing up in the middle of the schools.  The trout and reds were right there with them.  Amazingly enough, you could drift a live shad under a cork or free-lined and the fish would still hit it with all that hook-free bait swimming around!

Today we got out a little earlier and kept the ten fish we needed for a fish fry by 8 o'clock.  Andrew caught our largest trout,a four pounder, with a swim bait under a cork, but we went through a pile of 15 to 19 inch trout.  I do not know how long it lasted because we left to check out new water, but there was a very good bite going on early working the shad right on the pipeline.

We also saw quite a few solid trout taken on live mullet, but no really big fish.  We released some smaller slot reds and Andrew lost a battle with an over sized red that unexpectedly crashed the party.  It surprised both of us when it beat the lady fish and trout to an Assassin he was fishing under a popping cork.

Don't waste your gas chasing terns right now as there is so much bait on top that they may or may not be ratting out feeding fish.  The key to consistently catching easy fish is locating the ladyfish chasing shad on the surface.  Lighter colors in the plastics worked much better for us both days.  We fished a little heavier jig head in order to get beneath the ladyfish and caught our better fish today.

Good conditions....slow bite!

We had a tough day Tuesday and I do not know why.  We didn't have much tide, but it should have been good enough.  We got a swing at one very nice red and two big trout, but otherwise it was a long day.  We caught a few keeper trout up to three pounds and some small throwbacks on live mullet when we were not fishing the flats with plastics.

There was a lot of shad on the surface in the river and the lake, but the only thing we found chasing them were ladyfish.  We stuck one real good trout on a swim bait working that program.  With the exception of Coffee Ground and the East Pass-West Pass areas, the water was in great shape.

They are burying pipe across East Pass right now and the water is badly off-colored. We were working terns yesterday and idled through two different designated crossing areas on the north end that were less than two feet deep.  We hit debris material in both of them that you may or may not hit on plane.  Both of them were 1.6 to 1.8 feet deep.  Most of the designated crossings in that area are 4,8 to 6.6 feet deep.  Maybe some dredge material got away from them, but I wouldn't take anything for granted.

The live bait bite has just been too easy.  I guess we are going to have to learn to fish again!

Plan B was Plan A all day!

We did not get to do what we set out to do, but we still had a pretty good day.  The wind got up early and we were unable to run some open lake to see if the fish were still chasing shad on the surface.  We spent the entire morning drowning finger mullet, but the trout found enough of them to keep us in the game.  It was a crazy morning as we would either catch or miss two or three fish very quickly, then never get another bite for half an hour.

Richard got started right with this nice trout.

We only had two really good fish, but had a shot at least three other big trout that either broke off or pulled off prior to reaching the net.  I do have a new net that I haven't lost yet and it came in handy today.  Even when it is slow, there are enough big trout still running the banks of the ICW  to keep you on high standby!

The best depth for us was 3 to 4 feet even later in the day.  We had been doing well fishing deeper during the middle portion of the day, but those trout never showed for us.  We had some serious lulls in the action after about 10 a.m. as I counted 1,144 cars traveling north over the Rainbow Bridge before we finally picked up the anchor for the last time!!

On the trip out this morning, we saw huge schools of shad all over the ICW that we have not been seeing until the last few days.  We had a good incoming tide and the water gets clearer every day.  If this wind will  lay back down, I think we are going to  have the opportunity to burn lots of gas chasing birds again.

No show today, but a very good day yesterday!

Every once in a great while I fail to have a client show up and this was one of those mornings.  That is the lone drawback of not requiring a deposit, but something bad may have happened on his end.  Mike Cooley is scheduled to fish with me tomorrow and he will show.  Mike would walk here from Lufkin and still be early to fish!

We had a great day yesterday.  The wind got up a little later in the day, but we set up on some very good fish right off the bat and were playing by mid-morning.  We started out with live bait in about four feet of water and caught fish at three different stops.  Once again we had a very weak tide, but at least it was moving a little and that is all it took.

Kristen tamed a very nice trout with her new pink fishing rod!

For the first time in a long time we ran across terns working over both trout and ladyfish in the  mid-lake area.  The water was beautiful and the fish were chasing both shad and small shrimp.  We caught a couple of keeper trout on topwaters and swim baits before the wind really started blowing.  Maybe the best news of all was that Kristen Coyle was free-lining a mullet while we were chasing the trout and she almost had her rod jerked out of her hands by a big red.

Redfish schooling in the open lake is the norm rather than the exception for the next couple of months.  Let's hope it is just getting started!

We saw a lot of shad rafting up all morning long so maybe we have another program about to kick off.  About three-fourths of the lake has been like a ghost town for the past month with little or no gull activity.  There are not a lot of folks into riding around and scouting at $4 a gallon.  The jetty bite has improved, as has the :La. pocket and short rigs.  That bite was simply a matter of getting good conditions and they have been good lately.

Two short trips produce different results

I had an opportunity to fish a few hours both yesterday and today with old friends and it was enjoyable.  It was not overly productive.  Our 7-8 year olds are still alive in the All-Star Tournament and we have been playing baseball every night.

I was not on the water two hours today, but the lake was still in great shape and bait was easy to catch.  The wind was blowing pretty good and we did not have much tide which made it a little difficult.  By the time they brought me back to the dock we had just caught some small trout so they headed right back out.  I just got in from practice and they haven't called with a report.

Yesterday we gave in to the wind and fished in the ship channel.  I had never fished that stretch of water, but I will go back.  We didn't have a great tide, but the water was pretty and the wind did not bother us at all.  We released several keeper trout, two slot reds, and kept eleven flounder.  We may have fished a total of three hours so that was pretty steady action. 

We lost several fish to the rocks or some kind of debris on the bottom.  We were fishing a small flat on the east side of the channel in about 3-4 feet of water.  We caught all of the fish on finger mullet that were really a little too small.  We had some shad, but never caught a keeper fish on a shad.

I don't know if all of the gulls just packed up and moved to Galveston, but they are not around here.  We found two groups of small trout working over shrimp on the surface before we left the main lake and there
was not a bird in sight.

I have had several readers ask where they can buy live shrimp around here and I do not have an answer for that question.  We never fish live shrimp so I have never had to hunt them.  Any time I accidentally catch a
few big ones in the cast net I do not share them with the fish!

Great day in spite of near miss!

We went searching for a S.T.A.R. qualifying trout for Bryan Sandow's daughters, Lynesey and Lauren today and very nearly got it done.  We stuck with the live bait bite all day and never got bit before 10 a.m.  After running and hiding from a storm we ran back out in the lake and the bite was on when we got there.

Somewhere between running in and running out  again we unknowingly lost a critical piece of equipment that would come back to haunt us.  Leslie stuck a big trout that she did a great job with until we realized that we had lost the net on the run back into the lake. Total panic!

I could not get the fish to open its mouth to use the Boga Grip, I tried to pick it up with both hands only to have it cartwheel out of a poor grip, and just when I thought we might win the battle the leader broke.  It did not help that the big fish slowly finned away just beneath the surface so that we could get a really good look at her before swimming away..  Lynesey and her Mom took it a whole lot better than I did.

Lauren and Lynesey Sandow with two big trout that were near misses!

From that fish on, we enjoyed a very steady bite.  After Bryan, who was fishing in his boat with his youngest daughter brought us his net, Lynesey and Lauen boated two more 25 inch fish that were just under the six pound mark.  We wound up with a good box of fish that also include two slot reds, but the one I really wanted and missed still bothers me. I hope someone finds my net floating in the ICW and takes better care of it than I did.

We had a strong incoming tide this morning and most of the north end of the lake really cleared up good.  I think the bite on plastics was a little slow, but we talked with live bait fishermen that did well in Middle Pass, between the piers on the south revetment wall, and along the ICW on the north side of Sidney.  We spent most of our day on the edge of the ICW from Stewt's to Pleasure Island.  There was a lot of traffic, so the holiday weekend could get crowded all over the lake.

Big fish bite has tapered off following the light front

We have caught some fish, but the last two days would have been considered a struggle after what has been going on for the past two weeks.  The live bait bite slowed with the weak tide changes and the water has dirtied up a little around the islands on the north end of the lake.

We are still catching solid trout on both plastics and live bait, but the numbers have not been there this week. We have been finding some solid redfish and flounder on the La. shoreline and they have been in the flooded grass.  GULP shrimp and four inch tails in Texas Roach and pumpkin have worked the best for us.

We did find some terns working over keeper trout in front of Bridge Bayou for the first time in a while yesterday.  We are also seeing a lot of small shrimp near the shoreline.  Scot Jackson and Peter Shaddock (yep..they were two of Stark High's finest in the late 50's) returned to their old stomping grounds for a day to fish with me and Scot claimed home field advantage.  He not only caught the largest fish, but the most as well and that's all there is to that story!

Scott "the fishing machine" Jackson claimed home field advantage with his nice red!

The water is much clearer in the open lake than it is up on the north end right now.  The most consistent bite is still at the jetties.  The water looks very good down there and one side or the other has been very fishable depending on the direction of the wind.