Colburn's Sabine Connection

Fishing picking back up in spite of wind and rain!

Between getting ready for Christmas, Christmas day itself, and a minor computer problem...I am a week behind on my fishing reports.  My wife recently bought a new computer and I had no idea it had a wireless key board that required batteries.  No troubleshooting with me...one malfunction and it belongs to her again!

 I think I fished everyday last week but Christmas and I should have gone after Church today.  The front roared in before daylight and the wind settled down faster than predicted. I never had any super days following last week's cold snap, but we released at least one big trout most every trip and the redfish started moving back in Tuesday.

Actually, the best trip I made was half a day on Christmas Eve.  I was drinking coffee when Rick Robison called me about 5:30 a.m. and I just could not stand it.  I thought I had everything taken care of but that proved to be an irresponsible assumption.  Overwhelmed with guilt, I raced home around noon, but there weren't enough hours left in the day to make up for going AWOL to fish.  Fishing everyday with clients or even scouting is both expected and well accepted, but fishing for fun on Christmas Eve was not a good idea.

The good news was that the wind was not too bad that morning, the water temperature was back up to 58 degrees and we picked up two limits of reds and three very nice trout that we released early.  We caught every fish on a glow-chartreuse Corky Devil.  I experienced my first twinge of guilt about nine, but they were still biting too good to leave!

The south wind was a nightmare Friday and Saturday.  We checked only two areas and still caught a few nice fish in a couple of hours Friday morning. I tried to get Doug Garmany to postpone Saturday's trip Friday night as they were calling for even harder winds and they were right.  He would have none of that and once again I nearly canceled a trip I shouldn't have!

We picked up a couple of slot reds and a nice trout and released several smaller fish right off the bat in the lake before the wind blew us out.  You could get in about ten casts per drift in the whitecaps and we missed far more fish than we landed.  When we could stand it no longer, we retreated to the bayous and took advantage of an outgoing tide the rest of the day.

Doug and his son, Johnathan, beat the wind with this nice red!

The reds were still there and we also managed one more trout and a nice flounder as well. Doug's eleven year old son, Johnathan, caught his first redfish and it was a thick 26-inch fish.  We caught fish right on the shoreline and as deep as eight feet fishing glow-chartreuse and pumpkin Sea Shads.  I caught one slot fish on a quarter ounce Red Daddy spinnerbait, but did not fish it long.

We ate some spray running rough water and even after all of this rain, the north end of the lake was pretty salty.  I was also surprised that we still had about 10 to 12 inches of visibility.  Even with the rain and unwanted wind, the best news was that we turned over at least one big trout on nearly every trip.  If this weather holds and that water temeprature stays in the high 50's we should see some BIG trout this week!

This one report per week thing might be a better idea than trying to file one nightly if I can remember to do it on Friday night.  The particulars of individual trips are not that important anyway and at least you would still have the big picture prior to the weekend.  I'll wish you aHappy New Year now just in case I decide to start doing that in 2009!  

It has been unreal!

I cannot recall dreading the arrival of another front as much as I did this one.  We enjoyed an incredible four day run and may have seen a total of five other boats over that span.  It may well be because we couldn't see any other boats due to a fog that would not lift all day long, but for whatever reason, we had a lot of fish to ourselves.

I knew when I put the boat on the trailer yesterday evening that things would change overnight and the north wind has howled all day long.  We watched the surface temp slowly rise from 53.5  on Thursday to 60.8 on Saturday and the fish responded just as expected.  I never cleared the trails on my GPS so that I could make the same run each day and they are still on their just in case!

Mike Cooley caught and released several limts of reds this size.

We will have to wait and see just how cold it does get and how much rain we get, but I am hoping it will not be enough to move the fish.  After just hammering the fish under the birds earlier in the week, I had clients willing to grind away on the flats in search of larger trout.   They were there, but they had to be quick to beat the redfish to the lure.

Unable to resist the urge, Mike Cooley booked at the last moment, drove in from Lufkin the next morning and we caught fish on three different flats in 2 to 4 feet of water from the time I shut the big engine down in the dense fog until we just called it quits around 3:00 p.m.  Incredibly enough, we caught only 2 or 3 reds that were not in the slot out of a minimum of 75 fish.  Right before we left, he put his rod in the rack and I told him, "We will leave as soon as I can make two casts without a strike or catching another fish."  After two more fish on consecutive casts I broke a rod and we called it a day!

Catching beats the heck out of fishing!

We turned over two very nice trout running with those reds, but I didn't realize how many were in the area until the following morning.  Afraid that the approaching front may kill the fantastic bite, I loaded up Andrew, my nine year old Grandson who thought the fog was really cool, and we returned to the same area.  The first fish we stuck was a 27 1/2 inch trout that inhaled an electric chicken Catch V.

When we finally got a good look at her and I saw that she was not the trout I continue to look for, I wished that he had caught her.  She looked three feet long in the off colored water and I would have sworn she was much larger had she pulled off.   Less than ten minutes later, he caught a fat 26-inch trout on a Corky Devil, but he gave it very low marks.  He did not see the point in catching big trout if you have to turn them loose and redfish pull on his drag longer anyway.  I do not think he will feel that way if he continues fishing!

Andrew was pleased that his best red made the slot.

We caught two more big trout that we didn't even measure before putting them back, but he was madder at the reds than the trout and they were everywhere we stopped.  I caught them on Corkies, Catch V's, Mirrodine XL's, spinnerbaits, and BLURP Sea Shads.  Andrew stuck with spinnerbaits and GULP in hopes of eliminating any interference from the trout.

After losing a couple of Corkies and a Catch V to redfish that were suicidal anyway, I eliminated the leader and started tying directly to the braid.  It didn't slow the redfish down at all, but we never caught another trout until I picked up a rod with a flurocarbon leader. I stuck another big trout on the second cast.

I swapped back and forth and never even hung a trout on the rod without a leader.  Food for thought, but as for me, I will not eliminate the leader again anytime soon.  Brad DesLatte and a friend shared a foggy stretch of water with Andrew and I for a little while and they boated ten trout up to six pounds very quickly.  They also caught a pile of reds.

This 30-inch red lost two extended battles in an hour's time and still exploded out of my hands when released! 

Only to point out how incredibly resilient redfish are, I am including a picture of a red that we caught and released that they released less than an hour earlier.  It isn't hard to tell how we knew it was the same fish.  In spite of the wound and the earlier battle, it took me forever to wear the red down when it ate an identical Catch V.  After two exhausting battles, it exploded out of my hands when I released it!~    

I   

Gulls, redfish, and lots of fog!

The fog has just been incredible the past couple of days, but the fishing has been unreal.  Aaron Jablonsky brought his Grandfather, John, back down for a return shot at some redfish yesterday and we had a heck of a trip.  Had it not been for the GPS, we may never have returned as the fog was thicker at 3:00 than it was at daylight and it was bad then.

Aaron and his Grandpa caught redfish all day long.

We would ride a short distance, shut down the big engine, and listen for the birds.  Every flock we found was working over big schools of slot redfish.  Aaron usually comes down once or twice a year with his buddies Darin and Wayne, but they couldn't make it this time. He wanted me to remind them that hecaught and released their limits several times over and that wasn't an exaggeration! 

84-years young and the redfish still fear him!

We caught most all of our fish on glow chartreuse, pumpkin, and roach assassins, but Aaron did catch a few on GULP which he calls, "redfish candy".  Only time will tell if the genes made it through two generations of Jablonskys, but Grandpa John is still as tough as they come at 84 years young.  We stayed wet and cold all day long, got our arms worn out by turbo charged redfish, and he never missed a cast! 

I don't know if the birds are ever going to quit and that is fun and easy, but we are also catching some very large trout in 2 to 4 feet of water right now.  Its a far slower bite, but I will fish all day for a handful of strikes. I am dying to get back over to Big Lake, but we are catching the same kind of trout on Sabine right now....just not as many.

You will just have to forgive me, but this is the one time of the year that I tend to skip a report or two as chasing "big trout" gets a little personal.  It is really difficult to share that kind of information when you log a lot of fishless hours, fail far more than you succeed, and freeze your butt off in the process.

 Big is a relative term, but I still consider anything over seven pounds to be worthy of the chase and we are catching those kind of fish and a few even larger right now.  Not a lot...... but I am only looking for one!

Redfish are doing their thing right now!

I had a group scheduled for today that wanted to wade in hopes of catching a really big trout, but we canceled at the landing due to the direction more than the speed of the wind.  The weatherman was right about it getting stronger throughout the day.  It would have been wasted money.

The water was blown out badly yesterday, but it didn't bother the redfish or the trout.  The birds continued to work over some very solid trout and redfish in the mid-lake area and the redfish bite was excellent in the river and the shallow flats just off the ICW.  Most of the folks that I talked with that cashed in on the redfish used frozen shrimp, cut mullet, or GULP.

The best trout of the day hit chicken on a chain and glow-chartreuse Assassins fished under a Mauler or Kwik Cork the last hour of the day.  Those fish were under the birds and several of them were in the 20 to 23-inch class. It did not seem to matter if you used the longer Texas Shad or the smaller Sea Shad.

I got two very good reports from friends that tried to fish the lake early today, but returned to the bayous and river and did well.  Jim Thomas said they had no problem limiting on slot reds and released at least ten more.  Dana Picou said they returned to the same spot that they killed the reds in yesterday and never caught the first red, but they did catch 7 stripers up to 11 pounds.  They were fishing Hoginars in 12 to 15 feet of water.  They ran back out to the same area after lunch and never caught another striper, but limited on reds!

I just decided I could do it all the next day!

Just as predicted while writing yesterday's report, I could not resist the temptation.  Only Johnny Cormier would park in front of my house with his boat already hooked up and call on the cell phone.  I guess I am left to wonder if I had not answered whether or not he would have gotten out and knocked on the door. So, on a day off from fishing..... I shirked my more mundane responsibilities and went fishing. At the end of the day, I was glad that I answered the phone!

The wind was screaming out of the southeast by the time we got to Big Lake and it looked like it would pour any minute, but it never rained a drop.  It continually got cooler and the water stacked up, but no one was complaining.

The last trout to make the traveling squad was another solid fish.

The Stake-Out Stik was in the water and I was still tying on a shock leader when Cormier stuck the first trout.  We left the house so fast that I didn't know what I had brought along or what was still in my boat.  When he stuck a fish that quickly, I tied on the first Corky that shook loose from a pile of tangled baits and headed a little further down the shoreline.  It proved to be a good color as a four pound trout slammed it on my second cast and it was "game on" for the next couple of hours.

Most of our fish were in the 20 to 25-inch range and they were all fat.  We wound up spread out a pretty good distance and still caught fish in both areas fishing over 2 to 4 feet of mud and shell.  We both kept ten fish, but we released several more quality trout.   I put one back in the six-pound class, but Johnny missed one of those special trout on his way back to the boat.

Ten trout that  I would be happy with every trip!

We drifted a flat right at dark and picked up two more fish in the 3 to 4-pound class on a Catch 2000 before we called it a day. Dark doesn't necessarily mark the end of a trip for Johnny, so I was both pleased and surprised when he flipped on the running lights and suggested we head back.  It was enjoyable fishing that late for a change and the fishing could not have been any better, but it was getting too cold for a t-shirt and a wading jacket.

The dilemma for me now is that we are starting to catch big trout on both Sabine and Big Lake at the same time.  I always feel like my next cast is going to produce a double digit fish on Big lake from now through March, but I also feel like we are going to see some double digit trout on Sabine again this year.

The wind kept us off the big trout this time last year, then we had a great year on big trout in the early summer, and we have already seen several 8's in the past two weeks. I was emailed some pictures of several 27-inch plus fish taken off Sabine last week, but that was their trip and they can share it if they choose to do so.  I really appreciated the heads-up!

I will wind up postponing or canceling more trips than I actually get in across the next few months, but if you have a strong constitution and are not afraid to zero, there is no better time of the year to catch the best trout of your life.  I think the potential reward far outweighs the risk. If that interests you, give me a call and don't let me cancel the trip due to the weather forecast at the last minute.  I invariably go anyway and wind up catching a big fish, but it beats having to apologize for not canceling at the end of the day.  

Good bite on a cold day!

I do not skip Church very often, but Capt. Chuck called and we had not worked a party together in a long time.  On top of that, it was Howard Watson's group and he is fun to fish with.   It was 36 degrees and a northeast wind was howling at daylight, but it didn't bother the gulls.  We were both shocked to find them still working all over the north end of the lake and most of the trout under them were good solid keepers.

We stuck with swim baits and tails in glow-chartreuse and bone diamond all morning long.  The easy bite was a blessing as the wind really made it difficult to hang with a school of fish.  It was pretty much a case of blowing through the fish on the whitecaps and catching what you could in one pass.  We missed a lot of fish and released a bunch of rat reds, but still left the lake at noon with thirty trout and seven slot reds between the two boats.

Dennis and Debby with a couple of solid keepers on a cold windy morning!

The water clarity was not bad at all considering all of the wind we have had over the past few days.  The surface temperature was 53 degrees at daylight and still only 55 degrees at noon.

Hopefully I will have a good report tomorrow.  Johnny just called to see if I wanted to go wade Big Lake and you don't come home early with Johnny.  He called me on my cell phone and he is parked in my driveway with the boat hooked up.  I guess he knew what the answer would be!

Wind dirtied things up a little, but weekend looks promising

After three consecutive days of a howling wind that made it all but impossible to fish an area that had been very good to us, the wind finally eased up.  I spent most of today at the church getting ready for open house for the Christmas parade, but I talked with some folks that did fish.

Neither of them did well due to some badly off-colored water in Coffee Ground and the flats on the north tip of Pleasure Island.  Both groups waded, but said they did see a few birds working very late in the afternoon.  The weather is supposed to be about as good this weekend as it is going to get prior to another front due in Monday.  You may be able to squeeze one more weekend out of the birds, but the shrimp are about done.

We are going to have to put up with the lake muddying up very quickly with even modest winds for a while just like we did after Rita.  There is a lot of loose sediment that was washed out of the marshes and it takes a while to pack down.  The north wind that blew Wednesday and Thursday would have dirtied up the lake under the best of conditions. 

We were catching some very nice trout prior to all of the wind and I don't think the water will have to clear up too much for that bite to resume. The fish still have to eat and they will do it in dirty water! 

Big trout time is right around the corner!

Sorry about not posting earlier this weekend, but I got caught up with enjoying the holiday and trying to figure out the BCS and here it is Monday already.  I think the bite under the gulls is finally slowing down and and it won't bother me in the least!

Up until my last two trips I had been very lucky counting on the birds to do my work for me.  We fished pretty tough conditions Saturday, but the gulls still worked most of the day.  We caught a ton of small fish, but I could never get confident with any one color and we struggled to put solid fish in the boat.  We finished with a decent catch, but it was my fault that we didn't do a whole lot better.

The trip before that was even more frustrating. We had 8 trout and 2 reds in the box at noon, but had been in birds all day long.  I had tried every color in the box in tails, hard baits, you name it.  We were still working an area after the birds left when a couple in a walk through windshield ski boat drifted up and asked if I had any pearl touts with pink tails.

I pitched him a handful of pearl-pink tail Sea Shads and he informed us that was the only color the big fish would hit.  Perhaps just to prove his point he immediately boated a two pound trout on one of my baits.  His wife caught a slot red and he caught another keeper trout before we could all switch to the magic color.

They thanked us and went on their way.  We never caught the first keeper fish on pearl-pink the rest of the day!

We squeezed in three hours of wading before the wind dirtied up the water and the fish quit biting today.  The ride back was short, but it was a wet one.  We kept four redfish and released several more that were solid slot fish.  We also kept seven 18 to 22-inch trout.  We caught every fish on an electric chicken Catch 2000.  

We were fishing a semi-protected shoreline that didn't stay protected long enough and the fish were feeding on mullet right where the water got choppy.  We caught one small trout in the calmer water.

The SALT Club will host their final general meeting of the year tomorrow night in Port Arthur.  They are going to have a gumbo dinner and will give away a rod and reel combination during the meeting.  Since the tickets purchased previously were lost in the hurricane, the winner will be someone that attends the meeting.

The SALT club lost their club house on the island and are in the process of deciding whether to rebuild  or find a new location.  They have a good time, host year round tournaments, and welcome new members.  For more information call Jay or Stan at 409.963.0043.