Colburn's Sabine Connection

A few warm days was all it took!

Mike Taylor had little trouble Saturday night convincing me that I needed to take him and Dan Thompson fishing the next day...... even though I very rarely guide on Sundays.  I like to sit right up front in church on Sunday mornings and pray extra hard that the fish will bite all week long.  I probably shouldn't anticpiate any divine intervention if I bog down this week!   

I know Mike and Dan were both convinced they had wasted their money when we were greeted by a lake full of white caps before ever clearing Middle Pass.  Add to that the fact that we were already running on the GPS due to a blanket of fog and I think they would have taken a rain check right then and gone home.

By the time we got to Bridge bayou, however, we were already finding flatter water and the water clarity was much better than it was even Friday.  When we climbed out of the boat to start our first wade the water was 55 degrees and it was up to 58 when we quit.

Mike gets a better grip on another solid trout. 

We fished a big incoming tide all day long and the bite was steady enough that we fished that one small area all day.  We went through a lot of trout, but never caught anything over 4 pounds.  That said, the fish they elected to keep were all good solid trout.  We put back one over sized red and kept two more in the slot.

The afternoon action was much faster than the morning bite.  I caught a couple of fish on red shad Assassins, but most of our fish came on Corky Fat Boys and Devils.  I think Mike caught everyone of his fish on a strawberry-white Devil, but they ate pink and dayglow pretty good also.

Mike called Dan at the last minute to set up the trip and he left the house knowing he already had a leak in his waders.  He had to crawl out on the bank and dump out the water periodically, but he hung in there all day.  You either have to be tough as nails, eaten up with fishing or a very good friend to endure that much misery for a doggone fish.  I don't know Dan very well, but there is a good chance he is all of the above!

I don't think this little front today will hurt much, but the one later in the week will drive the temperature down pretty good the morning after it passes through.  We will lose at least one day to a stiff north wind, but it should switch back around the following day.  Hopefully, it won't slow a very good bite down too much!

Fish are ahead 2-0!

It won't take you long to read this one.  We had a tough morning under perfect conditions on Sabine Thursday morning and struggled all day long on Calcasieu Friday.  The water was back up in the 50's on both lakes.  It was very dirty on Sabine, but that was not a problem on Calcasieu.

They had done pretty good the evening before on Big Lake(Calcasieu), but the wind switched around early and hammered the west side of the lake all day long.  Adam Jaynes and I caught one decent trout, a few slot reds and 2 flounder in a full day of fishing.  We never managed to put a good program together, but I believe it's just a matter of being in the right spot at the right time on Big Lake.  Sabine, on the other hand, is as tough as it has been all year for me. 

If we get the right day and have decent water clarity (6 to 10-inches) on the La. shoreline, we can catch at least catch a few trout until the reds take over the bite.  Other wise, I have done just about as well in the parking lot and burned far less gas!  

It just won't warm up!

The water is finally starting to look a little better, but it hasn't warmed up much. The warmest water we have found is 48.5.  It doesn't take much wind to get cold and we have been fishing flats that did not have the clearest water, but were at least protected.

The redfish have started doing their thing again, but the trout have been "no shows" for us.  We couldn't keep the reds off our Corkies a week ago and now all they will eat are tails.  Red shad and Texas Roach Assassins have worked the best for us.  We have been switching back and forth between the Corky and tails hoping to get one shot at a good trout, but it is hard to stay focused when you know a redfish is waiting for you to throw a tail in his direction.

I think the wind is going to set up better for us tomorrow and it might even be a little warmer.  That first boat ride is miserable.  It also looks like the weekend may be good if it doesn't rain too hard.  The rivers are still high and muddy and we don't need any more rain.

I talked with Eric Bachnik at MirrOlure today and he said more Corkies are already on the way to the retailers.  It didn't take long for the initial stocking to disappear! 

Big Lake would have been a better choice!

We had to quit early today, but it wasn't like we were just killing the fish.  As a matter of fact, I spent most of the morning wishing that I had chosen Big Lake over Sabine.  It was cold, lots of 48 degree water, and about 8 to 10 inches of water clarity in most areas.

We caught 4 average trout drifting a flat with tails before electing to fish several drains with tails.  The redfish weren't in the drains, but were schooled up on either side in 2 to 3 feet of water.  There were a lot of rat reds mixed in, but limiting on slot fish was not a problem.  Chicken on a chain and Texas roach 5-inch Assassins did the trick.  We caught the trout on strawberry Corky Devils.

I feel certain that the bite improved this afternoon, but that was not an option for us today.  It was hard to quit early knowing that tomorrow and Friday are going to be tough weather days, but that's February!  

The lake has been tough on me this week!

I have seen a total of four other boats on the water in my last three trips.  The reason being that most folks have better sense.  Brad Deslatte and I squeezed one in just ahead of the last front on Friday and the wind was already howling.  We enjoyed about thirty minutes of glory on the La. shoreline and when the fish quit...they quit.

We both lost a big flounder, missed more fish than we caught, and kept 3 slot reds and 1 nice trout for supper.  I' ve fished twice since the front kind of left and I have struggled to catch fish.  With the exception of Coffee Ground, the water on the east side of the lake looked terrible.  The water behind Stewt's is in pretty good shape, but I have not found any bait in there either trip.

I thought  I had something going yesterday, but the redfish screwed it up.  I know better than cuss redfish as I will beg for that bite before the year is over, but every time I have gotten a steady trout bite going the redfish move in and I can't catch another trout.  I caught 3 nice specks in a row, put out the Stake-out stick and never caught another trout.  I did catch 7 or 8 redfish and four flounder without ever moving, but the trout just disappeared.

The warmest water I found was 51 degrees.  I think I'll sit out this rain.  Saturday is supposed to be a good wind day, but I think it will take a few warmer days in a row to get the fish moving again.  I hope someone proves me wrong!