Colburn's Sabine Connection

More fishing than catching!

I would love to file a good report off Sabine, but it would be a lie based on anything that I have done this week.  I fished two days and canceled the next three. The wind just wrecked every day except Monday and I managed to mess Monday up on my own.  The wind howled Sunday, but overnight it laid down and I was shocked by how clear almost all of the lake was the following day.

I lost my head right out of the box and ran from one end of the lake to the other trying to fish areas that I had not fished in a month.  We fished a hard out going tide all day long, but the water on the Causeway Reef was almost green when we got there and still looked pretty danged good when we left 4 hours later.  The only water in the entire lake that didn't look at least reasonably good was right in front of Three Bayous and Bridge.

The water on both revetment walls was in great shape and the Neches Flat was very fishable.  I just could not get anything going, but it was more a case of operator error than a lack of fish.  The only other boat on the reef caught some nice trout up to 4 pounds and later limited on redfish under the birds.  Larry Strickland hadn't caught a single fish off the Revetment walls when I stopped to talk with him around noon and 30 minutes later he had boated 3 trout up to 28-inches fishing tails.

The following day the north wind just wiped everything out and dirtied the lake up again.  We ran the bayous and the river, but never found anything other than rat reds.  I spent what appeared to be a better wind day yesterday repairing equipment, but it looks like the wind will be a factor for at least the next couple of days.

The most consistent positive reports continue to come from the Light House Cove area and Keith Lake for folks with small boats.  At the same time, it is nice to find that the lake can clear up so quickly once the wind lies and I don't know if the numbers are there, but there are some good trout on both ends of the lake. 

Can't blame it on the wind!

I have really wasted some great weather days this week considering the conditions.  Good tide changes, light winds early...you name it.  I have been trying to force the issue on the north end of the lake because I am based on the north end, but I did fish the Causeway reef and ship channel Monday on a hard incoming tide and did not do much better.

I haven't quite figured out why the water on the north end and in the mid-lake area is muddying up the way it is right now. The dirty water is in patches and an incoming tide just moves those patches around like someone was stirring it with a spoon.  The only area where the clarity has stabilized a little is from just south of Coffee Ground to Green's.  Its not great, but very fishable.

The water on the Neches Flats and Revetment wall has been unusually dirty considering the fact that we have had no run off and it doesn't look the same two days in a row.  The trout are there because we are catching a few each day, but you just can't depend on the bite.  We caught 7 good fish on pink Catch V's in 30 minutes day before yesterday fishing the breaks between dirty and clearer water.  We went back yesterday and the patches of clearer water were farther out in the lake and we didn't get bit.

The good news is that the trout we are catching are all 20-inch plus fish.  You have to catch the right tide, but there is a good bite south of the Causeway for someone not hell bent on making the lake work.  I have talked with several different groups that have done well in the late evenings on the Reef.

Just a note for those of you trying to get your stuff working in a hurry, especially those in the Orange area.  I get lots of e-mails each night from folks looking to get reels and troll motors repaired without shipping them off.  Fortunately, troll motor problems are less frequent, but I have been very pleased with the service provided by the Westmans at R-1-Bass located on the Eastex Freeway in Beaumont.  They repair both Minn Kotas and Motor Guides and clean and repair reels as well.

A little closer closer to home, I ran a reel by Terry's Reel Repair, located  on 39th st. in Groves last week, and barely got back home before he called to say it was ready.  Maybe my clients have just broken it in since I last fished with it, but it is now faster and smoother than it was out of the box and I tend to think it was Terry's work rather than daily wear and tear that produced that result. 

I was also surprised to discover more Corkies on his racks than even Academy had last week.  On the best of days it has been hard to find anything dayglow or pink or floating Fatboys or Devils. He still had some!    

Wind makes pre-fishing local tournament tough.

There was a bright spot last week as I continue to cancel parties due to a dirty lake and a wind that will not quit blowing.  Today was hopefully as bad as it will get when blowing out of the southeast!

 I took a day off and went crappie fishing!
  

I took Mike Melancon up on an invitation to crappie fish with him and his Dad last Friday and it was a blast.  We just caught the heck out of them jigging brush and the eating is as good as the catching!

Mike is a salesman at Texas Marine in Beaumont which leaves him little time to fish, but he and his Dad have got their program nailed down.  He just might sell you a boat in the process, but if you like crappie fishing you need to stop by and talk with him.  Their program is the real deal.

I don't know even at this late date if Brad and I will fish the redfish tournament this weekend, but what I found yesterday was good for guiding and bad for tournament fishing as far as I am concerned.  I was surprised to find the marsh much clearer than last week and extended patches of water on the La. shoreline much clearer as well.

The open lake was still horrible, but the better stretches of water near the shoreline had 8 to 12 inches of visibility.  If I were to fish the tournament I would prefer that the bite remain tough, but that was not the case Monday. 

Now don't start squirming in your chair for fear that I am going to rat out your honey hole.  The following update is just to point out how unexpectedly wide open things may be even for folks that haven't pre-fished.  My first stop was just down from the DuPont outfall to talk with Larry Desormeaux for a minute.  He was anchored up and had 4 flounder, but no keeper redfish.  I made one cast with a new penney Gulp shrimp and caught a 26-inch red.  I led the fish up to his boat and he netted it. I left him the fish, bait and all, and ran to the marsh.

I caught another nice slot fish in the second pond I tried.  That fish hit a white frog.  I missed one more fish and left.  About a third of Coffee Ground looked decent and the water behind the rigs was okay, but the water in front of Three bayous was terrible.

I caught 4 or 5 nice trout just outside the crab trap mine field in front of Willow before catching a red just over 7 lbs. on a red shad Assassin under a Kwik Cork.  I left there and ran the marsh behind Green's and did not catch another fish over the next two hours.  The wind was blowing pretty good by the time I got back out in the lake so I was forced to fish the shoreline on my way back.

I quick released my best red of the day fishing the grass between the Gator Hole and Madam Johnson's.  I was trying to pick her up with my Boga, but she freed herself before I could weigh her.  If she wasn't too long she was a heck of a fish.  She hit a quarter ounce spinner bait with a BLURP Sea Shad body.  I also saw two other fishermen net a nice red closer to the shoreline.

I caught my last keeper red under the Cork in 3 feet of water on the point between Johnson's and Madam Johnson's before checking in with Brad.  He had forgotten what he was supposed to be hunting and was catching trout hand over fist on a Swim Bait.  I have no idea if I could have caught more than one fish on any of those spots or if I could catch any at all tomorrow, but I do know the bite was easier than it was last week.

I caught some solid trout early in the lake this morning before getting blown out.  I fished about 10 or 12 miles of Black's and caught one slot red, 4 flounder and a pile of rat reds on a spinner bait. Not that this did you any good other than knowing there were some active fish in a number of different places.  I have heard rumors, but I haven't fished the ship channel, the jetties or Keith Lake. 

I know running over to Calcasieu is another viable option, but I am not into making that run.  That is a long haul to get over there and finding a bunch of folks sitting right smack in the middle of your spot.  If the wind lays just a little and the water clears even a little this tournament will be a crap shoot. It could just as easily be won drifting the Causeway reef!   

Main Lake is still a mud pie!

We have been unable to catch a break this week.  The wind won' quit blowing even at night and this morning it decided to turn around and blow equally hard out of the north!

I canceled every trip this week, but went out and enjoyed the miserable conditions any way.  I never ran south, but I have heard from some very reliable sources that there has been a decent bite on the Causeway reef just before dark.  That is too much of a hassle for me to make that long run and check out a bite that is so late that it won't do me any good anyway.

That said, every scouting trip has been in the marsh and back lakes on the La. side of the lake.  The big incoming tides and 20 mph south winds have made getting around in the skinny water easier than it should be.  If you haven't been there in a while you will find it necessary to avoid a number of ditches that are now filled in with grass.  I am sure it is even worse on a normal tide.  When Capt, Chuck gets stuck anywhere back there you know things have changed!

 
Don't let the "Flying Nun look" and all the clothes fool you as it was was 75 degrees and humid Wednesday morning. This red weighed just a hair shy of 9 pounds.

The water in the marsh can clear up in a day, but I have no idea why it is as muddy as it is right now.  The most redfish I have caught in a morning is three  (most of my time has been spent figuring out where I can and cannot run), but they have all been big fat slot fish.

I ran all the way from East Pass to the Shell Cut through Black's and back down the ICW yesterday and never found any clearer water.  The river was also dirty as far north as the I-10 Bridge.  A very dirty lake and river are pretty normal for this time of the year, but the marsh generally holds up well even with strong winds.

Bessie heights is also high and muddy, but the folks with smaller boats or those willing to drive around and launch at Jrs. have been catching trout, reds, and flounder this week.  I will either make one more run in the marsh today just to see how much water got blown out last night or trailer back over to Big Lake where the bite and water clarity have been much more user-friendly.

One more thing before I hook up the boat.  I talked with Adam last night and he said that his Mom's surgery at M.D.Anderson went very well and that she is already back home trying to take care of everyone else.  They wanted to keep the surgery under the radar so that left only a handful of us praying overtime.  Thanks to those of you that did know for your prayers as they were answered once again.  Yes, Morgan, that is the same Capt. Adam Jaynes that worked with us this time last year! 

Talk about a wasted week!

Today finished off a solid week of canceled trips.  I did scout twice on Sabine anyway and had one water haul and one pretty dang good trip.  The majority of the lake is still very muddy, but we got into trout up to five pounds and a couple of redfish before the wind just completely blew us out.

I tried to fish the same area the next day and there was just no way as the wind picked up too early.  We found our fish with pearl-chartreuse Catch V's, but caught most of them on plum-chartreuse 5-inch Assassins.  The fish were holding in 2-3 of water a long cast off the shoreline.

We were fishing the north end of the lake and may have had 4-6 inches of water clarity. We also had the benefit of an incoming tide that appeared stronger than it was with the wind at its back.  I talked with a determined friend that fishes alone most of the time and he had two very good days considering the conditions.  He caught and released limits of trout up to five pounds swimming shorter tails just off the shoreline!

The Causeway reef has to be holding fish, but I haven't had time to make that run.  If I am going to drive that far to launch I would much prefer making an even shorter run for a few swings at very big trout on Calcasieu.  We have caught at least one trout over six-pounds and some much larger on three consecutive trips.  It is a bite that holds great potential for someone willing to catch and release big trout.

The numbers game on smaller trout as well as reds is also pretty solid, but I am not into cleaning fish on the tail gate at the end of the day.  I do have a couple of very good guides that help me out that would clean them on the hood with a butter knife if that's what it takes to do business. If either option interests you give me a call.  The wind does not shut us down as badly on Calcasieu as it does over here.

I have had several clients over the past month change their minds as to whether or not the Stake Out Stick will hold a 22-foot boat in 20-25 mph winds.  I have struggled a time or two getting it back out of the bottom, but I have never had it pull loose the first time.  It is not as convenient as a Power Pole, but it is a whole lot cheaper, doubles as an emergency push pole and I can anchor from the bow, stern or either side of the boat.  I don't make them or sell them, but I am into anything that makes life easier on the water! 

I hope each of you and your family have a wonderful Easter. We are truly blessed!