Colburn's Sabine Connection

Bite in the lake still tough for me!

As a rule, when any fishing report begins. "I started to run over there, but....", someone missedd out on a good bite.  We had a stiffer north wind than I anticipated yesterday morning, but as expected, the flats behind the islands were very fishable.

The water looked good and there was a little bait in the area, but  I just cold not make the fish bite.  I knew the water would be rougher, but since we were already close, I elected to indeed "run over there" and make one drift across the south end of Stewts.  The first drift produced nine good trout, but the next three drifts yielded nothing.  Every fish hit a bone Spook, Jr. in 3 to 5 feet of water.

I spent the remainder of the morning fishing finger mullet in the river and had no problem quickly filling a limit of 15 to 19-inch flounder.  The only difficulty was getting the bait below the rat reds! I did fish two small groups of gulls working the mouth of Old River Cove on the way back and caught several trout on a Crazy Croaker, but never boated the first keeper fish.

The jetties were apparently a better option as talked with two groups that easily limited on reds and did well on trout as well.  One group had 12 keepers they caught on Traps and Swim Baits and the other group kept three limits of trout up to four pounds that they caught on Swimming Images and Opening Night Assassins.

I have no idea why the bite slowed down on the north end. The water in the river looks good with plenty of bait, the bayous are in good shape, and we have had good tide changes.  It is not very user-friendly right now, but that could easily change overnight! 

Far more fishing than catching for me right now!

I have really struggled to put together a decent program this week.  We were still doing okay the early part of the week before the thunderstorms started rolling in and we were forced to do more running than fishing.  The incredible bite under the shad in the open lake got done in by the whitecaps and it just got tougher as the week progressed.

We saved two trips by falling back in the river and catching reds on both plastics and live bait.  We also picked up some solid keeper trout and a few flounder, but my parties later in the week didn't want to fish that program and I really didn't either.  Had I known then what I know now, however, I would have never left the river!

The only place we could find anything consistent was on the south end of the lake and the only people fishing were all down there chasing  scattered birds.  Slot reds provided most of the action along with some small trout, but it wasn't nearly as good as the north end had been over the past month.

Even with all of this wind, the water on the north end of the lake is still in good shape and we saw more bait on the surface today than I have seen all week long.  I canceled tomorrow and the following day because I wouldn't want to fish with me right now.  Hopefully, things will settle down and this will give me time to put something together that produces more than a boat ride.

The best case scenario would be for those fish on the north end to start doing their thing again, but I can't wait on them any longer.  We beat the La. shoreline to death in the early spring and did well, but we haven't fished it much in a while.  If the water still looks good over there and we can catch a break with the wind that may be the place to be.

If you are consistently catching fish right now my hat's off to you. We saw 8 or 10 boats on the south end today and none on the north end and I know why! 

The catching is lights out!

The only thing wrong with Thursday and Friday's trips was that my camera battery gave up the ghost and I missed some good shots.  Dr. Fred and one of his sons, David, joined me Thursday and not only was the catching great, but it was cool and overcast all morning long as well.  I expected the bite to be good, but was surprised to find so many gulls, not just terns, working the north end for the first time.

The only problem we had was trying to cull down in size, rather than up, as the smaller reds are much better to eat.  Yesterday, Steve Osborne brought his wife Nancy. and the weather was hotter, but so was the fishing if that is possible.  The trout were harder to come by, but we never went more than a few minutes without a redfish on the line.  Once again, the gulls were all over the place and the fish were under them.

Steve has fished with me a number of times over the past few years, but the only other time he brought Nancy we could have caught more fish in the middle of I-10.  She deserved a good catching trip and she got one.  We tried a lot of different stuff yesterday trying to catch more trout, but the redfish ate everything we tried from Catch 2000's to Swim Baits.

This time of the year I am usually looking forward to the same action and cooler weather and while it will get cooler in October and November, the fishing cannot get any better than it is right now.  I am taking the weekend off after a long run of consecutive days on the water, but I don't think the fish will be taking any time off so I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to get on the water.

I had no openings over the past few weeks, but do have a few now and  will get on the phone Sunday night and call back as promised. In the meantime, I have 2 days open next week and three the following week prior to making those calls.  If wearing out the redfish and some solid trout appeals to you, give me a call or just email me this weekend.

If you are going on your own don't forget to hang around after the birds leave and drive well around your drift before making another one.  That is much easier to do with a GPS, but there is usually a crab trap you can line up on.  There is no need to crowd other fishermen as it is not very difficult to find you own school of fish right now.

It will eventually end, but the catching is unreal right now!

I don't think the fishing can possibly get any better than it has been over the past week or so.  We have had one or two blips, but  even those days were great if you were able to fish late.  It would be more accurate to say that the redfish catching cannot get any better.  We are catching some solid trout up to 6 pounds, but I really believe there are so many redfish that the trout are having a tough time competing.

10-year old Jack can catch oversized reds with the best of them!

Anytime a 10 year old watches an over size red slam his lure and says, "Oh no its another red!", you know it is going on.  It is being conservative to say that 75 percent of each day has been been spent catching and releasing as limits of reds have come that quickly.

I vented a little last night before finally just erasing the report, but I have a problem with folks that run to other boats that have no birds around them hoping to find fish rather than hunting their own.  I can accept the fact that any time you have birds hovering around you that the calvary is on the way.  It is the accepted downside of fishing under the birds and you can only hope that they will honor your position and fish courteously.

 Lee Shreve caught and released his personal best.

The secret to exploiting this unreal bite, however, is not to find the birds, but to locate ladyfish feeding on the surface.  This usually requires burning some gas, being patient, and covering a lot of water on some days.  Once you have done this and found a school of fish, however, it is very frustrating to have boats roar up from all directions when there is nothing to indicate you are even on fish. 

After quickly limiting yesterday, we left a great group of fish and a small armada and ran well out into the lake to cool off and eat a snack.  Believe me when I say we were in the middle of nowhere.  Just to see how bad the boat hunting really was, I stepped up on the front deck and made several quick casts.  Before my clients could finish a gatorade we had four boats within casting range!

I enjoy helping folks that I will probably never even meet maximize their fishing time, but until this bite slows down and we really have to fish again, my reports will be a little more vague and less frequent.  I owe that to my clients. If you are a regular reader of these reports, just know that we are still fishing this same pattern until you see something different.

I know other folks are catching fish all the way to the jetties and doing different things, but the following tip is what is working very well for me right now and a good place to at least start if you haven't had the opportunity to take advantage of this phenomenal bite.

Don't depend on the birds as there is so much bait on the surface that they don't need the fish to help them find their next meal.  Take the time to drive around very slowly and watch for ladyfish on the surface.  When you find them you have found the trout and the reds.  Try different retrieves, change colors, and try different lengths of plastics, but don't run off and leave those fish.  The past few days, longer plastics like the 5-inch Assassin have worked better than the paddle tail grubs.  Spooks and She Dogs will also get torpedoed, but not as frequently.

I am hoping this storm changes nothing over the next couple of days.  Finding the fish will be a little tougher in a chop, but you have to believe that they are there!

  

Right place at the right time!

I finished a pretty good week poorly last Friday as we just couldn't hold out long enough for the fish to show.  We baled out in the face of a bad storm around noon and just called it a day.  Once the storm blew on through, the lake settled down and the fish just went crazy in the afternoon.

Saturday there was more action in the morning than we had been seeing all week long and the fish showed back up in the early evening again as well.  For everyone that found themselves in the right place, however, there were four other boats that never caught the first fish.  The better early morning bite took place on the south end of the lake under the terns and gulls.

I also talked with some good fishermen Saturday that said that they have been catching a lot of fish at the jetties.  Their only complaint was size at times.  One day they are having no problem catching 3 to 6 pound fish and the next day its all Louisiana keepers.  The good news is that something has been biting every day.

We have been able to squeeze out a few nice reds early each day on Swim Baits and spoons, but it has not been an easy bite.  Those fish have come out of very shallow water behind the islands on the north end.  When and if they show up later in the day they will bite almost anything and the bite has lasted anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on strength of tide.

I finally had a day off and I am ready to see what tomorrow brings.  If we can avoid a hurricane or too much rain it is only going to continue to get better.

Its good if you can find the ladyfish!

By the time we got off the water Monday I was afraid that Terry Fuege's group might want to sue me for impersonating a guide.  After a terrific run for over a month, the bite just ground to a screeching halt.  The conditions were ideal except for one minor detail....no tide!

 Don't let all the Tar Heel blue fool you...he's really a U.T. man!

I tried to cancel Tuesday's trip, but they would have none of it.  We caught a few trout early, died for the next three hours...then found the fish and caught reds and trout for the next four hours.  Once again it was a matter of finding ladyfish on the surface chasing both shrimp and shad.  We had some nice trout, but the reds just stole the show.

 Steve Eason limited out on reds like this one in a hurry today!

I really thought today was going to be a repeat of Monday when we could not catch a keeper fish for the first five hours.  About the time we were totally melted down we found a couple of gulls and it was on again.  There was a lot of luck involved as we ran back and forth between two areas and just hit it right one time.  It lasted about an hour and a half, but that was enough time to limit on reds and box some very solid trout.  We very easily could have missed that bite as it took place in a very small area and didn't last long.

We did return to our first choice on the way in and picked up a good red on a short drift.  Most of our fish hit Texas Roach or chicken on a chain Sea Shads rigged on a quarter ounce head. Today was the first time I have seen that many shrimp skipping across the surface.

I think it has been hard only because we are getting very little tide change.  Everything else has been ideal except for a broiling sun that will take you down early if you are not prepared.  Take along at least twice as much water as you thought necessary and start drinking it early!

The catching is good!

We moved right on out of daily rainstorms and into some seriously hot weather, but the bite has not slowed down at all.  It has gotten a little more difficult to locate the better fish, but we have really done well all week long.

 Nice way to celebrate your birthday!

I thought our great run had finally slowed to grind yesterday, but once again we found the fish late and finished well after a slow morning.  Kurt Diamond celebrated his birthday with 6-pound trout that hit a tail under a cork. He released the trout after a quick picture.  That's a heck of a trout on a cork fishing schooling fish.  Most of our trout were in the 3-pound class and that too was a little unusual as the trout have been a little smaller.

 Glen got in his licks on the redfish  as well.

The day before, Glen Redmond brought Duane and Mike Samford down and we found the redfish right off the bat.  Mike caught and tagged his personal best and we had a nice mess of specks to go along with the redfish.  The day before that, Rick Roberson found time to drive over with some friends and we just hammered both the trout and the redfish.  We kept 20 very nice trout, 2 limits of redfish and quit around noon when the wind died and it got HOT!

 Rick Roberson proved he could catch reds with a spoon.

We are still struggling early to catch even a few fish, but the mid-morning has continued to be very good.  Almost all of our fish are coming out of 5 to 7 feet of water around isolated shell pads.  If the birds will work at all you can also find trout and reds under the ladyfish.  Glow chartreuse and bone diamond have both been very good colors, but I have seen 3 six-pound trout in the past four days and all of them hit black plastics.

 Mike Samford topped his personal best twice in the same day.

I haven't fished any further south than the mid-lake area, but I have talked with several  local anglers that are very happy with what is going on down on the south end as well.  As a matter of fact they even enjoyed a morning bite two days in a row.

The heat is tough to deal with, but I don't think the bite can get much better than it is right now.  Just don't hang your hat on the birds to get it done.  Keep moving, look for any kind of surface activity and hang around a little while when the bite slows.  The reds are everywhere you go, but there are some very solid trout running with them.  The cork is not the end all-be all as we are also catching lot of fish swimming a tail on an 1/8th ounce head.  Traps, spoons, and hoginars will keep you in the redfish, but the gafftop will drive you crazy!