Colburn's Sabine Connection

Steady bite on a cold day!

I would be willing to bet that no one was happier to see the rain and wind howling today than Gene Kellum.  We waited until the last minute to cancel today's trip and it proved to be a good call this time.  We called one of his trips off last month the night before and the weatherman missed it badly.  Rather than 20 to 25 mph north winds and thunderstorms we had a 5 mph southeast wind and overcast skies.  I caught fish all day scouting for the following day and wouldn't you know it, the front blew another trip out the next day.

After canceling all but one trip last week before Thanksgiving, we tried to get one in Friday and struggled badly in the wind.  Matt Launikitis put together a group of four for Saturday at the last minute and we waited until 9 for things to warm up.  I had ice all over the boat at daylight and the initial ride was cold, but it warmed up pretty quickly and the wind gave us a break.

I staked us out on a flat when we got there and we never moved all day long betting on a bite that had been strong after the last front.  The trout started biting around noon and I have no idea how many fish they caught and released, but I do know that I got only one bite on a Corky all day long.  Matt alone caught and released 20 to 25 fish, many in the 3 to 4 pound class, and the rest of the group caught and released trout and steadily until we left around 5 pm.   

The best trout was only a 5 1/2 pound fish that was released, but all but one or two of the trout were 19 to 23-inch fish.  I loaded them all up with Assassin Shads for the initial wade and they never switched lures.  I fished a Corky most of the afternoon standing right beside them and they caught 35 fish on tails while I got that one bite.  I did switch to a tail for 20 minutes before wading back to the boat to get them more Assassins and caught 4 fish.  They just did not want a Corky!

I cannot ever recall trout selling out on a tail like that this time of the year.  I am not going to fight that north wind tomorrow, but I will find out if they are still on the same program Wednesday.  I guarantee you the next time things get slow with a Corky I will break out a tail before giving up on an area!

This wind is getting expensive!

I canceled trips Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday due to the wind and it turned out to be a good thing so far....at least for the clients.  We waited until the very last minute to cancel Tuesday because they were calling for 5 to 10 mph winds out of the south.  They made virtually the same guess Monday, however, and had they predicted 20 we would have had a forced evacuation.  I can cut them a little slack, but by the time we quit Monday and Tuesday it would blow the mustard off your bread!

I fished with Carey and Terri Barclay Monday and we were able to fish where we wanted to fish for 3 to 4 hours before the wind ran us back in the river.  The Barclays are both very good fishermen and we did pretty darned good on trout up to 22-inches.  You had to be able to make long casts and keep your bait up on the retrieve or you would never have known the fish were even there. They agreed to keep 10 fish for a friend of mine, but the trout had to be just the right size with Carey's self-imposed slot.  Every trout under 16-inches or over 19 went back in the lake!

I think we caught all but two of our fish on tails drifting 3 to 5 1/2 feet of water.  The water was 68 degrees and up in the cane and I was surprised at the number of fish we caught in the deeper water.  Prior to canceling today's trip, I decided at 5:00 Tuesday morning that I would go ahead and scout and try something a little different.  It worked, but the wind blew the program out by 9:00 so I immediately called and canceled the rest of the week.

My son-in-law dropped my grandson off at the dock at 7:30 Tuesday and he was more than ready to go...wind or no wind.  For the most part, due to my bookings and his involvement in year-round sports, most of his trips are scouting trips.  His mother and uncle were forced to enjoy the same type outings growing up and they now rate fishing right behind weeding the flower beds.

The obvious upside was that they were fishing with their dad who was a fishing guide so they usually caught fish.   The downside was that every time we found a few good fish we quickly moved to another spot.  Finding fish was more important than catching them, but not for the kids.  Andrew enjoys helping me scout, but I have learned to make sure that he gets in plenty of catching as well.

The only thing more frustrating than putting together a pattern that your next party cannot or does not want to fish is finding fish in an area that you will not be able to fish the following day.  Such was the case Tuesday morning.  A 27-inch fish buried a roach Assassin and Kwik Cork on my second cast and Andrew quickly caught 4 more trout while I tried other baits.

                This nice slot red was more fortunate than five other trout! 

We released every fish and left after one drift as it was already too rough to hang around.  We finished up the morning in the river and caught several more very nice trout and a slot red before quitting.  Andrew wasn't keen on releasing his biggest trout to date, a five-pound fish, but agreed to turn the red loose as a compromise.  We kept five 3 to 5-pound fish for supper as it will be nothing but turkey and ham for the next week.  They were soooo good!

Karen and I wish all of you a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!   

 

Bite on Sabine holding up well inspite of the wind!

Today was dedicated to football, but I was glad that I wasn't booked after yesterday.  There was far more traffic on the lake Friday than I expected, but even so, 99 percent of the fishermen never even pressured the same flock of gulls and went to great lengths to avoid other drift fishermen.  Then, for the first time this year.....there was that 1 percent unable to find their own fish that showed up.

It is very seldom that so many folks are talking about the ethics of the same two boats of fishermen at the end of the day, but that was the case Friday afternoon.  Some were so amazed at their lack of courtesy that they found it amusing watching from a distance, but the victims were not smiling at the end of the day.

We had just added 7 or 8 very nicetrout to our catch drifting a flat before the two boats plowed in and took over the area.  They all but netted a trout for Aaron Hommel before he yielded to their antics and we gave them the flat shortly thereafter as well.  Capt. Mike Denman said one of the same two boats later ran right through the middle of a group of birds he was working and Brian Sandow called today and said that he had problems with them that afternoon as well.

It just isn't worth the effort spent trying to out manueuver rude fishermen with so much of the lake left to fish, but I may have risked the confrontation had we not already done well on what proved to be a fairly tough day of fishing for most.  Just prior to vacating the area we decided they must have known one another or finally just crashed into each other trying to lay claim to one small stretch of shoreline. 

There was a surprisingly large number of fishermen out anyway Friday and for the most part, many of them struggled in spite of pretty decent conditions.  Bob and Mike met me at the launch at first light and we caught some solid trout and  3 slot reds in the middle of the lake before the wind picked up and it got noticeably cooler.  The trout we later found on the flats were much better fish and had it not been for the traffic (it quickly got worse any time you caught a fish)we could have easily finished out limts drifting just one flat in 4 to 6 feet of water.

We caught a lot of smaller trout, rat reds, and a few keepers fishing Sea Shads under a cork early, but we caught all of our larger trout swimming a Texas Roach Assassin on a 1/8th ounce head later in the morning.  The semi-protected flats were a little calmer and you could see the shrimp and slicks on the surface.  If there were no birds around, you could stay with the same school of fish longer.

 

              The reds were much easier to find than the trout on a windy Thursday!

The day before was much more difficult thanks to a screaming northeast wind and hard outgoing tide, but we still did very well on both trout and reds.  Steve, Ron and I gave the lake one brief look before deciding that we would fish the river and bayous all day.  It  didn't take long to limit on slot reds, but the trout were tough until the middle of the day.

Both Steve and Ron fished their tails off and we fisnished with a great box of fish, but it wasn't easy.  Ron and I fished several different colors and lengths of plastics, but Steve stuck with a Roach Sea Shad all day and probably caught as many fish as Ron and I caught together!

 

                     Steve caught the largest of a box of very soild trout.

We got absolutely no help from the birds and they had been working over decent trout most of the week in East Pass, but they weren't there Thursday.  We caught very few fish shallower than 6 feet deep and most of the trout were in 12 to 14 feet of water.  Gene Locke stayed in the river and caught some nice trout on live bait. He was basically fishing in the same depths of water that we found our fish.

I've only gotten one call tonight and they struggled with skittish birds and boat traffic today as well.  They did catch a 6-pound plus trout on a Skitterwalk and finished the day with 4 reds and 9 trout.  They found most of their fish in dirtier water south of Green's.  They said there were fewer boats in the area so they just made repeated drifts along the same stretch of shoreline.      

Weather looks good for this week.

We fought a tough north wind that eliminated much of the lake yesterday, but we still managed to put together a decent catch hustling gulls on the north end of the lake.  We had to go through a kazillion small trout to do it, but the catching part was fun.

The few gulls we managed to work in the lake were holding over much larger reds and trout as well, but it was just too tough to stick with.  We caught all of our trout on tails in pumpkin chartreuse, Texas Roach and Stinky Pink.

My clients for today called last night to cancel after watching a weather forecast that looked dismal at best and I agreed as I had fished enough howling north wind for one day, but the weatherman lied again and I am hooking up the boat as soon as this is done.  I haven't had much time to wade, but the catching out of the boat is about as good as it gets right now.

I have 3 days currently open this week so if you are one of those folks that can make it on short notice give me a call. I may or may not call some clients that stay on high standby after I get in tonight as that invariably incurs the wrath of Mother Nature.  Even if you have no use for guides, you need to get out and take advantage of a pretty easy bite while it lasts! 

Wrong place at the right time!

I don't know if this little front will do much more than make fishing uncomfortable, but I still hate to see it arrive.  I am more than happy with what we have right now. We didn't catch any picture fish again today, but we caught a pile of solid fish.  Alan Knapp brought Kevin Soignet on his first bay trip and Kevin is now hooked for life.  He caught his first speck which was a 23-inch fish and the largest of the day, and just wore the fish out all day long.

Our great bite at daylight didn't last as long as it has been and by the time we got everybody lined out it was just about over.  We did manage to boat 8 nice trout, a pair of slot reds and an irate gull before moving on.  We caught everyone of those fish under a Kwik Cork, but did better swimming a jig the rest of the day. The wind also started blowing much harder earlier and I wasn't into working the shoreline the rest of the day for 4 more reds and a few flounder.

For no sane reason, I decided to run across the lake and the farther we got off the shoreline the higher the waves got.  About half way across the lake we stumbled up on flock after flock of gulls working over a mixture of specks, big sand trout, and reds in between the white caps.  We ran from one bunch to  another (very slowly) for four solid hours and they were still working when we left.

I know that middle of the lake sounds generic, but we could not have been more in the middle of the lake.  For those of you running a Lowrance GPS, our trails drew circles around the words Sabine Lake printed in the middle of your screen....no way points needed.  The only other boat we saw was a small aluminum boat that disappeared from time to time in the troughs.

That was the first time I had any need to even run in that direction and I was surprised at the water clarity.  It is really pretty.  The surface temperature stayed between 65 and 67 all day and we did not get the big outgoing tide of the past few days.  It looks like rain for the next day or two is inevitable, but that shouldn't make much difference if the north wind doesn't howl!  

No picture fish today, but bite was good enough.

We didn't do as well today as we have done the past few days, but we still did o.k. all things considered.  The wind blew the crab trap pattern out early and we only fished until noon, but we still finished with 15 solid trout and 3 slot reds.  Dr. Fred got hot right off the bat and it was a good thing as our bite under the gulls didn't last that long.

Beware Brian, Dr. Fred now knows all the secrets concerning the Kwik Cork and he is looking forward to your next trip.  We had been catching a lot of fish on the second crab trap line, but there was just too much wind to fish them right today.  We also went back to catching about as many rat reds as trout .....especially when drifting in 5 to 6 feet of water.

I haven't looked at the weather yet, but we will probably start with the same program tomorrow if possible. We spent a little time in the river and East Pass today, but the trout were too small to merit much attention.  The surface temperature is back up in the 60's now and staying there most of the day. We have been fishing a very good outgoing tide all week.

Mike and Larry did even better today!

Today was a little cooler with a lot more east wind, but round 2 for Mike and Larry proved even better than yesterday.  They were in the groove from the get go and we had 10 solid keeper and 2 slot reds in the boat in the first thirty minutes. Mike caught the largest red of the day, a 9-pounder that he released,  but Larry caught the best trout of the day right off the bat and the biggest flounder at quitting time.  The four pound flounder was much more impressive than the 4 pound trout!

 

Mike fought his oversized red forever and a day before taking a photo and turning her loose!

We caught some good reds on the shoreline on tails, but the largest reds and our second limit of trout came much farther out into the lake than the day before.  Once again we did well working along crab trap lines with tails rigged on 1/8th ounce heads any time the birds were not working.

 

    Larry went old school to fool this nice flounder.

We finshed our limits early and had the luxury of fishing several different patterns the rest of the day.  All too often there is not much time to experiment, especially when you've had a tough morning and you are in a panic strut the remainder of the afternoon!

We caught and released a lot of solid trout not only fishing the flats, but in the mouth of East Pass and the river as well.  The water was pouring out of the marsh and we found fish chasing shrimp as far north as Phoenix Lake. I would guess that we caught as many trout with no birds around as we did fishing under the gulls.  The fish in the deeper water (5 to 7 feet) wouldn't hit suspended baits for me, but they would jump all over a 5-inch roach colored Assassin.

With the exception of Larry's big flounder, the fish in East Pass and the river wanted the smaller Sea Shad and Flats Minnow.  Larry caught his flounder, believe it or not, on a salt and pepper Tout tail that he bought at the Boat Show in January.  He probably bought 50 of them, but at least one of them worked one time!

Dr. Fred and one of his sons, David, are fishing with me tomorrow.  Hopefully, the great bite will continue! 

Round One went well!

Mike blamed Larry for the wind today, but it didn't blow nearly as hard as it has on some of their past trips with me.  You know it was bad when they were pleased with a 15 mph east wind. They will be back for round two tomorrow and I can only hope that it goes as well as it did today. Mike's son-in-law, Chuck, also fished with us today, but he can't carry them again tomorrow!

 

                   Mike and Larry will have to get it done without Chuck tomorrow!

We caught a lot of nice fish under the birds, but we did even better swimming tails in 5 to 6 feet of water around the crab traps.  We would check out birds that no one was around, but other than that we just stayed with the drift and cast program around the traps.  Any time we could find needle gar in the chop it was guaranteed action and most of the time it was slot redfish.

We caught several nice trout early fishing Sea Shads and Flats Minnows under a cork, but we didn't stay with that program long.  The best find of the day came around 1 o'clock when we caught four or five three-pound plus trout swimming Texas Shad in 3 feet of water on a flat that was just getting pounded by the wind.We didn't fish it long in hope that the fish will hold in there if the wind blows everything else out tomorrow.

We had a strong outgoing tide most of the day.  The water temperature was 54 when we started and 65 when we quit.  Rusty logged some time in the water this morning and called to tell me that the wade fishing bite still wasn't very strong for them.  They hit several dependable spots, but the fish just weren't there.

I don't know what the deal is, but almost every trip we pick up a couple of nice flounder drifting out in the open lake and today was no different. Damon Silva e-mailed me yesterday and said they too caught some nice flounder well out in the lake this weekend.  The flounder bite is probably wide open and I don't have enough sense or time to check it out right now!

 

 

Should have stayed in the boat!

I just got in and have almost finished getting everything ready for tomorrow.  I still think there are some big trout in shallow water, but Randy and I didn't prove it today.  We caught some fish, trout and reds, but did no better than we could have fishing out of the boat.  As a matter of fact, we caught our largest trout of the day fishing under the birds on the way back.

We did see a lot of redfish today.  We found them schooling on the shoreline and out in the middle of the lake.  The water warmed back up into the 60's and the clarity is still great.  I have no doubt that there is someone reading this and thinking, "I am glad he didn't find much wade fishing because we are just killing them and don't need any company." I know its happening in one of four or five spots, but it looks like we'll be fishing out of the boat for the next 10 to 12 days anyway and I don't have time to look around.

If I can get everything tied down I will try to get over to Tuffy's on hwy. 62 and 12 in time to catch at least a portion of the Orange CCA chapter meeting.  They have TPWD warden Clint Caywood and marine biologist, Jerry Mambretti, on hand tonight to discuss everything from the state of the lake to regulations.  Both Clint and Jerry are easy to talk to and I cannot imagine them not being able to answer any question regarding Sabine Lake.

The meeting is set for 6:30.  I don't know how you could go to Tuffy's and not eat so I would suggest getting there a little early if possible. Good food! 

Weekenders catch a break again!

We got the good and the bad this past week. The north wind couldn't have possibly blown any harder than it did Thursday. Glenn and Carla Redmond and I managed to launch the boat and take a short miserable boat ride, but that was it.  They bayous were down to that dark stinky mud and the decoys were lying on their sides in the marsh.  The water was runnning out like someone pulled the plug.

By Friday evening it was a little calmer and there was a decent bite if you didn't mind hanging in on a still brisk north wind.  Saturday was a whole different show.  I fished with Jim Clark and Ken Gentry and we froze our Crocs off at daylight, but that was the only complaint.  Ken was in town doing the Messiah Rocks show at the Lutcher Theater and they were just trying to kill a morning.  Jim had to be in around noon to make a flying trip to Natchitoches, but no one was ready to quit at the final hour.

We couldn't get the birds nor the fish to hold early, but we would still manage a few keeper trout and a slot red before they broke up.  The lake got flatter as the day progressed and the bite just continued to get easier.  When the birds would break up we caught our better trout steadily reeling Sea Shads and Killer Flats MInnows on a 1/8th ounce head.  When the birds held, we caught larger trout and all of our redfish bouncing the same baits off the bottom.

There was no doubt that the bite was only getting better when we had to make ourselves quit to get Jim back to the landing.  On the final stop, we caught five trout in the 3 to 4 pound class on about as many casts, reeled in and left them biting.  It was  so good, in fact, that it was a good thing that we quit when we did.  Jim only wanted to save a few fish, but I still cleaned 16 trout and 2 reds. We released a lot of fish, but keeping two or three at every stop added up quicker than I anticipated!

The water temperature hadn't made the 57 degree mark by the time we left and the fish pulled like they were on steroids in the colder water.  Even after all of that wind and the dirty water that got sucked out of the marsh most of the lake had great clarity. I don't have any waders scheduled for this coming week, but I can promise you that bite is happening if that appeals to you.  I'll be wading my one day off!

We fished darker colored plastics all morning, but most of the folks I talked with did well with glow chartreuse or limetreuse tails.  When the bite is that easy, speed of retrieve and the size of the tail are usually more important factors than color.