Colburn's Sabine Connection

Whew boy....it's been good three days in a row!

I hate fishing weekends, but If I didn't have church and 3 deadlines to meet I would fish again tomorrow.  The conditions were perfect again today and both the reds and specks were doing their thing.

We had a little stiffer west wind than we needed Thursday and Friday and a strong out going tide kept the water sucked down to the mud until mid afternoon, but it came back in just as strong and the water warmed up from 45 to 53 degrees both days.

     Dr. Dan enjoyed a brief break from his duties as Mr. Mom ! 

I fished with Dr. Dan Martin Thursday afternoon and we just caught the heck out of the reds as well as a couple of very nice trout before taking an early quit to get him home to resume his Mr. Mom duties.  They have a new baby and he has learned that being a Mom ain't all that easy. The reds were still shallow and the trout were still deep.  We caught them on Swim Baits, Assassin Die Dappers, and a Red Killer fished under a Kwik Cork.  Both trout came out of six feet of water.

Friday I fished with Rhett Johnson and Dustin Galmor and it was better than good.  We had to wait until noon for it to really get going, but when the wind died down and the water warmed up to 56 degrees I knew it was just a matter of time.  It wasn't like we weren't already catching fish as they both limited on reds in less than an hour and turned loose several more limits.

Tired of catching reds, we moved out into 5 to 6 feet of water and the trout were there.  Surprisingly enough, the bite got better when the wind kicked back up and the water clarity quickly deteriorated.  By the time we quit (the fish still had not) we were getting pounded by some pretty serious waves.

      Dustin had it going on fishing a Corky in the whitecaps!

Dustin stayed with a Corky Devil while Rhett and I stuck with swimming Die Dappers on a 16th ounce head.  Every trout we caught just crushed our lures and they were tough to corral in the whitecaps.  A drift anchor was out of the question so each short drift was quick, but productive. We would drift until a redfish crashed the party in 3 to 4 feet of water before going back and starting over.

I don't know how they caught up with our baits, but we topped off the box with two very good flounder before calling it a day.  One hit a Corky and the other ate a tail.  I would have loved to have fished all day today, but time was not on our side.  Derek had to catch a plane and just one more cast was not going to be an option.

Hoping to get their redfish limits quickly, both he and his brother-in-law, Matt, tied on Kwik Corks with tails on a 2-foot leader.  Matt was using a roach colored Red Killer and his first fish was a 27-inch trout that he photographed with his phone and released.  Derek limited on reds and released an over sized red on the first drift fishing a stinky pink Sea Shad, but Matt was not impressed and stuck with his Red Killer.

Not expecting to find the trout that early we moved out into deeper water and the bite was on.  We caught only one more 26-inch trout, but they caught easy limits of 2 to 5-pound trout in less than two hours.  I threw a little bit of everything and caught a lot of trout as well, but they held their own with the corks.

I missed the best trout I have had on this winter on a Fat Boy, but it was nice just to see a big trout as I have struggled to find those kind of fish lately.  We fished two flats on the north end and never saw much traffic.  Perhaps they have something going on that's even better than I have found, but I am not looking any further until it plays out!

After you sign off, I would appreciate a quick prayer for my good fishing buddy, Brad Deslatte, his wife, Julie, and their extended family.  Julie's dad died unexpectedly this week and the funeral is tomorrow. It is never easy to say good-bye.  Thanks a lot!                

Warmer today with a very decent bite.

We didn't fish long today as I really just wanted to see what yesterday's rain had done to the water clarity.  The river was dirtier and there was a distinct color change on the north end, but it didn't bother the fish at all.

The reds are apparently still all over the shallow flats as we caught 6 or 7 slot fish in one short drift behind Sidney.  We fished the color change off the north tip of Pleasure Island and caught five pretty solid trout swimming a plum chartreuse Assassin Die Dapper and fishing a roach Red Killer under a Kwik Cork.

We finished the trip bouncing tails off the rip rap alongthe ICW and caught and released nine more trout up to four pounds.  Most of the fish were hanging in the rocks and debris between 12 and 14 feet.  We didn't miss a strike as they were just slamming the tails on the fall.  We never even stuck a really good fish, but we never caught a trout under 19 inches either!

I think the dirty water will continue to spread out in the lake over the next day or two, but I don't look for it to drastically change the bite.  We did miss a couple of nice flounder and it really surprises me that we are still catching a few on the flats when the water has been in the 40's in the mornings pretty frequently.  They bit a tail today, but we caught them on Corkies last week.

Just a hunch, but the trout were there!

I am aware of the fact that you may well be considered a fool if you continue to repeat the same mistakes expecting a different result, but I found myself doing exactly that Wednesday.  After stating in my blog the day before that I thought the trout may have simply given the shallows to the redfish, I went right back to the shallows Wednesday hoping the trout would be there.  I prefer to consider that dumb move as being a creature of habit rather being considered a fool!

This time I talked two very good fishermen, Brad Deslatte and Albert Bates into fishing with me and they were more than willing to try anything I wanted to try.  An hour of wading the same shallow water that once again held only redfish was enough.  Albert's waders were leaking like he didn't even have them on so he was more than ready to get back in the boat.  We loaded up and I decided that we would drift fish all the way from Johnson's to Middle Pass if we had to looking for just one trout holding in the deeper water.

                 

    One of several good trout Albert fooled with a Chicken on a chain tail!                  

We didn't have to drift far before I missed a fish on a Corky.  Brad struck a 3-pound fish on a TTF trout killer and I caught and released another about the same size.  Albert clipped off a Mirrodine and tied on an Assassin and quickly joined in the catching.  At least one of us had a trout on most of the time over the next two hours and we covered a lot of territory in a stiff southeast wind.

I honestly do not know how many trout we caught, but the catching was very steady and the fish were all solid fish.  We did see one huge fish chase down and kill a mullet on the surface, but we could not get her to eat.  I also felt that the fact that we never caught a single red in that deeper water further supported my half-ass theory.  I think there are so many of them plowing around in the shallow water that it just makes catching a meal too tough for the trout. 

Brad called this evening and said that he squeezed in a quick trip today before going on the road and the trout were still right where we left them.  They limited in a hurry and then moved to the shallows and finished up on the redfish.  This front is going to slow them down a little for the next few days and this may have just been two lucky days, but I am going to fish deep until I see something different!       

Reds on top of reds!

At some point this morning I was afraid that we were going to waste an absolutely perfect day for fishing.   It was overcast and raining off and on, we had a slow outgoing tide and the water temperature stayed around 53 degrees.

I am starting to believe that the redfish have eaten all the trout or, at the very least, made it difficult to beat them to your lure.  We had already left the redfish twice when we briefly found the trout in 3 feet of water on the La. shoreline.  A really good fish came unbuttoned on a Fat Boy and the next two casts immediately produced solid trout.

We were fishing a stretch of shoreline that has held good numbers of big trout over the years, but it was over as quickly as it started.  On the very next cast a redfish crashed a Swim Bait and I pulled one off on the Corky.  For the next three hours we caught redfish almost every cast.

It was so crazy that we switched to 5-inch Assassins and decided to see how far we could drift before the bite at least slowed a little.  We covered the better part of a mile and were still getting hammered.  We moved two more times with the same results.  The only other two fishermen we saw on the water said they experienced the same thing further down the lake.

The fact that our best trout catching days over the past month, and both were very good ones, took place in 5 feet of water may possibly mean that the trout are just giving the shallow water to the hordes of redfish.  I would think that it would make it difficult for a big sow trout to ambush her one mullet for the day with redfish continuously stampeding anything that moves.

The same thing happened last January to some degree, but we quite possibly have even more redfish this year.  I believe its just a matter of time before someone figures it out and makes us all look good, but until that happens you better put your Corkies back in the box and loosen your drag!  

Trout bite sluggish, but reds still doing their thing!

It was much warmer yesterday than the day before, but the water wasn't a heck of a lot warmer.  We never saw anything over 51 degrees. The cold water hasn't slowed the redfish bite at all.  They bit much better once the tide started coming back in after lunch, especially in the river and the bayous.  Our first fish was a 12 pound red that hit a Swim bait and Johnny Breaux said he and Big Rob just caught the heck out of the reds all afternoon fishing with a Gulp shrimp.

I fished the first half of the day with a client that was scouting for an upcoming trout tournament so in fairness to him, I will not report anything we did or didn't find, but he very nearly landed a trout in the 28-inch class later in the day.  He caught 7 trout up to 4 1/2  the day before fishing a Corky much differently than I have ever fished one and hung that big trout using the same technique.

I did talk with the only other two fishermen we saw on the water all morning and they caught and released 11 trout up to 7-pounds.  They were catching their trout on Fat Boys and Catch V's with a gold side and black back.  They said all of their fish came off of two isolated shell pads in 4 feet of water.

If it doesn't get any colder the rest of the week, the big trout should start doing their thing again.

 

The catching was slow and I am still cold!

I hope that we just did a poor job of taking advantage of a pretty decent weather day today.  I froze my tail off the entire time, but the conditions weren't bad.  The water was both colder and lower than I anticipated, but we had a good incoming tide and the surface temperature almost made it up to 49 degrees before we called in the dogs.

We never saw the first mullet break the surface all day.  The biggest mistake was climbing out of the boat to wade.  Every fish we caught was in at least four feet of water and we were not covering that depth very well most of the time.  We caught seven 19 to 23-inch trout and missed one good fish that I won't bother to guess at.  Every time we caught back to back trout, which wasn't often, the redfish would move in and most of them weren't even slot fish. 

I was talking with Rusty Frederick throughout the day and they caught nothing but redfish working the shoreline in the mid-lake area with Corkies and tails. He said the surface temperature was 39 degrees in the back of Johnson's when they launched.

We're going to try it again tomorrow and I don't think wading will be a part of the program.  I enjoyed the Boat Show Wednesday because there was no one there and I had more time to talk with some guides that I don't see much.  I spent a lot of time discussing the state of affairs on Matagorda with Tommy Countz, Charlie Paradoski and Billy Pustejovsky and it is like a whole other world compared to Sabine.  We are all chasing the big three, but everything else is different!

I also had a chance to talk to Sarge Upchurch and Chris Williamson, the new owners of Laguna Rods.  They were both very excited about the customer response to their rods and they were certainly selling well enough at the show.  They do things a little differently in that any rod you buy from them will not even be built until you discuss your needs and what you may or may not need in a rod built specifically to fit only you.  Cool concept!

Before I shut it down for the night, I got an email from Terry's Tackle in Groves saying they have Crazy Croakers in stock.  Sergio sold out a while back and we were scrambling for any colors we could find.  The new owners have even added a couple of new colors to the line.  I am sure the first batch will go quickly, but they are back in production.     

Trout show up unexpectedly!

At least right now, it looks as though we will narrowly miss most of the sleet and ice predicted last week, but it will still be cold enough to make attending the Boat Show a warmer option than dealing with wind and 30 degree mornings this week.  My biggest concern is that we may get a lot of rain instead and cold and muddy are a bad combination for catching.

Capt.Adam and I helped Capt.Johnny out with a big group of Madisonville fishermen Saturday morning and while we felt pretty good about catching redfish, we were more concerned about the prediction of a stiff north wind.  As a matter of fact, it was a last minute decision to fish Sabine rather than Calcasieu.  Jim Standley, his brother-in law, Trae Poe, and his 13-year old son, Kyle climbed in my boat and we headed south hoping to work a point before it got too rough.

We caught four slot fish and a pile of 18 to 19-inch fish, before the shoreline dirtied up too badly and we just grew tired of fighting the wind.  Trae beat them up pretty good fishing Gulp under a Kwik Cork while Jim caught his share on a roach TTF Trout Killer.  We were almost back on the north end when Johnny called and said that he had done about the same thing, but had talked with Adam and he had found a few trout drifting slicks in deeper water.

It was like fishing two different lakes by the time I shut down the big engine.  The wind was negligible, the water was much clearer and it was warm. It is very seldom that you can say "Today was the day that the trout showed back up," but that was the case Saturday.  I can assure you that we have fished the same flats the past two months and found a few trout only once or twice.

Perhaps even more significant was that these were good fish up to six pounds and the numbers were there as well.  By the time we picked out a drift east of the rapidly growing  Armada, Adam was well on his way to limiting while doing his best to fend off other boats.  Everyone was catching a few fish, but his group was still doing a little better bouncing Red Killers off the bottom.

We were doing well enough with a glow-chartreuse Red Killer and a plum-chartreuse Trout Killer II, but things really picked up for us when Kyle caught a nice trout quickly reeling a Stinky Pink Sea Shad back to the boat.  I immediately tied the same lure on under a Kwik Cork and it was on for us.  While it was no time to experiment, I think the switch to fishing the upper column of water was more important than the color of the lure!

Ironically enough, Adam had just called and said that their bite had slowed down, but part of that was due to the fact that they were already in the C and R mode.  I think the other factor was that they had done well bouncing the red killer on the bottom and the fish we were now catching were in the top column of water.  I caught two fish on consecutive casts while we were putting things away for the run back and both fish hit the tail less than a foot beneath the surface.

Apparently, the same thing was occurring all over the north end of the lake.  After getting blown off the south end, James Swann and his dad, Dale, put their boat back on the trailer, grabbed a bite to to eat and launched again at Pt. Neches Park.  He said they drifted the intake ditch in Old River Cove all the way out to the ICW until dark with pumpkin-chartreuse Assassin Shads and finished with two limits of reds and 16 trout up to four pounds.  His dad caught and released one trout over 27-inches.

The water was 47-degrees Saturday morning and eventually warmed up to 55, but we may not see water that warm for a while.  Just knowing the trout are still around will do for now!

 

  

 

  

      

Redfish good...trout slow....regulatory meeting confusing!

I feel certain that not being on the water every day over the past week or so has had something do with it, but I have struggled with the trout catching lately.  I have been fighting the same cough and fever crud that a lot of folks have and I was pretty much just going through the motions when I was fishing.

Calcasieu has been far more consistent for the past two weeks.  The redfish are as crazy over there as they are here, but they have been catching a lot of 14 to 19-inch trout as well.  The big trout have been scarce, but I do know of a 10 that is now on her way to the taxidermist and a 30-inch fish that was released.  There have also been enough 7-pound plus fish to keep you on high standby every cast!

The recent overnight downpour dirtied up Sabine, but I think it will help with the trout bite if it doesn't get any worse.  The water, especially along the La. shoreline, is dirty in patches and that can clear up or get a little worse over night depending on the wind.  It looks like we have some pretty cold weather headed our way next week, but by yesterday afternoon the surface temps had climbed from 47 that morning to 58 degrees.

I only fished 4 or 5 hours checking out some spots for Saturday and for the most part the redfish were still there.  They were in very shallow water and we caught most of our fish on 5-inch Assassins and Red Killers in stinky pink, roach, and morning glory.  We didn't catch any over sized fish, but we did catch a lot of rat reds mixed in with the slot fish.

I made it over to the trout regulatory meeting in Pt Arthur Tuesday night and the concerned angler turn out was pretty decent.  There was little doubt that the general consensus of those in attendance was that Parks and WIldlife had already made up their mind, which may or may not be true, but it has at least appeared to work that way in the past.  The straw vote overwhelmingly opposed any change.

Aside from the possible limit reduction of 10 trout to 5 trout as proposed by the TPWD, basically every other potential solution to the perceived problem came from the fishermen.  The representative walked us through gill net surveys conducted along the entire coast that they felt supported the declining trout theory in at least some bays.  Even if you question the accuracy because you fish a given area nearly every day and possibly see things a little differently, their data does contain the only numbers on record.

Mickey Eastman, who guides and hosts a popular radio show, drove in for the meeting and shared the perspective of guides and anglers from all over the coast that have contacted him.  He also offered up the possiblity of a slot limit system that I think most fishermen would be more than happy with.  He added that he felt like an excessive number of guides and tournaments really had the most negative impact on the trout fishery from the middle coast to Laguna Madre.

We do not see that problem here as there are very few tournaments and the guide population is held down in part due to the additional $1000 Louisiana fee.  Buying both Texas and la. fishing and guide licenses each year is a significant investment.

Not surprisingly the graphs indicated that the fishery is out the top here on Sabine and no one in the Galveston area was complaining either. When shown that information, the entire group rallied around the possibility of regional changes rather than one that blankets the entire coast.  In more simple terms, "If an area ain't broke...don't fix it."

That sounds good initially, but what if they did decide to reduce the limits everywhere, but Sabine.  You would not be able to find a place to park most days at the few landings around the lake.  If they opt to regionalize, we better hope they lump Galveston in with us for better or worse.  Calcasieu would get crowded in a hurry as well if we go it alone.

If it comes to pass that I can never keep another fish and can never guide another day in order to save the fishery I can live with that as long as we can continue to share the anticipation of one more strike with our children and grand children for years to come.  At the same time, I do not want to be deprived of an occasional fish fry or sold a bill of goods that best serves the interests of a smaller more powerful group.  

You have an obligation to have your voice heard, but it is a little scary when you take the time to make an informed decision and you still don't know if you are going to win and get something you reallly didn't want.  As we are quickly learning, however, It is even more frustrating when you are just trying to hang onto what you already have!