Colburn's Sabine Connection

Wind keeping us in the river right now!

I was reminded by a good friend in Church this morning that I had not posted in a while.  The reason for that is that I have been doing a heck of a lot more fishing than catching lately.  Between canceling parties and spending all my time burning gas in the river and bayous due to the wind, I haven't had much to pass along that would be of any benefit.

I did manage to have two decent outings in the river fishing structure that I had not fished in a while and trying some slightly different things.  One of those outings was a trip with Kenny Vaughan that I tried to cancel, but he would have none of it as he just wanted to learn how to fish the river and didn't care how hard it blew in the lake.  We spent most of the morning riding, pointing out why certain spots do or don't hold fish and showing him how I fish those spots different times of the year.

We caught a fish or two at most of the stops, but things didn't get really interesting until around noon.  We decided to make one more pass down a stretch of shoreline that we had fished earlier before and I am glad that we did.  I immediately caught a small red on a Swim Bait before Kenny started absolutely wearing them out on a shallow running crankbait.

Our best fish was only a fat 26-inch slot red, but he was catching fish every third or fourth cast while a Swim bait and spinner bait produced only a strike or two.  He only had it with him because it was already tied on when he left the house and we quit fishing with it when we almost lost it on a hang up.  Since we didn't even know who made it must less what the color was called, he put it away until he could find another one at Academy or Daley's.

Kenny beat the wind and the fish with a perch colored crank bait!

I made a short run late Saturday (wind still howling) a little further up the river with a similar crankbait that did not produce nearly as well.  Because I was fishing an area that I wasn't even sure held fish, I also tried a spinner bait to see if the problem was the arrow or the Indian.  The spinner bait wasn't the answer either, but the second pass down the same bank with yet another lure yielded several bass and four very nice redfish.

On the second pass I rigged an East Beast Flats Minnow XL weedless on a 5/0 Mustad Wide gap and fished it like a jerk bait.  Neither the bass or the redfish would hit it until it sunk 2 or 3 feet deep and I seldom felt the strike.  I would just see the line move sideways and they were there!

I would prefer to see the wind lay down so that we can get back in the lake everyday, but this has been a little different find and it has been a lot of fun.  I guess the good news is that If the wind continues to blow at least there is a whole lot of river left to fish this way!

One more thing as I continue to get e-mails concerning the Geaux colored series of She Dogs.  I talked with Mike Tenian at MirrOlure and he confirmed that they were specifically made for a particular wholesaler and not just a "Come on" for Daley's Fish-n-Hunt.  Eric Roning said that they ordered every one they had left in stock.

No lure is the end all be all, but when these are gone.... they are gone.  When we found that out last week we drove over and picked up a few more.  The Geaux Naked and the trout colored one worked great when we could get on the lake, but there are also a couple of more Geaux colors that I might have passed on too early.  No more e-mails on that subject....that's all I know! 

Even Plan B was blown out yesterday!

I don't know that a scouting trip yesteday would have done you much good if you were fishing today's Tail Chasers event as the wind turned around and blew the opposite direction all night long.  The water was stacked up in the bayous and the river yesterday and the open lake was a sea of serious whitecaps.  The wind swung around to the west after lunch, but I think the velocity only increased if that was possible.  It was also a little cooler this morning.

We ran and fished some cuts off the ICW east of the Sabine for the first time in a long time Friday, but still couldn't find any big redfish.  The flounder bite was decent enough and we did catch some small slot reds, but there were a lot of casts per fish.  We caught everything on spinnerbaits and crankbaits including the flounder.

I feel certain the jetties will draw the most attention if the wind allows, but the Neches could produce a good catch as well today. These non-stop winds will surely ease up sometime in the near future and we can get back on the trout in the open lake.  We have done well on very solid trout every time we've gotten just the slightest break.

 

 

When the wind doesn't blow...!

After wasting most of the afternoon filling out papers like we thought we were going to get rich off of BP, we almost messed around and wasted a rare light wind day on Tuesday, but still managed to get on the water in time to catch several slot reds and 12 trout up to 6 pounds.  I am guessing at the weights only because I caught neither of the largest fish. It was after dark and I watched Rick hold them up and release them from a distance.  We caught every fish on She Dogs.

Yesterday morning the fish were on the same flat, out a little deeper, but they still wanted the same topwaters.  I was talking with Eric over at Daley's Tuesday morning and he suggested that I try a couple of colors in a line of She Dogs that I had not seen anywhere, including the web site.  He was right on, but I never expected to catch two very nice flounder on them in 6 feet of water!

    I did not expect to catch 2 flounder this size in 6 feet of water on a top water lure.  Had I known I was going to catch two I would have kept them!

I had two trout in the 5-pound class, but more importantly, even the smallest fish were 19 to 20 inch fish.  As excited as I was about that bite, I still left the lake frustrated.  I ran over to the La. side before quitting to make a few drifts and got my hat handed to me by two fellows in a very old bay boat.

Two drifts turned into an hour's worth of drifts as I unsuccessfully tried to figure out what they were doing.  I never got close enough to see what they were using, but we were basically drifitng the same depth of water and I never got the first strike while they caught 4 or 5 trout every drift.  They were still catching fish when I left!

The main reason for taking the time to write these reports is to help you catch fish and save some gas money when it really isn't as good as you may have heard , but I did call today to make sure Keith saved me some more of those She Dogs before I shared this information.  I do not have the luxury of carrying only one or two of a certain color when fishing with clients and they aren't keen on paying to watch someone else catch fish with the only bait in the boat.

Here's the problem.  Daley's is apparently the only place on earth where you can buy what is left of this particular line of She Dogs and that includes the Mirrolure web site.  They don't even list them.  Eric also said that they just got in another order of spring locks to convert any jig head or open hook into a weedless set up.  They really extend the life of any plastic tail and that is money saved to off set your gas bill.  We are still biting the bullet and running hard with clients, but the cost of gas rises by the hour and it has limited the amount of water I check when not guiding.

Don't forget the Tail Chasers tournament out of Port Neches Park this weekend.  The club will meet at Robert's steakhouse on W. Park at 6:30 tonight.  You can rab a bite to eat and sign up at the same time!        

Its getting to them that's tough!

We just cannot catch a break with the wind.  All things considered, we had a pretty good day Friday with some very solid flounder up to three pounds, a few trout up to 5-pounds and 4 or 5 slot reds.  We caught all of our fish in the river, but Johnny did catch some solid trout in the lake on topwaters right before we quit.

Albert and Mike Veitch outfished the other boats that elected to make that long tough ride to the jetties in winning the Xtreme Redfish tournament with 17.44 pounds.  I felt like Brad and I had a very good shot at winning had we been able to fish, but that weight would have been tough to beat,  At least our ride would not have been as long or as bad!

Rusty tried to sneak in ahead of this little front this morning, but wound up getting blown off pretty early in the day. I talked to him around noon and he said he was going to wait it out a little while and see if the wind settled down at all.  In only a couple of hours of fishing he caught six reds and a pair of five-pound trout on topwaters and tails.

I was mildly upset initially that we canceled today after talking with him, but it is blowing and raining right now and that is no fun.  Aside from long gaps between paydays, the most frustrating thing about this non-stop wind is that the fish are doing their thing when you can get to them.  We can't guide in the Game Reserve, but I would be in there every day if I were a recreational fisherman.  You can beat the wind and the flounder should be in every cut right now.

The Triangle Tail Chasers will be back at it this weekend wind or no wind.  They had a good turnout in their first event and they paid well.  I am sure the field and payoff will be even larger Saturday based on the emails I have been getting of late. The side pot is for the red with the most spots.  The weigh-in will be at 3:00 pm at Port Neches Park.  For more information go to www.triangletailchasers.com .

 

The wind could alter some solid game plans Saturday!

I hope that the Xtreme redfish tournament fishermen get a better draw on the wind this Saturday than we had yesterday. I took advantage of Tuesday's light winds, but Adam said they couldn't get in the lake at all yesterday.

You could fish anywhere you wanted to fish Tuesday and I did.  I only kept two redfish and a couple of flounder for our supper, but I found a lot of solid fish doing their thing in very shallow water.   For the most part they were just blasting away at schools of 1-inch shad.  The shad would explode into the air and either a flounder or red would be right in the middle of them.

I caught my fish on a spinner bait, a crank bait, a die dapper rigged weedless and a 3-inch tube jig once they got finicky.  Most of the reds were middle slot on down, but I did release three fish that were right at 28-inches or a little over.  The three largest fish all ate the Die Dapper and came from 2 different locations.  I was fishing an East Beast Flats Minnow on the spinner bait and glow-chartreuse and chicken on a chain Die Dappers.

The following is a tip that will help you locate these shallow fish when you can't see the bait in the wind:  Egrets lined up along the bank are a dead giveaway that the tiny shad are in there, but the key to finding the redfish is to look for red wing black birds perched in the grass right next to the water.  They don't know that they are keying on reds, but they see the wakes in the water and when the reds blow up on the shad a few of them land on the mud.  Dinner is served!

I called Keith over at the new Daley's Hunt "n" Fish store Wednesday morning to see if they had gotten any Die Dappers and their Texas Tackle Factory stuff in yet and Eric was unloading Assassin baits as we spoke.  They put some aside (it's nice to know that someone isn't going to walk in and buy all of them before you can drive over there) and the UPS truck was bringing in more when I arrived.  Judging by the orders lined up on the counter some other folks have been taking advantage of that unique service as well!

Eric said Tal Cowan was coming over today and that they would have the entire TTF line by early next week. I am hoping we get a little break tomorrow, but the wind is howling already this morning and they are predicting even more for the weekend! 

    

More bass than reds!

I didn't have long to fish yesterday with an afternoon funeral to attend so we spent the entire time in the river.  We caught more bass than redfish, but three of the reds were in the 27 to 28-inch range and fat.  It was nice not having to deal with the wind!

We had been catching our reds in the river in deep water, but they were not there yesterday.  One of the big fish hit a watermelon-red flake frog and the other two ate crawfish colored crankbaits.  We caught several more on spinnerbaits, but only one of them was a slot fish.  If the wind continues to howl all week long we might just have a Plan B that is a lot of fun! 

DALEY'S phone # (409) 736-3999

The wind isn't blowing right now so I am going to hook up and run check on the river bite real quick. With any tide movement at all, the reds should be doing their thing and I don't have time to run the lake today anyway.

I got home last night to find two pages of emails and the majority of them wanted a phone number and directions to Daley's Hunt 'N' fish.  Keith said there is a faster route for folks coming from Orange or Bridge City, but I had no problem with this one:

Take Hwy. 365 west out of Nederland headed toward Fannett. A short distance after crossing west Port Arthur road turn left on Jade Ave.  Daley's is on the right hand side of the road and you can actually see it from 365.  Someone got a little carried away in declaring Jade to be an avenue, but the street sign is clearly marked.

Their phone number is (409)736-3999.  Some folks said they called before they ever left the house to see if they had a particular color,etc. in stock.  I talked with Eric late yesterday afternoon and he said that if you call and ask them to hold an item or even multiple items until you can get there, they will bag it up and have your order waiting when you arrive.  That is the next best thing to house calls!

I've got to get out of here if I hope to beat the wind!