Colburn's Sabine Connection

It was a good day to wade fish!

After canceling yet another trip, this time simply because I didn't have anything solid going on, Darin and I made an afternoon scouting run. I don't know what it was like in the morning, but it was blowing pretty good by the time we got there.

After making a big loop in the lake, we said to heck with the wind, put the Stake Out Stick in the mud, and wade fished all afternoon. By the time we quit, the wind had eased up, but we had no reason to look for anything better. We only caught three trout, but we caught and released at least 20 slot reds and kept nine nice flounder as well.

We actually caught more flounder than that, but initially had no intention of keeping any fish and turned the first few loose. When we both caught one at the same time, Darin decided that we might catch enough to fool with and he was right!

Most of the fish, reds and flounder, ate a quarter ounce spinner bait with a Blurp Sea Shad trailer. Everything else, including the trout, hit a pearl pink floating Fat Boy. The water was much clearer than I expected it to be with the recent rain and a wind that was blowing right in on us. We were never in water deeper than three feet.

They have at least two tournaments on the lake tomorrow and the weather forecast is not all that bad. The water we initially ran in the lake looked much better from about Willow on south than it did on the north end of the lake and there was bait everywhere. We even saw a few birds working, but never stopped to check them out.

I talked with a friend right at dark that had both caught and missed several very nice trout fishing a lime green Corky original in six feet of water on the La. shoreline. He said that was the only thing they could get the fish to hit, but they weren't complaining as the trout were all of the large variety!

"It's finally raining!"

Yesterday we waited out the lightning only to get blown out once it passed through. We canceled today's trip last night and I was unable to even scout this morning due to more lightning. I was beginning to think it would never rain again so I am not complaining.

The lake was not an option once we got out yesterday, but I was surprised to find Black's and the river dirtier than they have been in quite a while. It could have been partially due to a big incoming tide that was pushing the dirtier water in the south end of the lake northward.

If canceling trips rather than wasting client money and time due to unfavorable conditions makes you a good guy then I should receive some kind of humanitarian award this year as I have canceled far more than I have fished . The bottom line is that while money makes life easier, I hate to fish those kind of days even worse than the client!

I am always appreciative of calls or emails from folks sharing a report, advice or even criticism. I received four emails last night suggesting that I possibly needed to give Capt. Adam a call as he recently reported that he has not missed a day this month and has just been killing the fish. I haven't read that report, but Adam and I frequently work larger groups together and we share information on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

I did, in fact, talk with Adam on Monday and he told me the same thing. What he also told me that he possibly left out of that report was that he had been making the drive to Calcasieu every morning to get it done rather than staying home and cussing the wind on Sabine. I vaguely recall having the same attitude when I was 42 years younger, but I forgot my pin number at the gas pump yesterday!

Seriously, Adam is a heck of a young guide that enjoys his time on the water, will work his butt off for his clients from can til can't and I highly recommend him on both lakes. That said, with the exception of December through early March when I enjoy wading for big trout on Calcasieu, I will continue to fish the remainder of each year on Sabine regardless of the weather.

So.......I truly thank you for the suggestion, but you have to be able to get on Sabine to catch fish on Sabine and that has been a challenge even for the gulls of late. If you are tired of waiting on Sabine I would give Capt. Adam a call at 409-988-3901 and fish with him on Calcasieu. If the wind ever quits blowing he will be more than happy to eliminate that early morning drive and fish with you on Sabine as well.

One last thing....Keith just called from Daley's and said that they received an order of Crazy Croakers yesterday afternoon. I don't know how many they got or what colors, but you can call them at 409-736-3999. If they have the color you are looking for they will hold them for you.

Schooling redfish saving the day!

The wind has just gone from bad to worse the past few days leaving us very few options. We came off the lake looking like we did pretty well, but in reality we just got lucky for less than an hour each day. Two out of the three days we hung in one area riding out the whitecaps and hoping that a big school of redfish would show one more time.

Fortunately, they did and it was an exciting bite that lasted for over an hour the first day, but less than twenty minutes after that. There was no "wrong" lure to throw at them and every fish we caught each day was in the slot. They would start breaking the surface a few minutes after the incoming tide got going, but because they were so shallow they were very easy to spook. Every red we caught was in the slot and the size of the school or schools is impressive.

We did manage to find a few solid trout while surfing across the flats on the north end, but no consistent numbers. We finished up in the river Wednesday and caught a few keeper trout on shad colored Swim Baits before the tide quit. I talked with some folks this evening that fished Swim Baits on the ICW side of Rabbit and Stewts and they kept nine trout and seven flounder. They said they didn't get a lot of bites, but the fish they caught were all quality fish.

All we need is a break in the wind as the water is still in good shape and the bait is all over the open lake. Hopefully we will get a little rain next week and the wind will back off enough to let us fish either side of the lake!

More waves than birds!

The wind was a problem once again yesterday.  With no birds to work, we ran straight to the revetment wall because the water looked a little better and it was semi-protected early. One pass with tails and topwaters produced only one trout, but a second pass with a Mirrodine XL and Catch V fooled a dozen very solid fish.

When that bite slowed it was off to the La. side of the lake, but it was tough trying to hang in there with the wind blowing the thick smoke off a burning marsh.  I stayed long enough to catch three nice flounder and two more trout.  By the time I decided to run back north, it was too late to expect a leisurely boat ride. It seems like you are always quartering into the waves and about every fifth wave deposited a half cup of water in my left front pocket.  The cumulative effect of the fifteen mile ride was a soaked left leg.

That said, I have been very pleased thus far with the ride on even the roughest of days with this Nautic Star. Lord knows I had plenty of opportunities to run rough water over the past three months. I am running a 2200TE with a 225 four stroke Yamaha.  The lake is just covered up with 21 footers with 150's and they brag about their ride and gas mileage as well! 

The water still looks good all over the lake, especially off the revetment walls, even with all of this wind. The tide was almost non-existent early, but was coming in pretty good by noon.  It was difficult telling just how much bait was in any area due to the whitecaps. I am not sure what has happened with the bird program, but we are back to having to hunt our own fish right now!

They drew a crowd at Daley's!

I don't know where all of the gulls went, but they weren't on the north end of the lake Friday morning. We got off to a great start drifting the flats with topwaters and tails rigged on 1/8th ounce heads, but that bite only lasted a couple of hours for us. After that it was tough.

By ten o'clock in the morning there were very few boats even on the lake so I am guessing it was tough on everyone. We finished up in the river and I possibly should have gone there earlier. We found both trout and redfish fishing a Swim bait in 3 to 5 feet of water before the lightning ran us off the water.

I really enjoyed talking with just a ton of folks at the Grand Opening at Daley's all day long today. A number of them fished this morning and they said the birds were still scarce and that their best bite was right at daylight. I do think, however, that the bite in general was pretty good for the folks that were willing to grind a little. Once again the topwater bite was consistent and a lot of folks caught redfish all the way from Willow bayou to the jetties.

There was no question as to what the hottest colors in tails, Crazy Croakers, and She Dogs has been of late for the fishermen piling in Daleys. There were no bug juice or opening night left in TTF lures or Assassins, they sold three dozen Geaux Tiger and most of the pearl-pink crazy Croakers before they could even hang them up, and the next shipment of geaux trout She Dogs will not arrive before early next week.

Tal Cowan with TTF said they were pouring bug juice as fast as they could right now in both the Flats Minnow and Trout Killer, but it was tough keeping up. Robin and Vera Shiver are trying to recoup from a fire at the Assassin plant last week and hope to be back on line in the next couple of weeks so the pickings will be slim on their line of plastics as well for a while. We might just have to glue baits back together for the short term!

Solid trout two days in a row!

The fish are still doing their thing on several different patterns and the gulls are still working for folks that could care less about any pattern, but the best news of all is that we are finally able to fish most of the lake even after they forecast 15 to 20 mph winds.  That was very much the case the past two days and the wind did blow about half that hard, but you could pretty much fish anywhere you wanted.

Ken Friday and I agreed that today did not look good and canceled today's trip Monday night.  Blake and Gary left Houston looking at pretty much the same forecast for Tuesday, but the wind wasn't as bad as predicted.  Right out of the box we put a perfect 27 7/8 red and the best trout of the day in the box and it was on.  We added another nice red and finished with 16 very solid trout.

Blake started the morning with a perfect tournament redfish!

 

The reds were in 2 feet of water as was the largest trout, but most of the other fish were caught under the birds.  One day you pull up and 90 percent of the trout are throwbacks and the next day it is the other way around.  Tuesday was one of those good days under the birds, so good in fact that I called Ken to see if he wanted to go ahead and fish today.  He did and I am glad that we did!

When he and Johnny met me at the landing before daylight I was a little concerned because the wind was blowing much harder than the day before.  Fortunately, it had more east than south in it and we headed to the flats in Coffee ground.  The reds weren't there so we just started working our way south making short drifts a hundred yards or so off shore.

We found a big school of fish in about three feet of water and we could have limited very quickly had they wanted to keep any fish.  They kept enough for me to give some to a friend and we caught and released the rest of the morning.  We caught a few on topwaters, but most of the fish were caught on bug juice TTF trout killers and opening night Sea Shads.

It was pretty choppy all morning, but the birds still worked well in the mid-lake area and most of them were 18 to 22-inch trout.  The ratio of keeper size to throw back wasn't nearly as good up on the north end. I hate fishing the birds, but it can be too easy to just pass up.  I will never understand why you can fish the same baits the same way two days in a row and one day everything is small and the next day most of the fish are keepers.  Finding good fish two days in a row was a real shocker!

There are a lot of good trout on the flats just off the ICW, but you are going to have to fish for them and not get in a hurry.  We have done the best with 5-inch tails and topwaters.  I never even tied a Crazy Croaker on today because it was so easy, but it has also worked very well when we are trying to avoid the smaller trout under the gulls.

I'll be back on the water Friday and then I plan on spending most of Saturday visitng with folks at Daley's Grand Opening in Pt. Acres.  The Grand Opening actually starts Friday, but visiting doesn't pay quite as well as guiding.  Keith did call me on the water today and asked me to tell the folks that had called that they just got in a bunch of Kwik Corks and all of the colors in the Crazy Croaker!

Weather and fishing both hot on Sabine!

The wind has blown a little harder over the weekend, but we can't complain about the conditions last week.  I will take melting down and fishing in a pool of sweat over three foot white caps any day.  As expected, the bite under the gulls got a little tougher later in the week due to boat traffic and the later tide change.

The key all week was locating the gulls working over surfacing shrimp rather than the huge schools of small shad. Any time you were able to find shrimp getting ambushed with no birds around you were really in high cotton as you could not only catch better trout, but you weren't as likely to draw a crowd as well.  Adam and I talked about how courteous the bird chasers were earl;y in the week, but as the bite got a little tougher, folks grew more frustrated and bay rage was in full swing!

Our average size fish under the birds has been much better with the Crazy Croaker!

 

 

 

I really believe you could catch fish anywhere in the lake north from Johnson's bayou to Pleasure island with no birds around, but it was going to be a mixture of everything from trout to small blue fish.  Mix in gafftops, croaker, and sand trout and you were spending most of your time catching, releasing and washing your hands.

Once it got a little tougher to ferrret out the larger trout, we did much better sticking with She Dogs and Crazy Croakers.  We were doing as well with black, even in the middle of the day, as any other color on the topwater bait, but the hottest two Crazy Croakers were pumpkin-chartreuse and Tiger Gleaux.  We did have to weather Dillon Buck wearing us out on trout up to five pounds with a pearl-pink-chartreuse version one morning, but we survived that run.

A variety of tails in a rainbow of colors have been and will continue to be hard to beat, but the Crazy Croaker are just catching better fish for us.  If you hit it just right and have a good tide there is also a good topwater bite in less than two feet of water on topwaters just before dawn.  It is a good way to start the day and it is much cooler.

In spite of the great bite, the water clarity is not all that good in parts of the lake.  In fact, if we weren't catching fish we would probably be griping about it.  For some reason, the incredible bite on the revetment walls slowed down later in the week as well.  The bank fishermen continued to catch fish on live shrimp, but the good topwater bite slowed down drastically.

The folks fishing the afternoon hours are also doing better on redfish than those fishing the morning sessions.  They are fishing the same areas with the same baits and the reds just magically show up in pretty good size schools. If you can stand the heat and the wind stays down this could be an even better week.

If you aren't fishing either Friday or Saturday make it a point to drive over to Daley's Hunt-n-Fish on Jade Avenue in Pt. Acres for their Grand Opening.  If you need something specific call them in advance and they will put it back for you until you get there.  They are going to have reps in the store from some of the biggest names in the tackle business, they are drawing for great prizes every hour and you can learn a few secrets from folks that fish all the way from Bessie Heights to the short rigs every day!

Wind died and the fish went nuts again.

This computer is screwed up again, but I am sure my wife will fix it when she gets home from her meeting. I am not allowed to jack with it when it doesn't do right. I'll post a full report tomorrow, but it has been unreal since the wind laid. We caught a whole lot of 3 to 5 pound trout today and finally quit due to the heat. If you get a chance to go..... don't wait until my next report.

We caught fish on everything from Swim Baits to tails, but caught the largest fish on Crazy Croakers and She Dogs. It doesn't take them long to eat all the paint off the Geaux Series She Dogs, but they are hitting the Geaux Trout so much better than any other color that we just use them up and buy some more!

It's taken me thirty minutes just to write this little bit....I quit!