Colburn's Sabine Connection

It was my kind of business meeting!

We ran a lot of water Wednesday before the redfish finally found us.  The conditions were hot, but perfect for fishing anywhere we wanted so we checked water from East Pass all the way to the Causeway.  We never fished any spot more than 10 or 15 minutes until we found ourselves in the middle schooling redfish.  We limited in about ten minutes and called it a day.

Thursday morning, Sarge Upchurch and Chris Williamson of Laguna Rods and Keith Daley, owner of Daley's Hunt n Fish decided to hold a business meeting in my boat.  Chis and Sarge didn't leave Georgetown until late the night before as they wanted to deliver another 60 rods to be wrapped before squeezing in a day to fish and show off more of their rods at the same time.

As it turned out, we were very lucky that Sarge and Chris were running about a half hour late. By the time we reached the north end of the lake, the entire south end was blacker than the inside of a cow.  We watched it until it quickly engulfed the west side of the lake before opting to hurry back into the river.

Sarge culled out the largest fish in the schools with a topwater!

We just caught the heck out of small trout, a nice flounder and a slot red while waiting for the worst to blow through.  Sarge was catching them out of the back of the boat on topwaters, Keith was catching them on a crankbait, and Chris and I were catching or missing a fish almost every cast with a Swim Bait.

When the storm finally blew through and it got sure enough hot, we ran back to the lake.  After catching only one solid trout out of a mine field of slicks we moved to the ICW to take advantage of the remainder of a light outgoing tide.  The trout were there as were the flounder and we left the deeper water with a very decent box of fish to check on the schooling redfish.

Now.....does it look like Sarge just accidentally held his fish in front of Chris' face.   If it does...you haven't ever spent the day with these two!

They were already doing their thing when we got there and it was crazy good.  We only fished two different schools and we all had fish on at the same time on different lures several times.  Sarge is addicted to throwing a topwater at any fish and the reds would absolutely detonate his pink Skitterwalk.  He finished with the largest red while both Keith and Chris finished the day with red-flounder-trout slams.

Needless to say, I cleaned fish for a long time while they talked shop in the shade at the landing,  I have been fishing with one of their Latis sticks since March and I have never been more impressed with any rod.  It is absolutely weightless and I have flinched more than once when an over sized red buried it under the boat on a last minute lunge.  Add to that the number of times it has survived backcasts that jerked it all the way out of a rod holder and I am convinced that it will take a car door or trunk lid to render it useless.

I had never fished with or even seen any of the other actions that they brought on board. They not only build models for specific needs, but also build one action in three different lengths that comes very close to being the one stick you would need for most of your fishing.  While only time will tell if the rest of the line is as durable as the Latis Stick at this point, I can't believe that there is another rod out there that feels so noticeably different the first time you cast it or set the hook!

Apparently, Keith agreed as they ran back to his store after the trip and he couldn't place an order fast enough.  It will take a few weeks to get in his first order because he ordered only custom wrapped models, but they left him their Devil Stick for customers to examine in the meantime.  While it has a handle that will blow you away, more importantly it is built on that blank that is easily the most versatile in their whole line-up.

I ran over there yesterday and he was already considering selling it to the highest bidder as everyone that picked it up raved over it.  Don't buy it....there are more on the way!

 

Great day on trout...reds were a no show!

I was certain that the mid-day bite was money in the bank, but it just didn't happen today.  The good news is that we had one heck of a morning on trout in the 3 to 4 pound class.  The DeLucas fished with me today and I was far more concerned about the morning bite than our chances later, but you just never know!

We caught our trout on Swim baits, tails and crankbaits all morning long.  It was overcast and the fish never moved into deeper water.  We never caught more than 2 or 3 fish in one spot, but the bite was very steady for a solid four hours.  I just knew we were going to kill the redfish as well based on what has been going on around noon for the past few days, but that bite never materialized. 

The bait really didn't even show up until around two and the birds were no help at all.  We did drift up on one school of reds and everyone hooked up at the same time.  Two of the fish were solid slot fish, one was undersized and the other pulled off.  We never found them again!

I don't know why they didn't show up as the conditions were pretty much the same as they have been all week, but if they showed up in the same spot evey day you sure wouldn't need to waste money on a guide.  That was the best catch of solid trout that I have put together in a while so I'm not complaining, but I am hoping that the reds possibly did their thing earlier and our timing was bad.  I'll just have to go find out tomorrow.

 

We are having fun now and its getting even better!

After spending far too long fooling with small trout and no redfish yesterday I changed game plans and was seriously questioning the move by mid-morning today.  The redfish apparently did their thing yesterday, but we never even gave them a shot.

We were so excited to find a few birds actually working over shrimp that we stuck with it just to see if there were any good trout in the mix.  If there were, we never caught them.  I did talk with two other groups last night that just killed the fish on the south end of the lake in the afternoon.  They said it was a mix of trout, redfish and sand trout.

After catching only one slot red and two keeper trout in the ICW this morning I just blew off scouting for something new for tomorrow's group and ran back to the same shallow flats that have been so good for the past couple of weeks.  My 12 year old Grandson was fishing with me and since it was his last chance to fish before school / football starts Monday, we decided it would be more fun catching than scouting.  He usually asks in advance if its going to be a scouting or a catching trip before saying yes or no, but he was taking what he could get today.

The redfish were still there and even though they didn't school on the surface as much as they have been, they were absolutely everywhere.  We fished slicks and drifted making blind casts while waiting for them to come up.  I don't know that we were ever out of the fish as we were already both hooked up a couple of times when a school would surface.  We never even bothered to run over there.

Andrew stayed with a stinky pink Assassin, not that it really mattered, but the trout liked that color better.  I fished a Swim bait and a bug juice Trout Killer and the trout didn't want either of those.  Rusty Frederick said that they found a few trout under the birds on the La. shoreline yesterday so that bite may be finally kicking in.

I am ready to catch more trout, but the redfish bite has just been sensational.  We have had no more than a couple of days when we couldn't find them schooling over the past month and it is an exciting non-stop bite. Yes.......it is very hot, but it beats the heck out of too cold as far as I am concerned.  Just drink a little more water and keep casting!

I called Keith Daley to confirm a trip with him and some folks from Laguna rods next week and he was too busy to talk.  Bass Assassin is back on line following their fire and Keith said they once again have everything in stock including more Stinky Pink and Diedappers.  He also said that they got their first shipment of the new Maniac Mullets.  I have done very well with the demos I had, but you better fish them with an in-line swivel or a Tony's clip as they will twist your line.

The main reason Keith and Eric were so busy is that they have discounted everything in the store 15 percent through this weekend.  If you have been waiting to buy a high dollar item like a rod or Yeti cooler that's a pretty good savings.  I pointed that out to my next door neighbor who has become a regular fixture at Daley's and he didn't see it that way.

He said it just leaves you that much more money to buy some more stuff.  I feel certain that Keith is all for that line of thinking!

Once again I found honesty to be an expensive proposition.  I never should have cautioned folks to make sure that they could deal with the heat before booking a trip regardless of how good the fishing is right now.  When I got in this afternoon I had three cancellations and I haven't checked to see if they want to book at a later date or what.  You don't want me for an agent!

The catching and the weather has been red hot!

That first hour of daylight has been both productive and enjoyable, but it all changes pretty quickly.  I don't know that I have ever caught as many fish and enjoyed it any less than we have lately.  By the time 9 or 10 o'clock rolls around the sunscreen is already bubbling!

The wind finally gave us a break last Thursday and even though much of the north end of the lake was pretty silted up, we caught fish everywhere we fished.  We caught trout on topwaters on the shallow flats, we caught trout and reds in 18 feet of water on the ICW, and we found a few reds on the river.  The only thing we didn't find were schooling redfish, but we yielded to the sun fairly early.

The following day it was more of the same on a very flat lake.  Johnny helped me with Danny Robbins' group and we just hammered the redfish.  We passed on the early topwater trout bite feeling much more confident about the reds in deeper water and it was the right move.  We both had two limits when we ran to the open lake to cool off and look for a few trout.

Cody got hot, but he and his Dad did a number on the slot redfish!

The tide was non-existent, but we still managed to catch a few trout up to four pounds on Swim Baits, crankbaits and a Mirromullet XL.  On the way in just after noon we ran into the schooling redfish and it was crazy until we finally melted down.  On more than one occasion everyone in both boats had a redfish on at the same time!

I took the weekend off to restock with plastic tails and clean up several reels.  I don't know how real saltwater guides keep up with the salt problem.  As a rule, I simply dunk the reels I used that day in the bayou before loading the boat, hit them with the water hose when I wash the boat and add a few drops of oil the following morning.  The drought, however, has necessitated more attention due to the higher salinity and keeping them clean is an on going battle.

We made a quick trip this morning to see if we could catch a few flounder for some kinfolks headed Dillon Byler's way this weekend.  They look forward to his egg plant-rice dressing stuffing as much as the fish and it is a good thing because we never caught the first one.

We kept four trout, Dillon put two back in the five pound class, and we kept one limit of slot reds.  We caught all of the fish on a shad colored River 2 Sea Swim bait and a pink Maniac Mullet.  I don't know that the Mullet is even out yet as Dana and Shawn are still tweaking it, but I changed the hook out for one size larger and have had a better catch to strike ratio.

It seems like we are never content with the weather and while I prefer hot over cold, there isn't much shade in the middle of Sabine Lake.  The catching is pretty darned good right now and I sure don't want to discourage new business, but you might want to stand out in the yard for an hour or so to see if you really want to book a trip.  Standing under a tree with a glass of cold water doesn't count! 

Redfish Galore and the trout bite isn't too bad either!

Yesterday I fished with Scott Cooper and his son,Tom, and I was introduced to a new approach that seems to work well if you are fishing with a guide or at least someone else to run the troll motor and the big engine.  While Scott and I made 1000 casts over the course of the mornng, Tom would nap until things looked promising.  He would then, very methodically, pick up his rod and make a few casts.  If that did not produce a fish very quickly, it was back to bed.

Tom was well rested when he caught this nice trout!

In between the naps he caught both the largest trout and the largest redfish of the day so the plan definitely has its merits.  We caught all of our trout on tails, missed one very good trout on a Swimming Image when the landing net pulled apart, and caught the red fish on tails and Swim Baits.

My party for today called to say they couldn't make it so I took the opportunity to do some scouting for the first time in a while.  I limited on trout in the first thrity minutes with a Mirromullet XL and a bone Spook,Jr.  I think the XL was working better, but I lost it to a red or one heck of a trout and I had only one.  I started with a She Dog and they just would just slap at it so I downsized and they got all over it.

Art Wright called and said that he had some Texas Fish and Game magazine folks with him so they came and met me about an hour later. When the bite slowed on the flat I was fishing I moved to deeper water and tied on a crankbait.  I caught and released 12 more good trout by the time they arrived and they immediately picked up two solid fish on tails.  I caugfht four more trout and left it with them to look for another program.

I decide to run further out into the lake to look for redfish and they found me.  I stayed with them for the next two hours (there were at least 4 or 5 different schools of fish) and any bait in the boat was a good bait.  I started following them about a mile into the lake on the barrel channel and finally called it a day out in front of Coffee Ground.

Landing them would have been much easier had Art not forgotten his landing net in the truck! 

I called Art again and he said that he wasn't real sure where I was.  I told him to just point his boat east and run until he saw me or the boiling water.  Art has logged his fair share of time on the water, but It was obvious that even he was shocked by the number of redfish churning the surface when they pulled up.  It was absolutely crazy!

Not surprisingly, I got two calls from friends fishing the Garrison area about the same time that said that I needed to get down there if I wanted to see a lot of redfish.  I passed on the invitation.

I was really surprised at how good the topwater bite was early because we had no tide at all until much later in the morning.  I don't have any weekends open for quite a while, but I do still have some week days open the next couple of weeks if you can stand fishing in the heat.  You just never know how long any bite will last, but the catching is as hot as the weather right now!

How to make Christmas last until August!

It is becoming an annual event as my Cajun Connection, Gene and Judette Crisman and their grandson Jack, drove over Tuesday morning.  The trip is a present they give each other at Christmas, but don't open so to speak until August.  They wait for Jack to finish baseball each summer and that usually takes place in late July. They live in Beaumont now, but they are New Iberia natives and know a bunch of folks I played ball with in college.  Its like old home week and we really have a good visit each year.

Before I forget, Judette says that the next time you are anywhere close to Abbeville, you absolutely have to eat at Shuck's.  The food has to be good to get a Triple A rating from another Cajun, especially from a Mom that knows a little something about Cajun cuisine.  I will be there at the end of the month.

Jack has an arm load of redfish that ate a chicken on a chain Sea Shad!

Better yet, my string of good catching days is still in tact.  We caught trout and redfish all morning and finished with a flurry when we found ourselves surrounded by schooling reds at quitting time.  They were catching them hand over fist and I was netting, releasing fish, and digging out new Sea Shads, (the color didn't matter) and staying about two fish behind the whole time!

Gene, Jack and Judette all got the same thing for Christmas and no one was complaining!

We caught both trout and redfish on tails and Swimming Images on the revetment wall early.  We then caught trout, but no reds drifting the flats at the mouth of the Neches fishing a TTF Trout KIller and an Assassin Texas Shad under a popping  Cork.  When the wind slacked up a little we ran to the Louisiana side of the lake and caught a couple of trout and more reds drifting the same baits in four feet of water.

As soon as the shad started balling up in big numbers, the redfish were all over them.  We found them on the barrel channel, south of Stewts and right in the middle of 1000 yard cut.  I have just started seeing a few big shrimp skipping across the surface so we could be getting close to gull mania again!

I fished with Scott Cooper and his son, Tom, today, but I don't have my camera so I'll hold off until I can download some of those pictures tomorrow night.  We did good again, but it was a little slower than it had been due to the wind.

Back to Back and improving each day!

After canceling a trip four times, Richard and Jeremy Melvin deserved a good trip, but this one was over the top.  With the exception of our very first stop we were at the right place at the right time all day long.  That doesn't happen very often for me.

We picked up a couple of nice trout on topwaters on the second stop.  We then moved to a break on the ICW and caught a few more trout and a flounder.  We then ran over to the revetment wall and found three different schools of redfish.  We caught most of them on tails and caught several very nice trout on tails and a Swimming Image while waiting on the next school of reds.

A red in hand and one on the line was pretty much the story all day long!

When that bite slowed down we ran to a flat on the east side of the lake and caught more redfish and several small trout drifting in 4 feet of water with a Flats Killer under a popping Cork.  We ran back north until we found the shad on top and before we could finish our first drift, two different schools of reds were blowing holes in them.  I don't know how many we caught, but I took a pile of pictures while Richard and Jeremy wore them out with topwaters.

Carl got it done with a spinning rod and 8-pound test!

The day before was not as easy as the wind kept us pinned down early, but we still had a very good day.  Once again we had some solid trout and two limits of red fish.  We caught them on a little bit of everything, but the majority of the fish were caught fishing tails under a Cork.  Carl Standard put us all to shame when he won an extended tug of war with a 31-inch red that weighed 12 pounds.  He caught his big fish on a spinning reel loaded with 8-pound test!

It looks like the reds are ready to do their thing again as we found them everywhere we fished and caught them on everything from tails to She Dogs.  I am more pleased, however, that we are starting to catch good numbers of trout in the 3 to 5 pound class!

We had a good incoming  tide most of the morning and the water was in very good shape from the revetment wall to the Dredge hole.  Fishing is a whole lot more fun when some catching takes place!