Colburn's Sabine Connection

Daley's now has Tony Clips!

The weather conditions were pretty darned good Friday, but the fishing was a little bit tougher than it had been. Howard Watson brough his nephew and grandson and we caught a lot of trout, but never put a big fish in the boat.  Howard did miss one very nice speck that we got all the way to the net, but we have been getting more than one shot at a big trout most days.

We kept 19 trout and one very nice flounder and quit at 1:30 so it wasn't a bust.  We had a pretty good outgoing tide most of the day and the rain dirtied the water up very little.  We caught most of our fish swimming Roach colored Sea Shads and Flats Minnows in 8 to 12 feet of water in the ICW or swimming Die Dappers in 2 to 4 feet of water along the La. shoreline.

If you haven't run up river from the DuPont Outfall lately, steer clear of the Texas side of the river between Adams bayou and the Port of Orange.  A barge knocked down channel markers 21 and 22 and the post on the Texas side is barely visible on high tide.  You do not want to hit what is currently left of that marker!

Keith Daley also called yesterday to say that they were finally able to get in an order of Tony Clips at Daley's Fish n Hunt.  Until Brad Deslatte got me hooked on them a couple of years ago, I tied everything on with a loop knot.  The Tony Clips are built with a small gauge wire that includes a small quality barrel swivel and, more importantly, I have never had one collapse or open up when fighting a fish.

They save lots of leader material and line clipping when wade fishing and I can't tell that they alter the action of a Corky or hard bait at all.  They were really difficult to find for a while so I will initially buy more than I need just in case they get scarce again!   

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.  This is the first day I haven't fished in a while and I just finished cleaning reels and eating some pie I said "no" to earlier today.  We'll be back at it tomorrow and it looks like we may get a far better weather day than we will get Saturday!

After just getting our head blown off Monday, but still catching fish, we had just one of those stupid good days Tuesday.  Steve Pullin and his grandson, Alex met me in the parking lot before dawn and we briefly tossed around the idea of canceling rather than trying to time the band of thunderstorms that were already crossing through Houston.  We were out negotiated by Alex and we are all glad that he would not take no for an answer.

Razorback Alex caught his largest red ever in a driving rain!

I bet I put on and took off my Frogg Toggs 5 or 6 times between showers.  The final one set in around noon and we were still catching and releasing three pound trout when we decided that we were wet enough.  We fished the same areas we did the day before, but the fish were much more aggressive.  We caught some in 5 to 8 feet of water and some in 18 feet of water and the largest trout were in the deepest water. 

We started the morning with a 6-pound plus speck and it only got better.  We only had two slot reds and a couple of flounder, but we caught trout until it got to the point that we expected to catch them on every cast.  It was good, but it really got crazy when Steve started crawling an East Beast Flats Minnow or chicken on a chain Sea Shad across the bottom rather than hopping it.  I keep both baits loose in a zip lock bag as they are the same color and I never look to see which one I am using when one gets torn up.

Aaron and Cade started the day with a trout that narrowly missed the seven pound mark!

Wednesday was windier and a little cooler and this trip was another first for me as I fished with four generations of Jablonskis. Aaron brought his Dad, Grandad, three year old son, Cade, and his brother.  It was crowded, but we still had fun and caught fish all day.  We were obviously some what limited in what we could do, but we kept a limit of trout, one nice flounder, and released a big trout to boot.  Once again, the largest trout were holding in deeper water.

The water was pouring out all day and we watched folks at the mouth of Burton's and East Pass wearing out the slot reds as they followed the bait out of the marshes.  Most of them were fishing with mullet, but we did see a few caught on plastics.

If we can get a break with the wind there should be a decent bite under the gulls in the lake tomorrow. We'll just have to go to know!

Cold, hot, humid....windy every day, but catching still good!

Ralph Jordan and one of his sons, Jason, joined me Friday and while the wind was a little bit of a problem, it was tame compared to the day before.  Howard Watson brought in a group Thursday for what was forecast to be a cold, but light wind day that turned out to be anything but...!

We finished up well all things considering with 15 trout and one slot red, but we stayed pinned down in Black's and the river. The water was dropping out like someone pulled the plug, but we were able to swim Flats Minnows and Sea Shads along the 8 foot breaks and generate a fairly consistent bite all day.  I have received several e-mails lately pointing out the fact that Academy or where ever they shopped never has the TTF Flats Minnow in chicken on a chain.

TTF's East Beast is the same color as chicken on a chain.  For the most part, tackle manufacturers all use the same names for their colors, but this is one of those exceptions.  Keith and Eric over at Daleys Fish N Hunt both say that they get asked that question on a daily basis and are quick to help their customers decipher the myriad of colors left up to your own imagination like bug juice and stinky pink.

Dr. Jason Jordan with one of several nice trout that he caught Friday!

Friday morning it  was considerably colder, but the wind was not a problem for Ralph Jordan and one of his sons, Jason.  When you have been in this business as long as I have, one of the bonuses is watching a youngster do great things with his or her life.  The first time I fished with him he was a little boy that a Dad brought fishing on a cold and foggy November day and today he is Dr. Jason Jordan, an orthopaedic surgeon in Round Rock!

Ralph hasn't lost his touch with the redfish either.

We enjoyed one of those really good days Friday.  Jason caught a big trout the first time I lowered the troll motor and the bite never slowed all day long.  We could fish anywhere we wanted to fish and we did a little bit of everything.  We caught trout in two feet of water, under the birds and bouncing jigs off the bottom in 18 feet of water.  We finished the day catching some of our best trout and all but one of our reds vertical jigging the deep breaks with plastics and a Hoginar.

It looks like we have a week of wind and warmer weather in front of us, but while it has limited the spots we can fish, it hasn't hurt the bite as of yet.  I am chomping at the bit to start doing some serious wade trips for big trout, but it looks like that will have to wait until after Thanksgiving.

Gulls took the last two days off.

 

The lake sure looked smooth from the top of the Rainbow Bridge today, but I haven't talked with anyone that fished yet.  We almost used up the last of my meager supply of Trigger X tails yesterday and today was the only chance I had to get over to Daley's for the rest of the month. Chicken on a chain in a Flats MInnow or Sea Shad produced better numbers for us, but the slot reds and flounder were all over the new scented lure.  We were using the paddle tail.

Lee got the most out of his two fish limit!

Steve Osborne and Lee Schreve fished with me and we salvaged a good day after wasting some serious fishing time running the lake early.  We never saw the first gull working, fished a couple of points on the Louisiana side and returned to East Pass.  By the time we got back a few birds were working there and we went through the obligatory fifty trout just to keep 10.

We found three of our slot reds under the gulls at the mouth of Black's and picked up two nice flounder working the shoreline.  We finished the morning in the ICW and kept five very solid trout, two more slot reds and two more big flounder.  Aside from the fact that the scent in the Trigger X obviously made a difference, it is tough.

You'll see when you put your first one on a jig head, but I consisder that to be a good feature. Lee fished one under the birds until the little trout finally tore the tail off, but it still never slid down the hook.

"No", I am not sponsored by whoever makes Trigger X.  Thus the reason for the flying trip to Daley's.  Even though we had a good outgoing tide yesterday, the water was still high all day.  I feel reasonably sure that it will be much lower by tomorrow morning with a stiff north wind due to blow all night.

I just talked with Johnny and he was cleaning fish which is a good thing for a guide.  He said they kept ten good trout and five reds, but it was tough.  When you start at daylight and are cleaning fish at 6:00 p.m. that is definitely a long day of grinding.  He said the birds weren't there again today.          

Finally caught a break with the wind today!

The barometric pressure was rising just about as fast as the water was dropping out Thursday, but we still managed to have a very good trip.  Needless to say, there wasn't much traffic on the water with a north wind that continued to get stronger all day long.  You know its howling when it blows a two pound trout off the fish cleaning table!

Jim Morrisey booked the trip a month ago as a "thank you" gift for his friend and neighbor, Art Collazo, and they were ready to fish in spite of the wind.  We caught small trout until we got tired of catching them in East Pass, before taking a chance on another program that I knew was geting pounded by the waves.  Before we made the move, Art managed to throw his east beast Flats Minnow in front of our largest slot red of the day.

Art caught our largest slot red............and

We ran back to the ICW and took a butt kicking the remainder of the day, but still finished with one limit of trout up to 4 1/2 pounds and 2 slot reds.  Yep...Art caught that trout as well swimming either a Flats Minnnow or a Swim Bait in 12 feet of water.  It was Art's day and Jim couldn't have been more pleased. I was fighting the troll motor at the time and Jim netted the fish so I don't know for sure which of the two lures he caught it on.  Just before we called in the dogs, I caught and released a really pretty 7-pound speck on a chicken on a chain Sea Shad that marked a perfect ending to another enjoyable trip.

.......the largest trout that we kept!

It felt good just to get out of the wind at the end of the day and even better when we finally managed to get my boat back on the trailer.  When we pulled up to the dock my lower unit was in the mud.  You have to really like to fish to have fun in those conditions and we did have fun!

This morning it was much colder when Bruce Bryant arrived, but dead calm and the water had come back up.  We caught fish all day, but we really hammered them in the lake until the wind picked up.  We caught our red fish right off the bat, but also caught and released a pile of 15 to 17 inch trout before Bruce later decided that  he would like to take a limit home.

It didn't take long to take care of that and we ran back to the ICW to see if we could catch a big trout.  We caught fish non-stop until we quit, but the biggest speck we caught was just over 20-inches.  Bob Hood, P.J. and Joe were at the dock when we got in and they really had some nice flounder. One fish was a tad over five pounds and they had another one over four.  They caught them on Gulp and live mullet.

We found some good fish under lots of birds early on the north end, but later in the morning the best gull action was farther south.  We spent more time targeting sitting gulls than chasing birds that were working.  If you hung around long enough you would see the shrimp jump so there wasn't much need to run.  The conditions were super good this morning so it came as no surprise that there were a lot of boats on the lake.  It could get crowded tomorrow!

 

The fish must not know the wind is howling everyday!

I was going to wait until tomorrow night to post, but the days are starting to run together and I've gotten to that point where today is the tomorrow I worried about yesterday.  We have just gotten our heads blown off for the past three days, but the catching has not slowed down at all.

Tommy, Charlie and Glen limited on reds in a hurry on Monday.

Monday and Tuesday the wind howled out of the south most of the day.  Glenn, Tommy and Charlie fished with me Monday and I had all but written off the lake after Johnny called and said that the only birds he had found were much farther south than we had been finding them all week.  If Johnny couldn't find them there was no since in me even wasting the gas looking. We hung around East Pass and caught a few keepers before I decided to make one round in the lake just because I was close and then go back to the ICW.

We never had to go back to the ICW.  We were only about an hour behind Johnny, but in that short span of time the birds had started working all over the north end of the lake.  We literally ran from one flock to another until we were limited on reds and specks.  The most prodctive colors were chicken on a chain and pumpkin chartreuse and the TTF trout Killer and Tidal Surge Split Tail Mullet accounted for all of our fish.

Larry with one of several very nice trout taken before the fog burned off!

The following morning, Mike and Larry fished the first of two days with me and we fished the ICW until the fog cleared.  Larry caught a very nice 6 pounder swimming a Sea Shad as well as several more very solid trout and by the time we decided to run to the lake we had two slot reds and 12 keeper trout in the box.  Much to my dismay, we made a big round in a very rough lake and never saw the first bird work.  We finished the day in East pass and the ICW and easily finished their limits with about half of their limits in the four pound class.

Mike closed out Day 2 with this fat slot red!

This morning the wind was blowing just as hard in the opposite direction by the time Larry And Mike arrived for Day 2.  Mike came out of the chute firing and immediately caught a big trout and several more keepers before Larry and I even stuck the first fish.  We were swimming Flats Minnows and Sea Shads on an 1/8th ounce head and Mike was fishing anything and everything under a popping cork.

We caught an absolute pile of fish in East Pass under the birds, but aside from 7 or 8 keeper trout, a nice slot red and three flounder it was all about dink trout.  Back to Middle Pass and the ICW.  Larry continued to catch a few solid trout under the cork, but swimming the Flats Minnow and Sea Shad was the ticket. We were very selective today and virtually every trout they kept was in the 3 pound range.

The water is staying in the low 60's most of the day and we have fished an outgoing tide all day long.  Black's and part of East Pass was pretty dirty, but everything else is still clear.  Johnny fished the lake and did well on both trout and reds, but he said it was a tougher bite in the whitecaps.  I feel certain that it is going to be even colder tomorrow morning, but the bite shouldn't change a whole lot if the water doesn't completely drop out tonight.

I didn't get a chance to call Keith over at Daley's this evening to see if they had any left, but chicken on a chain and East Beast (the same color in TTF plastics) is apparently getting harder to find again and I know why.  You might want to start gluing those old ones back together again if you're fishing this weekend.

Whew.....that's it.  I am going to bed before midnight tonight so that I'll be all smiles and on my game at 4:00 tomorrow morning.  I hate daylight savings time!

It is sooooo good!

Yesterday was the first morning this fall that we left the launch with a thin coat of ice on the boat.  The first ride was frigid, but the fact that the wind was no longer howling made things much more comfortable.  I hadn't fished with Eric and Jay in a while and it was enjoyable having them drive in again.  Javier joined them even though he was headed in the opposite direction to his deer lease this morning.

The birds were working in the bayous, the ICW and the lake at daylight.  We had to fish our way through a lot of small trout in the bayous, but the trout in the lake and ICW were nice fish.  Not unlike most of the folks we saw on the water, we had no problem limiting on slot reds.  It seemed like every time we thought we had found something good, the next stop proved to be even better.

The water had dropped out pretty good overnight and we fished an outgoing tide most of the day.  The water temperature was in the low to mid-60's so I expect to start seeing the stripers within the next two weeks.  I realize saying that you limited on flounder in November with the reduced limits isn't a big deal, but the folks that targeted flounder all managed to catch their fish.

We threw Flats Minnows and Sea Shads all day at the trout and reds and still caught and missed some nice flounder.  Eric caught his biggest flounder ever, a thick four-pound plus fish on a Stinky Pink Sea Shad. The fish was obviously just too greedy as it threw up three big bream as soon as it hit the floor of the boat!

We found the redfish schooling in the ICW on three different occasions and every red we caught was a slot fish.  We did have a few big fish either pull off or break off, but I don't think we caught a rat red all day long.  They were just gorging themselves on the mullet and shad pouring out of the cuts.  Jay had a 26-inch fish that had six mullet and a handful of shrimp in its stomach and it was still eating!

Despite two trips back in the house to get more clothes and sack of Swim baits, I managed to leave my camera, pocket knife and sun screen on the kitchen table.  I missed a good opportunity to get some good pictures as they had some very nice fish.  We'll just have to do it all over again! 

 

The wind hasn't slowed the bite down....... yet.

The wind was bit of a problem today and probably will be for the next few days, but it hasn't slowed the catching down thus far.The front due in Thursday will push even more shrimp into the lake and that is always a good thing.

The slot reds were eating Hoginars better than anything else for us!

I fished with James Duke and his son, Tom, yesterday and we had a great catching day.  The lake was dead calm most of the day and we were able to ignore the gulls and follow the shrimp getting blasted off the surface by some very nice trout and slot reds.  We caught all of our trout on tails and all of our reds on Hoginars, but we did lose a few reds that ate tails.

One of several nice trout that James caught fishing longer paddle tails under the gulls.

We are consistently catching not only more reds, but larger trout as well fishing the longer paddle tail plastics like the Assassin DieDapper and TTF"s Big Minnow.  We are throwing the rat tail plastics as well, but while they catch the heck out of fish, they have not fooled as many big trout.  When I say big, It's not like we are catching 7 or 8 pound trout, but 3 to 5 pound trout under the gulls is big for me.

I have also been throwing the longer plastics under the Kwik Cork, both rat tails and paddle tails, and while the bite is a little slower, the average size of the fish has been better.  The one exception has been when fishing the TTF Shiney Hiney with a shrimp tail under the cork.  Pumpkinseed and red shad-white tail plastics have also worked much better in the dirtier water stirred up by the wind.