Colburn's Sabine Connection

More casts than bites!

We postponed yet another trip last night due to the promise of more rain today and the fact that I wouldn't pay to fish with me right now anyway.  I have been fishing almost every day, more days alone than with clients lately, and it has been a tough bite at best.

Don't let Evan's shorts fool you....it was cold all day long!

I fished a couple of Dads and their sons on Saturday only because it was so tough for them to all get off at the same time and we scratched out a few slot reds and small flounder, but it was a grind on a raw day.  A northeast wind kept us pinned down in East Pass and Blacks and the water continued to get muddier on a slow tide change.  The two youngsters, Jonathan and Evan, caught most of the fish on Gulp and Trigger X.

We did sneak out into the lake very briefly and I was surprised to find Coffee Ground pretty silted up for the first time.  It wasn't so bad that you couldn't catch fish, but you would have to have been driven and pretty skilled to make it happen in the wind and Doug, Charles and the boys were more into just getting bit!

I am not going to scout in the rain today as I have only one trip scheduled late in the week and I have done far more fishing than catching of late.  I will be at the Houston Fishing Show for a couple of days as well.

 Keith Daley asked me about the possibility of hosting a seminar at Daley's Hunt N Fish in the very near future.  It would be actually be more of a question and answer session on everything from techniques and tackle to dissecting seasonal patterns on Sabine and the rivers.  I like the idea that his place is much closer to home and the topics would be more specific to our area.  If that interests you, let Keith know or e-mail me as soon as possible.  He is open to suggestions for a day and start time that would best fit fishermen that still have to fit in a job, Little league baseball, softball, etc.

The fish will eventually adapt to all this fresh water and we will find them, but it is a challenge right now. I've got reels to clean and it is time to turn my braid around on a couple of them. Its still drizzling rain right now, but if that wind doesn't pick up I just may have to make a quick trip after all.  I am truly addicted to the anticipation of the next bite!

New moon week yields big trout!

I wound up fishing alone Tuesday following a last minute cancellation due to a traffic mishap.  While it doesn't pay the bills, I needed a solo trip anyway as it gave me a chance to check out some new water and different  patterns.  The water clarity in the lake was not as clear as I hoped for, but still a little better than I expected.

It was a different place today, but this is what you missed if you had to work Tuesday!

If you were unable to get out Tuesday you missed the best weather day in two months.  You were not alone as I saw only three other boats the entire day.  Rising gas prices may continue to minimize fishing pressure.

I initially found the reds piled up between "The Pines" and the first rig and caught them for about an hour before running further south.  Surprisingly, the further south I ran, the dirtier the water got, but the trout were doing their thing when I arrived.  They were punctual as the crazy bite took place almost to the minute that the major was scheduled to take place.

I saw the fish blowing up on schools of tiny shad hugging the bank and felt pretty sure that they were either reds or flounder.  I got overly excited when the first cast with a MirrOdine XL produced a 26-inch trout.  In the process of taking her off the hook to release her, I broke my line.  Hoping that I had found a bunch of trout I just grabbed a Wader II with a Geaux Daley She Dog tied on and threw it in their general direction.

I was looking for my remote to bury my Talon when the bait disappeared.  For the next thirty minutes it was as crazy as it can get.  I  caught and released four more trout over 25-inches before catching three redfish in a row.  I haven't caught five trout that size in the past five weeks must less thirty minutes!

When things finally slowed down I realized that I had a couple in a Gulf Coast watching the show from a short cast away.  The man asked if his wife could try to catch one of the big trout as she had never caught anything over four pounds.  I backed out and watched as she caught a couple of reds before sticking a very nice trout on a chrome-black back Spook.

Invariably my first thought is always, "Man, I wish I had clients today", but the truth is that I wouldn't have found those fish had I been with clients.  I enjoyed the bite, but the more important find were the schools of small shad parading down the bank.  Its a little early for that, but we haven't had much winter.

With the wind forecast to blow a gale today, I switched gears and Lamar Belcher and I met Eric Ronning to fish the ship channel on his one day off.  It was colder than predicted and a thick fog didn't burn off until noon so I was glad that we trailered around to the south end.

We fished Die Dappers and Assassins in 12 to 18 feet of water and while we didn't get many bites, we all got a swing or two at a big trout.  I pulled off three in a row and lamar missed one before Eric put a 27 1/2 inch trout in the boat that weighed 7-pounds.  Not known for being overly humble, he immediately sent a picture of the fish back to Keith and Aaron who were dutifully holding down the fort at Daley's.  That may be his last day off for a while!

You would not believe how beat up the big trout was.  She had a wide notch in her back, scars on both sides and her gill covers were in terrible shape.  Had she been in good shape she could have easily weighed over eight pounds, but it was a very nice fish nonetheless. I got some good pictures of her, but I am holding them for next month's TSFM column unless we catch something even better this week.

The water clarity in the channel was no better than it is in the lake.  When we left. the surface temperature was 61 degrees. Based on past logs, I felt like we would see some good trout this week in spite of all the fresh water.  I don't know about the rain chances for the next couple of days, but the wind is going to be tough to deal with.  At this point it looks like we may get a little break Saturday.

 

 

No credit due.....It was a gift from above!

I called David Spires a week ago when I saw the first weather prediction for Sunday and suggested that 20 mph northwest winds are not a good thing and we might consider canceling.  He had found a better forecast, however, and said that he and his son, Chandler, would arrive Saturday night.  Thinking that it is never too late, following three inches of rain on Saturday, I was seriously considering paying them not to go when they drove up to the launch Sunday morning.  The north wind was blowing even harder than predicted and it was cold.  The water in the bayou was one shade dirtier than chocolate pudding!

Long story short, they introduced themselves, put on some more clothes, threw a big bag of Kyle Hood homemade snacks in the boat and we were off.  On the third stop we were apparently the benefactors of a divine intervention as the redfish found us in front of a small drain in East Pass.  Right in the middle of the unexpected bite we lost some fish catching time to a boat and license check by Louisiana Wardens, but they were as cold as we were and they got it done in a hurry.

Chandler got off to a good start on a cold windy morning!

I caught the first fish on a Gulp Mullet, but we caught most of them on a chartreuse Sea Shad.  Chandler did catch one of the better fish on a DOA Shrimp.  The water was so dirty you couldn't see the bait once it broke the surface, but the redfish had no trouble finding it.  The fish were holding in 8 to 10 feet of water on the down current side of the drain. You truly never know when it comes to fishing, but I will try to opt out of those conditions every time.

David, Chandler.....and the guide....enjoyed the more pleasant afternoon conditions!

After taking a beating by running too far south that morning, the wind flattened out around noon and we spent the remainder of the day drifting Coffee Ground Cove.  The water between Willow and Green's was in terrible shape and the incoming three-footers were not helping the situation.  The water in Coffee Ground was much better, but we just couldn't get anything going.

Hopefully, things will have settled out a little for tomorrow and we will find the trout again.  I am certainly glad that I didn't have to chase them in all of that weather on Saturday.  I couldn't believe the weights posted in the Gulf Coast Trout Series event.  They proved you can catch trout in the worst of conditons, but I'd rather read about it than do it!

It was fun today!

Mother Nature was much more forgiving today.  A light wind, overcast skies and 61 degree water with a slow outgoing tide was not in the forecast last night.  On the third stop of the day we caught flounder, trout, and redfish until we finally decided to leave them biting to look at more water.  I really don't know why we left the bite knowing full well that it would get blown out tomorrow anyway.

They don't get much prettier than this one.

We were catching trout and redfish almost every cast when I mistakenly horsed the biggest trout I have had on in a while and shook her off right at the boat.  I don't know what she was doing mixed in with the reds and flounder, but we caught several more nice trout right after that.  Most of the reds were slot fish and the flounder ranged from 12 to 17-inches.

These three made the trip home for supper.

I have no idea how many flounder we could have caught had we tried to just catch flounder.  We caught 8 or 10 on red shad Sea Shads and a Swim Bait before I tied on a Gulp Mullet to get a better feel for just how many flounder were holding on the small point.  I caught six more on about as many casts before switching to a Maniac Mullet and moving on.  We saved three of the larger flounder and one trout for supper.

After enjoying the user-friendly day, it was disappointing to call up the weather forecast for the next week or so tonight.  I don't need a north wind, especially one that is blowing 20 mph with even stronger gusts and that along with more rain is what they say we are looking at.  It unfortunately means another 4 or 5 cancellations, but I am still going to fish the new moon come hell or high water and I may well get both.

One last thing.  The water in the lake looked much better than I expected all the way from East Pass to Willow and in Old River Cove and Hickory as well.  Albert Bates was also on the water and he said that the clarity was good behind the islands all the way to Pleasure Island.  I didn't have time to run down there, but he said they had about 8-12-inches of visibilty late this evening.

No fool like an old fool!

After finishing up my income taxes while watching the sky look like the bottom was going to drop out all day long, I yielded to an invitation to make a short afternoon wade. The threatening rain waited to do its thing until right after my second cast.

We would have been better off to shut it down right then and there, but we fell victim to " Well, we are already here" and "It will quit raining in a minute". My host, who is much younger and has no excuse for such irresponsible behavior, did catch one red and two trout prior to coming to his senses. He caught all three fish on a new Maniac Mullet color that I have yet to try. I had one in my box, but you have to at least cast to make it work and I was already in a watching mode.

To make matters even worse, we unknowingly left a back window on the truck barely cracked and we couldn't see the steering wheel for the mosquitoes. There were fewer mosquitoes in the bed of the truck than there were in the backseat. We rode the first five miles with the windows down and our wading gear on to minimize exposed flesh.

I called Keith over at Daley's and he said that he already had some of the new colors in the Mullet in stock. The one I was hunting was kind of a red shad on the back with a pearl belly. I don't know the name of the color as Shawn and Dana are adding new colors too quickly to keep up with them on their web site. I have one in the package, but the packages don't include the color on the header.

With this crazy weather and all of the rain, you are hard pressed to make a pattern work two days in a row. I'll hit it again after lunch today, but the wind is supposed to howl in a different direction tomorrow. I just hope that it stabilizes a little bit so that we can take advantage of the new moon next week. For the past eight years, wind or no wind, I have caught my largest trout of the year the week of the new moon in February and March.

Bad news......kind of good news!

Doug Patterson and I made a run yesterday and found some fish, but after wrestling with whether or not to fish today due to last night's weather forecast, my party decided to re-schedule.  I went anyway and it proved to be a bad news-good news kind of day.

The bad part was that It rained all day just like they said it would and I never unzipped my Frogg Toggs, but I caught the heck out of the redfish.  I would have been even more pleased with my day had Albert Bates not called this evening and said that a friend of his found the trout and easily limited.  I caught only two trout and released both of them.

The really good part is that I kept two of those reds and cooked up a court boullion. I just added a pound of shrimp to the pot and the french bread is just aout done. Let it rain!

We found those redfish in the same spot yesterday and they were still hanging around today.  They were holding on the side of a little shell  bank in 4 to 6 feet of water and I cut to the chase and fished a Gulp mullet on a quarter ounce spinnerbait.  The two trout ate a fire-tiger colored Swim Bait.  The water had about 6 inchers of visibility, the surface temperature was 57 degrees and I fished a slow outgoing tide.

The wind was cold yesterday, but the weather was good enough and I still couldn't put a trout pattern together.  We fished from 1 to 6 feet o water with everything from She Dogs to tails and never found the trout.  Even though I basically scratched on trout again today, I was pleased to learn that someone else found some and that they were apparently somewhere up on the north end of the lake.

The weather really was miserable, but I am starting to think that's what it takes for me to catch fish.  The problem is that I will be catching them alone as most sane folks don't want to pay to go freeze their butt off in the rain.  Can't say that I blame them!    

I hate writing reports like this one!

After seven hours of casting practice yesterday I decided to reschedule today's group.  They weren't all that disappointed as they were just a tad in the red at the gambling boats and wanted more time to break the bank. The north wind was blowing harder than anticipated so I was pleased that we didn't chance suffering through more of the same.  The most perplexing thing about yesterday was that you could not have asked for better conditions.

I just finished a week of better than average February fishing with it raining and the wind blowing most every day only to screw up a perfect weather day.  Someone  just had to do well, but the other folks that I talked with couldn't figure it out either.  The water still looks decent in the lake, it was 59 degrees late in the afternoon and we had a light out going tide.  What we saw very little of was bait fish, but I was further off base than that.

February is always feast or famine at best, but I hate to waste a day like Tuesday.  Maybe it will rain tomorrow and the wind will blow 20 miles per hour and I'll catch a few fish.  For those of you that even care, the water in Old River Cove and Hickory Cove had about 8 to 10 inches of visibility while the water behind Sidney and Stewts had less than that.  The water in the mid-lake and along the La. shoreline was a little dirtier than it has been, but you still had at least a foot of visibility everywhere we fished.

I could fill this page with all of the baits that they wouldn't touch, but the only lure that I hooked and lost a very good fish on was a bone topwater.  I wish I could tell you something good, but I'd have to lie to do it!

 

A solid week of more rain and more trout!

I let another week get away from me as far as posting any reports, but it was a surprisingly good trout catching week.  I was unable to squeeze in a Saturday morning trip with my grandson due to the steady downpour that lasted all day long, but the trout bite only got better from Wednesday through Friday.

A party decided to cancel Wednesday morning due to the weather forecast so I gave Keith Daley a call to see if he could make a spur of the moment run with me.  He left Eric and Aaron in charge of the store and arrived about an hour late.  It was a good thing that he was late as we were able to wait out a two hour thunderstorm under roof.  I put the boat back in the water with three hours of daylight remaining and we found the trout about thirty minutes before dark.

Keith is notorious for changing baits every four casts, but he stuck with the Maniac Mullet this time and it worked out well for him.  Pink-pearl was the color of the evening.  We weren't keeping fish, but the best trout that we led to the boat was in the five pound class.  I very seldom fish mono anymore and I put way too much pressure on another seriously big trout that eventually broke off.

Thursday we stayed in 3 to 5 feet of water all day and the redfish were there along with the trout.  Once again it was all catch and release, but we went through some very nice trout and 3 or 4 slot reds as well. We covered a lot of water checking out different flats and the pattern was the same everywhere we went.  We could catch more fish on a five-inch tail in red shad, Geaux Gleaux, or pumpkin-chartreuse, but our best fish ate a Maniac Mullet or a Corky Fat Boy.

I tried to talk Tracy , David and Joe out of driving in from the Big Sandy area Friday morning as the weatherman was promising 20-25 mph winds and rain, but they wouldn't hear of it.  When they left home that morning they couldn't see the road for the rain, but it never rained on us all day.  Yes... the wind did blow, but we were able to hug the La. shoreline and the fish cooperated for the third straight day.

We struggled early, but from around noon until we quit it was on pretty darned good.  I didn't pay a lot of attention to the trout we were catching out side of noticing that hey were solid keeper fish, but at the end of the day I was surprised at how many of them were in the 3 to 4 pound class.  Once again, we caught a few on the Maniac Mullet, but we caught most of the fish on 5-inch Assassins and Trout Killers in Pumpkinseed-chartreuse and Geaux Gleaux.

Even with a drift sock we were stilldrifting a little too fast, which made the tail a more effective choice than the slow sinking Mulet.  The bite was also a little deeper than the day before.  Tracy added a solid flounder to our catch and we had five slot reds as well so we had plenty of time to visit at the cleaning table!

The incoming tide provided the best bite all three days and we fished water as warm as 68 degrees Wednesday afternoon.  I hated seeing the river bite slow to a muddy crawl, but it was nice finding quality trout where they are supposed to be in February.

We'll just have to wait and see what this little cold snap does to them, but the best of news is that the water in the lake still has very decent clarity.  I'd be willing to bet a shrimp Po Boy at Peggy's on the Bayou that Shawn Hebert and Dana Bailey are spending a helluva lot more time building maniac Mullets than they are fishing right now.  At least I hope they are!