Colburn's Sabine Connection

Bob and Gene to the rescue!

It was tough being grounded today as the wind finally let up a little, but based on my last trip on Wednesday the water still had a lot of clearing up to do.  We fought gale force winds three days in a row and caught fish on only one of them.  We waded until we were absolutely soaked before giving it up with a total of 7 trout, a limit of reds and one flounder.

We knew what we were in for Wednesday ahead of time, but still gave it a shot.  It was not only windy, but cold as well and we caught only one redfish and a flounder before things really got worse.  We were running through Middle Pass for the third time when the lower unit just locked up.  Thankfully, Gene and Bob stopped what they were doing, launched Bob's boat and came to the rescue.

I pulled it to Texas Marine Thursday morning and Dennis said the last rites on the lower unit.  The seal was eaten out by fifty or so yards of line tightly wrapped around the prop shaft and the gears were fried. I pull the prop off when I change oil and sometimes find a little line, but this looked like I picked up a whole spool of discarded  line.  I don't know that I care to pull it off any more frequently as I would go through a hell of a lot of cotter pins and skinned knuckles, but the alternative is going through a hell of a lot of money!

There are very few trips when I don't come home with a lot of wasted mono or braid in my garbage bag thanks mostly to clients unsuccessfully casting into the wind.  I hope that you will keep your cutoff backlashes in the boat and encourage others to do the same.  Hopefully, I will be back in the game pretty quickly, but there is a new feeling of uneasiness knowing that the exact same thing could happen first time out.  Dodging shell reefs and submerged debris is tough enough, but spotting floating line is not being realistic.

I don't know how long it takes discarded line to eat out a seal, but I can tell your for certain that it is less than two months. You might want to pull your own prop off and check it before your next trip.  Again, much thanks to Bob and Gene! 

We'll see what this little front does to the bite.

I wanted to do right today, but I walked outside and the wind wasn't blowing so I am loading up my waders again. I already forgot it was Valentine's Day so I couldn't do much right anyway.  The last time I fished post-front was with Pat and Tom last week and we caught fish but we worked for them.  With the exception of yesterday afternoon that has not been the case the last few days.

.This is the best part about catching trout.....

We have fished in some really funky weather....rain, wind that changed direction 2 or 3 times, but the catching was well worth the discomfort.  I made a good afternoon wade with Josh, Jim, and Eric the first of the week and it was a good trip.  It took forever for the trout to start biting, but they were all good fish and they wanted topwaters.  Jim gave it up about 20 minutes to early and Josh wore us out for a while, but Eric closed the gap in about a ten minute span of time.

....and putting them back is the second best part!

We had a strong incoming tide and the water dirtied up the longer we fished, but it didn't bother the trout.  We threw everything, but these fish wanted topwaters.  Yesterday they wanted a Corky Fat Boy.  I really don't care what they want as long as I have the right lure in the right color tied on when they decide to eat.  We were spread out pretty good hunting the fish yesterday and by the time I could wade over to the hot spot they had me down 8-0!

The bite slowed down late and I don't know if we just lost the fish again or what, but it was just as well as it was getting too cold for a t-shirt and light waders.  I don't know if this little front is going to slow the bite down, but I am going to find out and I'll let you know tonight.  I am sure there are still some big trout in the area (3 to 5 feet of water) but the best fish we have brought to hand this week was a little over 6 pounds.

We have released a pile of four and five pound trout and every time a client misses a fish it weighed at least ten pounds, but they do pull hard in the wind and a strong tide....especially when you see that head shaking and they pull off.  Pat, "I still can't believe we managed to pick the one day in the middle of the last six when we couldn't get on these fish and we canceled the best day of all trying to get it just right.

Is that what those guys go through trying to time the stock market.  No wonder they don't think guiding can be a stressful occupation!

Trout bite still good in nasty weather.

Yes, I know it has been a week since my last post, but we have still been fishing in spite of some crazy weather.  I don't know that I have ever made as many "let's go anyway at the last minute trips" as I have over the past couple of weeks.  It has been the size of the trout that has prompted this irresponsible behavior on my part.

I fished two days in the wind and rain last week even after canceling trips.  One was a total bust and the other may well have been the best trip that I have made in years.  Prior to today's deluge ( I am not fishing today) the lake was starting to clear up nicely and we were able to catch fish in water that I haven't fished in a month.  The surface temperature is staying in the low sixties and the number of wade fishermen is steadily growing.

The catching part is pretty darn good when I don't stop to count how many 5 to 6 pound trout we are catching and releasing most days.  We did have two big eights and a few others that we could only guess at their weight before they parted ways on their own.  We have fished in harder winds and rain than I usually fish in, but the weather hasn't slowed the bite down. It is, however, very frustrating when it is so rough that you can't fish a hot area.

Even the practice trout are nice right now!

Pat Van Winkle and Tom Odom had a choice of either of two open days last week and we opted for the second due to a miserable forecast.  Not surprisingly, the wind didn't blow as predicted the first day and I caught the heck out of nice trout in a light rain.  A good friend sharing the same flat did even better than I did.  I was fishing Corkies and tails and I learned later that night that he fished nothing but a bone Skitterwalk all evening.

The next day a stiffer north wind greeted us at daylight totally eliminating the water we had fished the day before.  Aside from one very large trout and a handful of keepers, we did litttle more than cuss the weather man most of the morning.  After fishing everything available and just about to move again later in the evening, the trout decided to eat.  We were fishing shallower than I have been fishing and didn't catch anything over four pounds, but the action was both good and much appreciated.

The bite went from good to very good when we switched out the longer tails for the shorter Sea Shad in roach and chicken on a chain or as Pat and Tom call it, yard bird on a chain.  We continued to swim it on the same Shiney Hiney head that we were using with the longer tails.  The next day those fish wouldn't touch the shorter tail, but jumped all over the DieDapper and Big Mino.  They were also much better fish.  No giants, but several in the 5 to 6 pound class.

We may have to work a little harder this week with this latest round of fresh muddy water, but the last round of rains didn't slow things down too much.  Some times you just have roll the dice and suck up being a little uncomfortable for a shot at trout like these.  C' mon.....what do you expect in February!      

It got better yesterday!

A light rain and just enough wind made for perfect conditions yesterday.  The water clarity was very much improved and we pretty much caught trout from the time we got on the water until we left.  We also found more mullet on the surface than we have seen in a while.

Gene Locke was willing to ride with me and take a chance on a zero, but that wasn't the case.  In fact, he caught the best trout of the day and the first three fish that we kept.   You have a good problem when the trout are larger than anything you want to keep.

Gene put this nice trout back in the lake.  The trout looks happier than he does!

We didn't catch as many redfish as we have been catching but that wasn't bad either.   We caught our fish on a Big Mino XL, Corkies and a 4-inch Usual Suspect Swim bait.  With the exception of the tail we caught everything on pink or chartreuse.  We did better on darker colored tails.

The river is even clearing up a little bit and that will help a bunch.  I am still hoping that we don't completely lose the deep water bite this year.  I am going to speak at the Golden Triangle CCA Meeting at Courville's tonight, but not before I make a quick run back to the lake.  Never take a good bite for granted!     

Tough, but improving!

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted anything good or bad for a while and I apologize for that.  If bad reports indeed help you as much as good ones then you should really enjoy this one!

Back to back days of unbelievably stiff winds from opposite directions last week dirtied up the water as badly as I have seen it in a long time.  We stopped looking as far south as Garrison's and still could find no water with more than six inches of visibility.

Thursday we still managed to have a very good day on redfish, but caught only two trout.  Friday the water looked just a little better, but we could not find the trout.  I canceled Saturday, but have gotten several very decent reports over the weekend.  The best report was 17 trout with two over six Saturday afternoon and 21 trout up to eight pounds Sunday as well as all the redfish they could stand.

Saturday's catch was made with Die Dappers and Fat Boys while Sunday's fish were caught on 4-inch Swim Baits and Flats Minnow XL's.  Apparently the trout wanted the longer paddle tail plastics and they were holding in 2 to 4 feet of water. Both groups said they found 8 to 12 inches of water clarity in the afternoon.  The tide changes were really weak so that didn't help much either.

It looks like more rain through the early part of this week, but if it doesn't flood it shouldn't hurt the clarity any more than all of that wind did.  I am going to find out for myself right now.  Hopefully, the next report will be more about catching.