Colburn's Sabine Connection

Good numbers, but better trout hard to pattern!

The wind hurt us toward the end of last week, but the birds still worked a little and the water is still in good shape both in the river and the lake.  We had no problem catching fish, but catching keeper fish was another story.  It was absolutely no problem at all  catching 14 to 15 inch trout, but we struggled to locate those schools of 16 to 20 inch trout that we had been limiting on.  I have no doubt that they are still there, but they have been difficult to pattern.

Another nice red caught on a windy overcast Thursday.

The slot reds were a little easier to locate, but we were never able to catch several in one location.  The bonus all week long was the flounder bite and we weren't even targeting them.  Three out of four days we put a 5 to 6 pound flattie in the boat and while we caught them on both Swim Baits and a Gulp Mullet, every big flounder fell for a four inch Usual Suspect in glow chartruese or space guppy.  All of the largest founder also came out of water 8 feet deep or deeper.

This nice flounder beat the redfish to a 4-inch glow chartreuse Usual Suspect.

There is still a lot of water in the marsh and I am hoping that the north wind  predicted for this week will push the bait and the fish into the lake.  The majority of the folks chasing gulls in the lake have been very courteous and that really helps when you continue to work an area after the gulls leave.  The surface temperature is easing its way down into the low 70's and we have had some really good tides.  It doesn't help me much, but the late afternoon bite has been the best bite of the day for the past week! 

The catching has been good!

I know I have been a little tardy in posting reports lately, but as far as I am concerned there is a very good reason this time.  The fishing has just gotten better every day, excluding yesterday, but I was reluctant to attract any more competition out of self defense.  I saw a boat leaving the dock yesterday with bumpers hanging over both sides so you know its getting crowded. Along with increased numbers of local folks that look forward to this time of the year, we are also seeing a number of both Galveston and Calcasieu guides.

Slot reds have been mixing right in with the trout.

How well you do basically depends on your fishing better than everyone else around you or fishing a lure or color that works better than anything the competition is chunking.  If you should find yourself around the gulls or shrimp popping the surface (that's not going to happen for long) almost any lure from topwaters to tails will work.  I haven't missed many days recently and have been fortunate to stumble up on a color or two as well as a retrieve that has given us a slight edge most days.

Another nice red caught on the toughest weather day we have had in a while.

The best you can hope for is to find shrimp or shad on the surface that have gone unnoticed by the gulls.  The trout have been plentiful, but very average in size.  Our largest trout have come via topwaters or the MirrOdine XL.  The redfish are all over the lake and mixing right in with the trout.  The flounder bite is also very good, but I haven't fished anyone that wants to target them exclusively.

The recent rain didn't change anything at all, but the forecasted front and stiffer north winds later in the week may create a temporary bump in the road.  After it pushes a significant amount of water out of the bayous and marshes, however, it is going to get stupid good around here.  I haven't had a day off in a while and I am booked the remainder of October, but I still have 4 or 5 days (no weekends) open in November and 10 or so in December at this time.  I also have three excellent guides that work with me that have days open so give me a call if that works for you and get in on the bite!

 

Catching moves from very good to stupid good!

Every time we get things figured out the weather changes, but I can't imagine this little front doing anything other than improving an already good bite.  We did well last week on several different patterns and caught as many trout as redfish for a change.  The water is still high, but a few days of north winds will change all of that.

Friday was better than Thursday and we were catching fish hand over fist Thursday.  Surprisingly, the one pattern that was so good to us most of the week never materialized Friday.  We had just been hammering the trout and redfish drifting through pods of shad (a lot of the trout were small) well out into the lake, but that bite temporarily dried up.  There were still a few small trout, but the gafftop just made it impossible to wait out a better bite.

In spite of a number of good reports I have never done well with MirrOlure's Lit'l John, but I threw one in opening night and one in limetreuse exclusively for three days and caught not only reds, but some very solid trout.  I had been fishing mostly the VuDu shrimp and a stinky pink Sea Shad under a cork, but they ate the Lit'l John as well or better and it is one more durable tail!

Friday we had to look for something new and we found the fish in very shallow water chasing shrimp and finger mullet.  I might have caught one or two fish under a cork, but the majority of our fish ate a Pro Dog or a Swim Bait.  I fished with Gerald and Eric Edlemon Friday and I feel reasonably certain that they now have Swim Baits in their saltwater arsenals.

Eric with one of several nice reds that slammed a topwater just prior to a brief monsoon!

We caught a lot of fish, but the big trout just went nuts during a driving rain that lasted about thirty minutes.  They were all over chartreuse-chrome (I don't know the number) and you could hear or feel the strike, but it was tough to even see the bait.  Gerald stuck with the Usual Suspect Swim bait and caught way more than his fair share while we were enjoying the topwater bite.

The amount of bait pouring out of the bayous on the outgoing tide was absolutely incredible and I don't look for it to slow down with a north wind blowing.  Having three or four patterns going at the same time makes it much easier to avoid the crowds and the cooler weather will only make it better.  I sleep much better at night when the bite is as consistent as it has been over the past week!