Colburn's Sabine Connection

Cold weather....Hot bite!

I just thought it was cold Wednesday morning.  The weather man apparently wrongly guessed that the Thursday night low would be a toastier 35 degrees, but Friday morning I had to pour the last of my coffee on my gas cap to get it unscrewed and fill up for the day.  It was 28 degrees at first light and my bow rope was frozen to the floor of the boat.

Most of the reds were just the right size, but.......

Howard Watson and the rest of his crew dug out just enough extra clothes to survive the ride to the lake and the catching proved worthy of the miserable boat ride.  We did not try a single spot that didn't yield not only solid slot fish, but oversize fish that should have left the lake long ago.  We caught redfish from the time I lowered the troll motor until they decided that they were done with the catching and the cold around 10:30.

....some of them were a tad to large!

The only downside over the past few days is that some very good trout fishermen have been unable to locate the big trout of a week ago. I talked with three very good big trout fishermen last night that hadn't caught the first trout of any size in two days.  We gave up a lot of surface temperature last week and I think all of that will change the first part of next week.

The water was significantly dirtier in the river and parts of the lake, but the folks that opted to fish the river found lots of redfish as well.  They caught their fish on both live shad and Gulp.  Nick Theriot also had two very nice flounder and released three more fishing Burton's on the outgoing tide. We saw very few other boats out early so the afternoon bite was apparently good as well.

 

 

 

An untimely front unfortunately arrived on schedule!

I was not all that surprised when our Friday group called early Saturday morning to say that they decided that they did not care to fish a second day in a brutal north wind and steady rain in spite of how "over the top" the catching had been on Friday.  Johnny and I weren't overly eager to challenge Mother Nature either, but I have fished on worse days with less promise.The approaching front that we had worried about all day Friday arrived that night and the north wind was pounding the open lake.

It has been several months since I caught the numbers of three to seven pound trout that I found last week.  I stumbled up on the fish Monday morning and it took that numbing north wind and a steady rain to shut us down. I don't know as of Monday morning if those fish shut down or not, but I needed a reason to take a break.

Fish like this solid trout kicked off a heck of a week.

Johnny Rodriguez and his partner joined me Tuesday morning under decent skies with a more user-friendly wind.  The fish were stacked up in five to six feet of water and we enjoyed a non-stop bite most of the day. We caught everything on Diedappers, Flats Miinow XL's, Corkies and Maniac Mullets.

Nick's fish is still growing!

Brennen, Nick and Luke drove in the following morning with the sole intention of targeting only big trout.  All three of them lack only more experience as they cannot get much more proficient skill-wise and the trout were at a disadvantage.  I couldn't put them on that coveted double-digit fish, but Nick was pleased with a trout just a hair under 8 pounds that he released.  By the time we made it back to the launch, however, it had gained a pound and was still growing.  The good news is that it is in fact still growing....the bad news is that Brennen and Luke will have to listen to that story for a while!

Dr. Fred and David caught their solid limits in a hurry.

Thursday morning, Dr. Fred and one of his sons, David, just hammered the fish in a much stiffer wind that required both drift socks.  Doc is 79, not as mad at the fish as he once was and prefers to catch flounder, but he tied a Corky on a spinning rig and I only had time to net his trout for the first hour.  By the time I could get the second drift sock out on the first drift they had 14 trout in the box!

Walter and Karlan Babineaux tag-teamed this bull red in the marsh.

 

We stopped long enough on the way in to watch Karlan Babineaux and his dad, Walter, tag team a huge red that should have abandoned the marsh a long time ago.  It took both of them to wear it out and both of them to hold it up for a picture before releasing it.  I can't think of a better way to spend the day with your Dad.  Neither of them will ever forget that trip.

Friday would prove to be our last shot at those fish before the front roared in later that night.  Both boats limited quickly and we spent the remainder of the day hunting reds and flounder.  The same lures were still the ticket in addition to a Swim Bait that Mark had tied on when he got out of the truck. Long story....short, he never found any reason to change.  It attracted more fish in the 15 to 17 inch class, but he caught his fair share of really nice fish as well.

We lost about fifteen degrees of surface temperature on the high end, but we finally pushed a little water out as well and that should only help.  We basically went from fall fishing to winter fishing in one night, but the "big trout" folks couldn't be happier.  I am going to stop long enough to clean up my tackle and stay warm through Thanksgiving.  We'll get after it again Friday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!   

Might be a Frogg Togg kind of day tomorrow!

Its not a matter of if the wind is going to blow....only which direction and how hard.  Last Friday was just perfect, however, and we caught a pile of trout while culling out a three man limit for Tom, Jason and Justin.  We threw plastic all day catching most our fish on Usual Suspects and TTF Flats Killer XL's.  We found the redfish only twice all day long and I never found that big trout that Justin was looking for, but it was a very enjoyable day.

Jason sed a TTF flats minnow XL to fool this pretty slot red on a picture perfect day!

The following afternoon Doc and I gave the flounder a try, but it just wasn't happening for us and  Doc used up his allotment of patience a long time ago!  We ran back to the south end of the lake and were lucky enough to find two small schools of redfish under the birds right off the bat.  We kept two for Doc' and Maggie's supper and released 6 or 7 more.  While he couldn't resist throwing his 4 inch Swim Bait at the reds I picked up several 3 pound plus trout on a Dayglow FatBoy.  We saw two other boats doing well on smaller trout under the gulls.

This weather is absolutely crazy and the water is still up in the cane most of the day even on a very good outgoing tide.  The flounder bite hasn't been as strong as hoped for thus far, but I believe we will still have a good run unless they plan on sneaking out of the lake in pairs!

I guess we'll give a little north wind a try tomorrow and a southeast gale the next couple of days.  As long as it isn't too strong it has only made things a little uncomfortable as the bite has still been pretty good on both reds and trout.  I'm not much on bouncing around for eight hours, but you don't notice it as much when you are catching fish!. 

A meat hunt with no guilt attached!

Yesterday's scouting trip proved to be of no use today as we canceled the trip due to the wind, but that wasn't the main reason I took the monday off anyway.  A good friend with a disease that has robbed him of his ability to hunt, fish or even walk was elated when I recently asked if he would like a few fish.  Fiercely independent, he would have never asked for a single fillet and I was sorry that I hadn't even thought to ask in a long while.

I can't remember taking a picture or more than one or two fish at a time, but these fish had a special destination.

I occasionally keep only enough fish for one meal, but that was not going to be the case Monday.  If the fish cooperated it would be a meat hunt.  Gene Locke said to count him in and Mother Nature signed on as well.  The weather conditions were perfect and the catching was even better than that. It has been a long time since I returned to the dock with limits of trout, redfish and flounder and we were done well before noon.

The bite was so good, in fact, that we fished very few gulls as locating the fish wasn't difficult.  We fished only 4-inch tails on eighth ounce heads and Usual Suspect Swim Baits on a slow outgoing tide.  It was nice to have to leave the redfish for a change and the trout were all good solid fish.  The flounder were also very respectable and were mixed in with the trout hanging just off the breaks.

It doesn't take long to limit on flounder in November.

 

We will undoubtedly have to hunt them all over again after this front blows through, but the water in the lake was in good shape while the water in the river and bayous was a little off-colored.  I feel reasonably certain that the surface temperature will take a hit tonight, but it will be right back up into the high 60's or low 70's by lunch time.

I pray for everything from a good bite every morning to good health (not necessarily in that order) and I know that your prayers will do much more for him than a pile of fillets. You'll feel better, too....Thanks!  

 

Too much wind and high water!

The past couple of days the wind has just been brutal, but we still managed to catch decent numbers of fish.  The real shocker was driving up to the launch yesterday morning only to find the dock and launches completely under water.  All of that water stacked up over night and we have a lot more headed our way.

We rescheduled today's trip due to the weather report, but thus far the predicted deluge has not occurred and the wind is no worse than it has been.  If the wind switches to the north over night and blows 25 mph as forecasted, hopefully most of this water will get pushed out quickly.  We'll see....you don't even have to be right 25 percent of the time to keep your job as a weather man!

Bill still looking to catch more of these!

We chased gulls where we could Monday morning and while getting beat up in the waves, caught a pile of small trout under more gulls than I have seen all year.  We eventually moved to the more protected shoreline and caught fewer, but better fish.  Bill has been trying to time the redfish for months, and we haven't hit it right yet.  It will really make him happy when he learns that they turned on the following day!

Yesterday morning, Larry and Ray joined me on yet another windy day, but we had a pretty respectable morning chasing a few gulls in more protected water.  The average size fish was much better than we found in the whitecaps further out in the lake.  Ray was surprised to discover that trout and redfish really will eat a lure, but stuck with with a Vudu shrimp under a cork because it at least looks like the real thing.  Larry and I managed to hold our own with a Diedapper and a TTF Big Minno in chicken on a chain and glow chartreuse.

Ray might try artifical lures again after yesterday's trip!

Later in the day, we found both larger trout and redfish by making long drifts with a Usual Suspect and a Gulp Mullet.  The fish were holding closer to the bottom and a stiff outgoing tide helped that bite.  If the wind blows as hard as predicted tomorrow, I will give it a rest.

 

 

Catching not bad, but we've had to work at it a little harder!

Once again, I apologize for the gap in my reports, but I have pulled trips virtually every day for the past month and a half and night time comes too quickly to mow the yard, post reports, etc.  It isn't that the fishing hasn't been good, not great, but good enough if you are willing to work at it a little bit.

Another nice red caught after the fog burned off.

The gulls just went nuts in the fog this morning following yesterday's monsoon.  We limited on trout and had one red in the box before we could even see most of the gulls due to a fog so thick that you couldn't see both sides of East Pass at the same time.  We stumbled up on our first flock about 7:15 and we were able to fish several more flocks alone over the next two hours.  When the fog burned off, the lake was dead calm and huge schools of mullet were everywhere, but the gulls pretty much disappeared. The flocks were much larger than anything I have seen lately and the average trout was also a little healthier.

Linda Riley caught her first red ever in a howling wind!

Prior to today, I have been turning my back on the few flocks that were working each day and returned to catching fewer but better trout and reds the old fashioned way.  I have been making long drifts in 4 to 6 feet of water fishing mullet imitations like the Corky, Maniac Mullet or Catch V and five inch tails rigged on 1/16th ounce heads. Surprisingly enough, the catching is about the same even when we are seeing no bait on the surface.

Dr. Michael Olson with a very nice trout caught on the drifting program.

We fished a couple of bad wind days earlier in the week and were still able to catch solid trout on this pattern.  I have seen a few wade fishermen staying put for a long time every day, so I am assuming that they are also catching better fish and probably fishing topwaters or Corkies, etc.  If you can stay out of the way of the boats racing from one flock to the next, you can pretty much work this pattern alone.  The boat races really weren't as big a problem for me as was catching too many dinks under small groups of skittish gulls that break up as soon as you lower the troll motor.

Paul Kessler returned this week for another shot at the redfish.

The water still didn't look bad on the north end of the lake, but we got a lot of rain yesterday and the bayous were really dirty this morning.  The water will probably be a little dirtier tomorrow, but I don't think it will slow the bite down at all.  After nine o'clock we were basically just riding and checking different parts of the lake, but in the process we found the bite lasted longer further out into the lake than it did along that stretch of water from Bridge Bayou to Johnson's.

If the wind doesn't blow too hard tomorrow the lake is going to look like Grand Central Station making running down the gulls even tougher.  Give the drift program a shot even if it is so windy that you need a drift sock.  Chicken on a chain and glow chartreuse have been our most productive colors.  Also, the four inch Usual Suspect has worked better than the three inch and I think that is because they are chasing down mullet again.

As usual, I hope this helps you a little this weekend even if it is a little garbled.  I've got just enough time to wash the scales and gafftop slime off and get to the football game.  Good luck and be courteous!