Colburn's Sabine Connection

Bite was a little tougher across the weekend.

I fished with the Arnolds the day after Christmas and while it was much tougher than it had been, we still managed to catch some solid fish.  It was windier than the forecast predicted (What's new), we gave up some water clarity and surface temperature over night, and the water was just crazy high.  We fished every flat and shoreline that had been good for the previous week, but never caught a keeper trout or red in less than 12 feet of water.

We did get enough shots to finish with a really good box of fish, but missed more strikes than we connected on and pulled off several nice trout.  We were crawling a Tidal Surge split tail mullet (Guano which is akin to chicken on a chain) and a Usual Suspect across the bottom letting the tide do most of the work and that is a little tough for folks that have never done it. Bites feel a lot like another rock.

We have fished far colder mornings over the past month, but this was the first trip that I didn't see the surface temp climb above 55 degrees.  I am ok with anything over 50, but that may have been what slowed the shallower bite down.

I don't know what the surface temperature was Sunday evening because we weren't in a boat.  I can't imagine that it had warmed up any as it was still raining and the rain was steadier than we expected.  Between eating and football games and more eating and more football games Kyle Derouen called and asked if I would cover some of the basics of wade fishing with him prior to his upcoming trip to Baffin next week. We decided that would be easier done in the water than in his shop.

From his Laguna cyclone wrapped Lt.Wader II and Core 50Mg7 to his Simms waders and jacket he was, at the very least, adequately equipped to meet the challenge of a totally new experience. We spent the better part of two hours plodding through the the shin deep mud in Old River Cove fishing Corkys, She Dogs and Diedappers rigged on a 1/16th ounce head while getting used to the feel of walking in waders and where to stash pliers, etc. so that they would be easily accessed.

Much to my surpise, we caught two 20 inch trout and five or six reds from 16 to 27 inches long.  It wasn't an epic trip, but Kyle can now tie a loop knot while holding his rod between his front teeth, will let a fish take his topwater down until he feels it, and learned to walk slower after a near dunking.

Not unlike most folks that enjoy any success at all on their first attempt at wading...he climbed back in the truck even more excited about his upcoming trip.  Battling a solid trout or red while standing in waist deep water is far different than standing on the deck of a boat and even the strikes are a happening!

And.... the water in Old River Cove was a little clearer and one degree warmer than it was in the lake.  We also saw a decent amount of mullet activity the later it got.  We had the lake to ourselves as there was only one other car parked near our truck and judging by the fogged up windshield I don't think the rain altered their game plan.

I haven't even looked at this week's guesses as far as the weather, but I am pretty sure at this point that we will be back on the water the next two days.  I haven't decided when I am going to make a round at the Houston Boat Show, but I will let you know and maybe we can save the trip with a good visit!    

Merry Christmas!

We canceled today's trip due to a miserable weather forecast that has not materialized thus far, but my wife assures me that it was still a good decision as the rain and wind will arrive shortly.  I think her prediction is a little self serving as she also informed me that I can now taxi her through the malls for last minute shopping.

Even with the bad forecast I hated canceling as we have been on a roll of late regardless of rain, etc.  I had one open day last week and Gene and I checked out some water that I hadn't been beating up.  Not only did we catch some very nice trout at each stop, but I caught and released a 29-inch 9 pound trout that ate a Usual Suspect in 15 feet of water.  We were jumping around like little kids as we both thought it was even heavier at first glance.  I haven't fished deep structure in the past three weeks.

Obviously a tad cold,William still won his battle with this nice red.

I don't do Sundays, but after many attempts, that was the only chance we had to get Larry Dierker and his grandson, William, on the water.  William was several layers short of enough clothing, but we just caught the heck out of trout and reds until he could endure the cold and damp fog no longer.

Larry Dierker and grandson, William, shared a special day on the water!

Aside from even thicker fog early on and no gulls at all, yesterday was a continuation of the good bite.  We struggled a little early, but once the fog burned off and the wind picked up we quickly limited on 2 to 4 pound trout and released one seven pound fish.  Adam Ruiz and his son, Adam, Jr., developed a new appreciation for the Maniac Mullet.  They are both good fishermen and it didn't take long for them to figure out the most productive retrieve.

Fog made it a little difficult to even find the front of the boat....must less any gulls.  Thank God for the GPS.

We spent most of our time in five feet of water and, surprisingly enough, I don't know that we ever saw the first mullet on the surface.  We didn't get many casts per drift, but we still managed to boat four or five fish each trip across the flat.  The big rain dirtied up the river just a little and you could tell it on a tide change in the passes, but the lake is still in great shape.

When the wind started blowing, the trout did their thing!

I just love everything about Christmas but aside from talking a little fishing with friends, I will shut it down through the weekend and hit the water again Monday.  God bless each of you and your families, never take a day spent together for granted and have a very Merry Christmas!   

Gulls continue to work over smaller trout and slot reds!

I fished on a Saturday for the first time in a long time and the fishing pressure wasn't as bad as I feared it might be.  I really had a good time with Deon and his two sons, Ryan and Logan.  The off-again  on- again bite under the gulls was very much on again for the first few hours of the morning and the boys worked on them pretty good.  That bite was all on the north end of the lake for us.

Deon picked up this nice red working the gulls.

There were also some pretty solid trout eating Corkies and topwaters and the waders were doing much better staying put and waiting on the fish to come to them than the boat fishermen were by trying to cover more territory.  Texas chicken and Dayglow were the hottest colors in the Corky and black-chartreuse head was a good color in the She Dog.

We found a few nice specks on the deep breaks with a cock of the walk colored Usual Suspect, but they weren't there like they have been.  The boys did a good job of fishing that bite on a very strong tide. Every fish I cleaned was full of small shad and there is still a lot of bait left in the marsh that will only leave via another howling north wind.  We're going to make another wade tomorrow ahead of the predicted rain and see if we can catch a big one! 

 

Good weather.....good catching!

I haven't had a chance to wade the past few trips, but we have certainly done well enough staying in the boat to keep folks happy.  We caught the first of what I hope will be more nine pound trout (Boga grip weight) this week and that's only one fish, but we won't do any better than that wading.  That fish went home to be mounted.

Kelly replaced his Dad with another Uncle this week and Dad may have trouble getting his spot back after the Tuesday trip.

Of interest to Corky disciples may be the fact that we have done well with the Fat Boy lately (floater and original) when working the shoreline and shallow flats and the discolored noses on both the pink and dayglow have made no difference to the fish at all.  I had a sack full of them that I intended to use in emergency or only when the redfish moved in, but they seem to work just as well as those with no stain.  That big trout, in fact, hit a dayglow Corky with a discolored nose that was too ugly for me to fish!

Mike Dore gave this big red a second chance to leave a usual Suspect alone.

In the mean time, we are still wearing out both the trout and the redfish working deep breaks with the Usual Suspect, a Diedapper and a GULP jerk bait.  On average the trout that we are catching in deeper water have been much better fish.  We haven't had to target redfish as they have targeted us.  Thus far, unlike December's past, we haven't been able to catch them from a single spot until our arms tired out, but it is still not too difficult limiting out each morning.

Believe it or not, and I have not given them much of a shot, the gulls are still working over small shrimp and shad, especially in the afternoons.  The water clarity is super for this time of the year and while the mornings have been Frogg Togg and hoodie cold, by mid-afternoon the surface temperature on the flats on the north end have been in the mid-60's.  The only thing that has been a little different for us is that when fishing tails we are doing better with five inch tails than the shorter plastics.  Rat tail or paddle tail hasn't made much difference!

 

Adam and Holly cap a good week of catching!

Even with a stiff wind that forced us out of the lake a little sooner than we would have liked Friday, last week was still a good one.  Adam and Holly had to back their trip up a day and I was a little concerned as they had missed out on the perfect conditions the day before.  We started the day with a thick fog with very little tide movement, but that all changed by mid-morning.

Holly picked up this nice slot red before the wind really picked up.

Holly got us started with a nice slot red and Adam and I had to work our tails off to keep pace with her the rest of the day.  The bite for us was much better after the wind picked up, but that coincided with the start of a good outgoing tide as well.  We finished with a box of nice trout up to five pounds and five slot reds.  We did catch a couple of reds fishing tails under a cork, but most of our fish ate a Swimming Mullet or Usual Suspect bounced off the bottom in 10 to 12 feet of water.

A nice trout that ate a Usual Suspect in 12 feet of water.  Yes....Adam and I were fishing, too!

The water was higher than it had been all week and it scattered the fish that we had been catching.  I watched football and cleaned up the boat Saturday, but could not refuse an unexpected invitation from Brandon to make a quick wade after getting home from Church today.  I just caught the heck out of two to four pound fish on a pearl-pink Crazy Croaker, but Brandon stuck with our original plan and caught the three largest trout (5 to 6 pound fish) on a One Knocker.  I tried a Maniac Mullet and a Fat Boy, but they wouldn't eat either one of them like they did the smaller Crazy Croaker.

We have been having to deal with a pretty stiff wind at least some portion of every day, but it hasn't slowed the bite down so far.  Maybe we have just finally accepted the fact that we are going to have to fish in the wind or not at all and are doing a little better job of it.  The water clarity is still great and the surface temperature is back up in the mid to high 60's in the afternoon.

 

Foul weather aside...every pattern is working!

I don't know if it is just bad luck or simply ironic that I have had three last minute cancellations in the past month and probably haven't had three in the past three years.  Stuff happens and it is only disappointing in that this is my favorite time of the year to fish and the catching has been lights out.  I have never required deposits, but the compensation for inconvenience wouldn't ease the frustration of missing out on this kind of catching anyway.

Clay, David and George fished with me yesterday and while we didn't catch any of the big sow trout that we caught the day before, we still limited on redfish and cleaned a pile of trout up to 4 to 5 pounds.  In spite of fighting that same virus that is going around, Clay helped me with the fish cleaning and it was greatly appreciated.

This red was fun to catch, but just a little too large.

Clay also put it on his buddies from the get go and talked a litle trash after every fish.  All three of them, however, left with more appreciation for the value of the loop knot and varying retrieves with a Usual Suspect or GUlP grub.  We didn't fish a single pattern that didn't work from drifting shell with no birds in sight, to working a few birds to jigging 12 to 14 feet of water.

....and Gene was just getting started on a cold rainy morning.

The day before, while fishing with Gene and Major, we were treated to one of those days that don't occur all that often.  It was cold, windy and drizzling most of the morning, but the catching could not have been hotter.  Just darn near every trout we caught, and we caught a lot, was of the XL variety.  We limited on redfish very quickly also, but not before spending the first hour or so catching trout with the average fish was over four pounds.  It was so incredible that Major finally caught an 18 inch trout and asked if it was big enouigh to keep!

Major felt pretty sure this one would keep!

We caught the majority of those fish on a GULP jerk bait and a Cock of the walk Usual Suspect, but Gene caught two of the largest trout on a red shad 5-inch Assasin.  I share enough information to sometimes make it tough on myself the following day, but there is no doubt that the Pro Cure gel cocktail that they have come up with over at Daleys Hunt N Fish is making a difference......especially when just drifting a flat and blind casting with no gulls in sight.

I learned long ago that It is the kiss of death for me to call any client at the last minute and tell them to get over here following these last minute cancellations, but the reward is well worth the risk for an understanding fisherman with a flexible schedule. Most every day in December is currently booked, but that is no guarantee that I won't have more last minute openings.  If you can handle the possiiblity of fishing in foul weather with the chance of fishing one of "those days" give me a call.

Good week of catching!

With the exception of some pretty cold mornings and a little more wind at times than we would have liked, no one was complaining about the bite on Sabine across the Thanksgiving holidays.  The redfish bite has been about as user-friendly as it can possibly get and while the trout bite has been a little on the slow side, the average size has improved drastically.

Aaron caught this nice trout in 14 feet of water.

We easily limited on redfish every trip and caught a very decent number of three to six pound trout on most of them.  Aaron and Chris got it started with a great morning that included limits of reds and fourteen trout up to five pounds.  Some of their better trout were caught under the birds in the middle of the river.

Obviously pleased with this over sized red that she caught and released..... Natalie was still shivering from the cold!

Joe Matthews was finally able to take advantage of a small opening in daughter, Natalie's, busy schedule and we enjoyed a very cold, but enjoyable outing.  The redfish and the trout were holding a little deeper than they had been, but Natalie and her Dad still worked on them pretty good.  She did most of her damage with a Swimming Mullet while Joe and I stuck with a four inch Usual Suspect.

We caught and released all morning and still finished with a nice box of trout and limits of redfish. I have no doubt she will be easier to talk into a trip next year and I am equally sure that she will bring an extra jacket or two.......or three.

That's Howard behind the sunglasses and ski Mask!

Howard Watson and his nephew, Tee-Bo, made their annual Thanksgiving week visit and while we had a great morning, it was about ten to fifteen degrees cooler than we expected all morning long.  Once again we were catching and releasing redfish early on and later found two groups of solid trout that really made the day.  One bunch was suspended in fourteen feet of water and the other bunch was scattered under the gulls in the open lake.

We were just finishing up a good day when we saw a couple of gulls that refused to leave a flat just off the ICW.  The first cast with a Swim bait produced yet another slot red, but a Gulp jerk shad quickly accounted for five or six three to four pound trout as well.  Hopefully, the numbers of trout holding on the deeper structure will improve this week as that can be a very rewarding bite that gets little or no pressure!