Colburn's Sabine Connection

Got it right yesterday!

Regardless of how favorable or unfavorable the weather has been and it has been absolutely perfect for most of the past week or so, I still cannot put together a consistent bite on solid trout.  the redfish bite has even gotten a little tougher, but the flounder have taken up the slack.  Having said that, I won't catch another flounder this week!

After canceling yesterday's trip due to an unexpected client illness the night before, I decided to scout water I haven't fished in a long time and stick with a TKO cork and tail to cover more ground.  I fished a Vudu shrimp and a Lil John under the cork and drifted two flats off the ICW that I haven't fished in over a month.

I had a pretty stiff northeast wind and hard incoming tide.  That combination slowed me down just enough to set up a perfect drift.  By the time I finished the first long drift I was limited on trout and wondering why it took me so long to check out that bite.  I didn't have a trout that weighed three pounds, but I couldn't have been happier with the numbers and percentage of keepers to throw backs.

I probably caught more on the VuDu (released several more keeper size fish), but easily the better ratio of keepers hit the Lil John.  I later fished several other spots, kept three flounder and released two slot reds.  On the way in, I returned to one of the flats just to see if the trout were still biting and caught a nice red and two more keeper size trout before calling in the dogs.

All of which means there won't be a single trout there Monday morning.  I do, however, think that just drifting and covering lots of water may possibly be the solution.  I caught those fish and never saw the first shrimp on the surface or gull in the area.

Rusty called and said they had just received a big shipment that included Lil Johns and the new Assassin Swim Hooks at Daley's so I am headed that way in the next thirty minutes.  The Swim hooks were gone in two days the last time they ordered them. I now fish the swim hook with everything everything but the Lil John due to its shape (no paddle tail) and the thickness of its body.  Throw the eighth ounce when you can and any plastic with a paddle tail is a much more productive bait!

I am going to visit with Keith, Rusty, Willie and the gang through the lunch hour which usually lasts three hours with no lunch, so drop by and we'll talk fishing.  I am doing something just a little different with the Lil' John that has made a big difference for me and I'll be glad to show you!

 

More flounder than trout!

We need a cold front to push some of this water out of here.  I am seeing more shrimp in the lake every day, but the lion's share is still in the bayous and marshes.  It took me two trips last week to figure out that we were chasing the wrong fish.  We finally quit hustling small trout and slowed down enough to do very well on flounder and an occasional redfish.

It was hard to switch gears and spend more time on the troll motor than the big engine, but the flounder have been solid fish and the numbers are decent as well.  We made a short three hour run yesterday afternoon and Mrs. Eddy and her grandson Carl took seven nice flatfish home.  We caught at least another 10 or 12 that were too short and released a couple of slot reds.

I also was reminded why I try not to fish weekends as the first two places we intended to stop looked more like the scene at the Orange Boat races.  Also, rather than answer a cajillion emails, I found a few of the two lures that we have been doing the best with at Simon's in Orange and Daleys in Nederland Friday evening.  One is the 3-inch Usual Suspect and the other is a little plastic tail made by Chicken Boy called a Clucker.

The redfish liked the Clucker as well, but what do they not like if it lands in front of them?  I also don't know if they still have any, but Daley's had a brand new supply of Lil Johns in every color and they were disappearing very quickly as usual.  Rusty also said they were expecting another big order of Usual Suspects this week.

Every time I stumble up on a few nice trout on the north end of the lake they are nowhere to be found the following day.  Hopefully that will change as more shrimp exit the bayous.

 

Trout bite in main lake improving.

I am not going to take the time to see when I last posted, but any time my wife can't make time to fix whatever I screwed up it is "game over" as far as posts are concerned!  The latter part of last week was a little tough, but the bite started improving over the weekend.

I have no idea why, but the redfish bite has slowed down for me the past couple of days.  The best news, however, is that the trout bite has improved.  We had limits two days in a row, I can't remember when that last happened, and had a trout over six pounds both days.  The wind hurt us some today as our better fish were coming on the west side of the lake.

We found the same pattern working from Johnsons to Green's today, but the trout weren't as large.  Every time I even got close to a bayou we got covered up with undersized trout, but even that is an improvement.  The short Diedapper rigged on a 1/8th ounce Swim Bait hook and a  Vudu shrimp fished under a cork worked well for us.  Both days we also caught some very nice trout on topwaters for the first thirty minutes.

There are a lot of throwbacks, but I am amazed at the number of flounder we are already catching on a 3-inch Usual Suspect or Chicken Boy shrimp looking tail rigged on a 1/8th ounce head.  Willie talked me into giving the glow-chartreuse one a try (I think its called a clucker)and it is addicting. We are catching them right up against the bank while looking for redfish chasing shrimp in the flooded grass.  I also had my first really good day on the flats bordering the ICW so I hope that bite is about to kick off as well.  The wind made fishing that bite a chore today, but the fish were still hitting in the white caps.

Maybe we have finally turned the corner.  There are a lot of spots we haven't fished in a long time and I look forward to checking them out! 

Flounder better than expected...trout still slow for me!

The catching part was a little puzzling for me the end of last week.  Aside from getting absolutely soaked in a 15 minute shower on Thursday, the weather could not have been better, but we still struggled.  I have no idea how many flounder we led half way back to the boat before losing them and even the redfish were not nearly as suicidal as they have been.

Solid red ate Bill Callahan's Swim bait just before the monsoon blew through!

It wasn't like the bait and the fish weren't there.  We saw the first trout in the 5 to 6 pound class that I have seen on the north end of the lake in a while come completely out of the water chasing lady fish.  And, we knew we might be in trouble when we cast right in the middle of a school of redfish blowing up on shad on one occasion and never got bit.  I really thought that was impossible to do!

The following morning we had our nine redfish and eleven 15 to 19-inch flounder in the first two hours fishing the exact same area.  We were fishing tails under a cork and 3 inch Usual Suspects and several of the redfish hit the cork before they ever turned on the tail.  Watermelon red flake and chicken on a chain worked the best.  Space Guppy was the best color in the Usual Suspect. We also switched to a 1/16th ounce head to slow the fall after popping the cork.

If you have the patience to fish your way through a pile of lady fish, a keeper trout will eventually eat a  smaller topwater, but that may or may not ever happen with a tail right now.  Larry Keil threw a small Skitterwalk the entire trip and caught two keeper reds, the only five keeper trout and thirty pounds of bleeding self-destructing ten inch lady fish!

Seeing that larger trout was very encouraging and I am hoping that we start seeing more trout in the 16 to 20 inch class this week.  The live bait fishermen have been catching them for the past three weeks, but I cannot get them to eat an artificial.  I got one very good report from friends fishing the south revetment wall with MirrOdines, but I haven't been over there lately.  They limited on trout that size fishing an outgoing tide in the afternoon.

I won't fight the Labor Day crowd tomorrow, but we will be back out there Tuesday.