Colburn's Sabine Connection

Catching not bad in spite of the wind.

Retrievers and camo ruled the parking lot at the launch this morning and the high wind and light drizzle apparently worked out well for the duck hunting brigade.  Most of the folks that fished either wedged their way into the more protected bayous or staked a claim to a little piece of La. shoreline.  The gulls actually worked a little as well, but for the most part they were holding over smaller trout.

I talked with three different groups that fished three different approaches and they all caught at least a few fish.  Corkies produced the best trout and some nice reds as well, five inch tails drifted in 3 to 5 feet of water yielded more slot reds and a Maniac Mullet fooled some pretty nice trout for folks drifting in six feet of water right in the teeth of the wind.

This redfish may have saved a turkey on Thursday!

Overall, we enjoyed one of the better weeks I have fished in a while through Wednesday.  We really caught a lot of redfish and had two decent days on the trout as well.  We mixed it up catching both reds and trout on Corkys, She Dogs, Usual Suspects and tails in several different colors.  I think purple demon and chicken on a chain were probably our top colors in Sea Shads and Lil' Johns.

Nice slot red caught in less than a foot of water.

Surprisingly enough, early in the week we found some very nice trout and redfish under the birds well out into the lake.  It was tough just standing up with it white capping, but in spite of the worst water clarity in the whole lake we caught fish.  As the week progressed we passed on that program and either covered a lot of protected shoreline or drifted the more protected flats.

Almost net time for this red.

 

The lowest surface temperature we fished was 56, but it steadily warmed up all week long.  We did catch and release two big trout that put me back in the wading mood, but most of our trout were 16 to 20 inch fish.  The water is still unusually high for this time of the year, but the clarity has held up in spite of all of the wind.

It looks like we are going to get more rain and wind before we get any more cooler weather and sunshine, but you just have to live with it this time of the year.  I always look forward to fishing December through early March simply because of the increased potential for catching the kind of trout you seldom ever see.  Having said that, I know going in that I will do a helluva lot more fishing than catching in nasty weather much better suited for indoor activities.

I think that we are going to see some great trout taken off Sabine this winter and I hope that you get yours.  Very little of the lake even got fished during the spring due to all of the flooding and we are just now starting to fish areas we haven't fished in months.

I  hope each of you enjoyed a great Thanksgiving and were able to share the day with family and friends!       

More fishing than catching on a perfect day.

I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to fish with David and Keith Bessel than yesterday. Their Dad fished with me for years and after passing away this year I wasn't sure that I would ever see them again.

We could have used a little more outgoing tide early, but I don't think that was the culprit.  After a six pound-plus trout just hammered a Corky in less than two feet of water right off the bat, I was certain that the rain had not moved the trout that had been holding in that area for the past week.  Wrong......something moved them or I just couldn't get it right as we caught only two more nice trout before blowing it off and picking away at small flounder and redfish the remainder of the morning.  We saw far more boats on the water than bait on the surface, but most of the boats were on the move.

Redfish aren't nearly as picky as big trout!

I don't know that we ever caught more than two trout on any single drift.  They were solid fish, but we just never found anything consistent.  This little cold front should help both the flounder and big trout bite, but you still have to be at the right place at the right time and we weren't.  The river, east pass and a portion of Coffee ground were pretty dirty, but for the most part the water clarity is still good at least as far south as Green's.

Depending on how much wind we get....it could be a very good weekend! 

A few better trout finally showing up!

Well, we once again got more wind than we were willing to endure this morning, but not as much rain as predicted thus far.  Like we need anymore rain!

We have not been catching great numbers of anything, but we have finally been catching a few larger trout.  We caught a trout over six pounds on all but one of the last several trips and have enjoyed two really good afternoons with trout over seven pounds.  I have been very concerned as I have just not been able to find those kind of trout, but at least a few of them have finally found me.

The water clarity and salinity is still pretty good which helps.  Topwaters and Corkies have produced most of the better trout, but we caught a couple on 4-inch Usual Suspects and five inch Assassins fished under a cork as well.  The wind has kept us pinned down most days and we haven't been able to really fish most of the lake in a long time.

We caught a big incoming tide one day last week and caught some very nice trout west of Stewt's, but that was the only day I have caught fish in that area in a month.  The water coming down the Neches is not real pretty right now!

It doesn't take long to catch your two flounder so most folks are launching on the La. side of the Causeway to fish La. limits.  The high water has the redfish scattered, but we have found some under the gulls as well as around the drains on the east side of the lake.  I was really surprised at how much of the lake was pretty darn clear through yesterday.  It is blowing right now so it could take a mini-hit for at least a day.

Great bite may take a hit!

On the heels of yet more flooding north of us (still running off into both the Neches and the Sabine) we had an unexpectedly very good week of catching on Sabine Lake.  The water was higher both Monday and Tuesday, but everything we tried worked and that included hustling the gulls for a short time.  There were quite a few boats on the water both Tuesday and Wednesday, but very few folks were out Thursday.

No telling what Mike caught this nice red on?

For that matter, the gulls hardly worked at all on the north end of the lake on Wednesday.  Brendon and I scouted Monday and were shocked that the rain had not slowed the bite at all.  Monday and Tuesday we were dodging floating debris and navigating in some ultra thick fog well before first light in order to take advantage of a good topwater bite that turned into a swim bait/Corky bite before it was over.

Larry and Mike fished with me both days and we just hammered some very nice trout as well as the redfish.  We caught fish at a slower pace though out the rest of each day, but the the hay was in the barn very early both mornings.  Mike changed lures every ten casts and still caught fish so you know it was good.  Larry stayed with a Usual Suspect and I went the Corky route.

Larry fed this one a Usual Suspect and turned her loose.

We got out a little too late Thursday morning, but it was probably a good thing as the bayou and the river was covered up with even more floaters and mats of hyacinth.  The water was higher, muddier and still rising and our great bite ended almost as soon as we arrived.  We were doubling on trout and pulling fish off for the first twenty minutes and it all suddenly ended.  We ground out a few more flounder and a nice red, but it was evident that the runoff was finally hurting the bite.

Each day the dirty water moved a little further out into the lake and up Black's bayou.  The Louisiana shoreline and part of Coffee Ground still looked good, but the dirty water is making its way south.  We had the pleasure and honor of fishing with the folks from Veterans Xtreme Adventures Thursday.  They do a fantastic job of making it possible for returning veterans to enjoy a day hunting or fishing with other veterans that have walked in their shoes and truly know what they are dealing with on a daily basis.

An honor to fish with these guys!

I was humbled not only by their service, but by their tenacity and commitment to both overcome injuries and readjust to living a life that we take for granted.  For each of them It is a tremendous individual challenge worthy of the support of every U.S.A. citizen that will hopefully never be asked to make this same sacrifice thanks to them!     

Lots of fresh water, but we won't know until we go!

This report is all but useless thanks to the monsoon and flooding all weekend, but we enjoyed one helluva week following the rain and storm surge the weekend before.  The biggest problem right now might be launching.  The ramps at the City launch were packed with floating vegetation and you couldn't even guess where the ramps started at the Boat Club this morning.  Lottie's, however, was still ok.

The catching was as good as the weather last week.

We didn't  have to do a lot of running last week as the gulls were working over shad and shrimp all over the lake.  We never fished any further south than Johnson's Bayou.  As the week progressed the word apparently got out and the pressure increased each day.  Because the gulls were the best ticket for quick limits of reds and trout we hoped they would leave as soon as we caught one good fish as the fish weren't moving far even when they weren't on the surface.  It was simply a matter of finding them and hanging around.

This nice red ate a She Dog before the trout could get there!

Some schools you could throw anything in and catch keeper trout and others were more finicky, especially the larger trout.  We fished a lot of topwaters as well as a four inch Usual Suspect in morning glory and salt-pepper/chartreuse.  I have no idea what to expect tomorrow other than lots of dirty water running downhill and more to come.  We'll just have to see how the fish react to yet another mega dose of fresh water!