Colburn's Sabine Connection

Astros keeping me up late!

In spite of a wind that has made it a little difficult to drift or hustle small groups of birds, we have done pretty good.  We made another wade trip strictly due to the wind and kept five reds and eleven trout up to four pounds.  The water was a little dirtier than it has been, but the fish hit the lures like they were having no trouble finding them...especially the redfish.

I don't know why bone-diamond works so well in off colored water, but it was the best choice once again.  We also caught fish on an  electric chicken Catch V.  I was going to fish again this morning, but that World Series game kept me up all night.  My son was at the game and summed it up best when he texted, "This is the best bad game I have ever seen!" One more win!

Trout bite improving!

Two weeks ago I would not have believed that we would be catching a few solid trout wading on the north end, but the last two trips have been very decent.  We only got in the water because of the wind the first day and were surprised to find the fish.  We never caught a fish that would have gone five pounds, but we caught 32 keeper fish in two days.

The water temperature was 69 degrees and that may have been all they were waiting on.  We saw very little bait on the surface.  All of our fish were in 2 to 4 feet of water.  The water clarity was a little worse than it had been due to the wind, but it didn't seem to bother the fish.  We were fishing a weak out going tide.  The best lure for us was a Catch 2000, but we also caught them on 4 inch Usual Suspects and a pink/silver She Dog.

The birds have been working on the south end, but the fish that we have caught under them have been smaller. Most of our redfish are still coming off the shoreline.  We are catching them on a spinnerbait and a Usual Suspect.  I am pretty sure they will eat a GULP tail under a popping cork as well, but the gafftop are eating it too! Hope this little cold front only improves the bite!

I stopped by Outcast tackle in Groves to pick up a couple more Corky Fat Boys before they start disappearing and noticed that they had gotten some Yellowmouth jig heads in as well.  There style of head extends the life of a plastic tail. 

Not much fishing pressure!

Last week once again saw very little fishing pressure on the lake for two reasons that didn't include the weather which has been pretty user friendly.  Lots of folks still trying to get back in their homes and a bite that has been a little tough.  We have squeezed in a few trips between removing tile and hanging sheetrock and have not done bad.  The water is still exceptionally high ( launching and wading to get in the boat) which makes things even tougher. 

i have not fished south of the gator hole so I don't know what is going on down on the south end.  I do know that the farther south we ran the dirtier the water got.  We are still finding slot redfish and small trout under small groups of terns.  Any time a gull or two or pelicans are mixed in it has been a sure thing.

We have not had much problem limiting on reds, but the flounder bite has been a little slower.  The better flounder we have caught were up in the flooded grass and that is a hard program to fish. I am sure this little mini-front with a pretty stiff wind and rain will change things some tomorrow.  It could very well be a favorable change.  Flounder and trout have come on 3-inch Usual Suspects while most of the reds have hit 5-inch Assassins in bone diamond and morning glory depending on water clarity.

Decent afternoon bite

We are going to try it again this evening after a decent outing yesterday afternoon.  We found some small trout under a couple of sets of terns as well as two small schools of reds.  That cool breeze really felt good, but it didn't translate into a phenomenal bite for us.  We only fished as far south as Willow, but managed to catch and release a few slot reds and kept six flounder.

The water is really pretty right now and the surface temp has dropped a little.  We caught our reds in the open lake on 5 inch bone diamond Assassins and a 4-inch space guppie Usual Suspect.  The fish on the shoreline ate a salt and pepper 4 inch Sea Shad rigged on a one-eighth ounce horse head jig.  There were a few trout mixed in with those fish, but they were all small.

Redfish!

Thank God for the redfish as we have been unable to find any keeper trout.  The lake is a little fresh, but the clarity is very good. The wind has also been a factor at times the past couple of days, but only for short periods of time.  We really haven't slowed down long enough to exploit the flounder bite, but when we have it has been pretty good as well.

From what I can tell, the north end has been as good as the south end.  The bite on the shoreline has been on the slow side, but the reds have been schooling enough to keep us busy most of the time.  Unlike before the hurricane, a larger percentage of our reds are now slot fish.If you want to make the most of this bite, swap out your treble hooks on your topwaters for single hooks.  They are much more forgiving and you won't miss a higher percentage of fish!

The SALT Club is meeting tonight on the Island at 7:00 pm.  I don't know who is speaking, but they always talk fishing and have something good to eat!