Colburn's Sabine Connection

Better numbers and less wind make it more fun!

We finally enjoyed an entire  week of lighter winds and while the water clarity didn't improve much....the bite did.  We backed off of beating up the Louisiana shoreline for flounder and redfish and targeted only trout on the north end everyday.  We failed to limit on only one trip, but still finished with a dozen keepers up to 20 inches that day.  The majority of our trout were 16 to 19 inch fish with only one trout over four pounds, but we could have cared less.

Regardless of where we fished, we found the trout holding a long cast off the shoreline in no less than four feet of water.  We caught a few fish on tails, but a crankbait or Catch 2000 in pink or green/mullet worked best for us.  I heard the bite was even better on the south end of the lake, but we never had to run that far.  Just prior to the trout bite improving, we were catching our reds and flounder working patches of clearer water on an outgoing tide.  We caught very few redfish that weren't hugging the bank and running in small pods.  They were chasing schools of tiny shad.

The dirty water is apparently bothering the fishermen more than the fish.  If you haven't been able to get out in a while, don't let the lack of visibility bother you....the fish still have to eat and they are doing just that!

Water clarity and less runoff making a difference

After back to back days of decent catching, we never even launched this morning due to a howling south wind.  It was already a steady 15 to 20 at daybreak. We are also due more rain Friday night, but it will hopefully blow through pretty quickly.  They have also closed the gates at T-Bend and reduced the flow to less than 20,000.  The lake can't take much of a hit, however, as it is still just above the 172 mark.

The good news is that while the wind blew a little harder than we would have liked the past couple of days, the catching has improved. Over the two day period we limited on reds both days, limited on flounder both days and added some pretty decent trout as well on Tuesday.  We had to decide "either or" Wednesday and chose to target the reds and flounder.  All of the fish were caught on the outgoing tide. 

Three inch Usual Suspects, 5-inch Assassins rigged on 1/16th ounce heads and Traps all worked well.  All but one of the flounder ate the Swim Bait.  The water running out of the marshes is starting to spread down the shoreline and I think that has really helped.  I am sure it will dirty up after today's gale force winds, but should clear up on lighter winds. The trout were holding in 4 to 6 feet of water a cast or two off the bank and all we could get them to hit was the 5-inch Rat tail Assassin.

Every day that we get blown I can only wonder how good the catching might be once we can fish the whole lake once again.  There has been no fishing pressure at all on some of our most reliable spots.  I am tired of looking at the same old stretches of shoreline everyday, but it has been the only game in town for us!