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Sabine Scene: May 2017
An excited youngster hooked for life!
“Okay, so wading wasn’t the answer,” shouted Darren Lindsey following his third backlash after slipping into the waist deep white caps. “The fish are here,” I assured him, “but we have been unable to wade and catch more than a handful of fish out of a small area.” Catching multiple fish with any consistently has been all about utilizing your Talon or a drift sock (sometimes two) in the worst of winds.
Despite the difficulty associated with making productive drifts across the whitecaps, none of the hardcore fishermen are complaining. Back to back years of flooding just all but shut us down regardless of how hard we worked so we are well aware of the fact that there is something worse than wind. Scattered trout rank well ahead of no trout!
Dirty water has not contributed to the problem as it is expected and we fish it with confidence. The single biggest reason that a solid bite is fleeting most of the time is boat traffic and it only takes a few boats. Even as few as three boats making repeated drifts across water less than four feet deep hurts the bite!
We can only assume that the wind will continue to make the catching a little tougher this month, but should Mother Nature elect to give us a break, the fishing could get as Capt. Chuck Uzzle says, “stupid good” overnight. So much of the lake hasn’t been fished at all for the past two months and while the big trout have been few and far between, the average size has been very good.
Choice of lures will not change – wind or no wind. Because the best bite has been taking place in the top part of the water column, topwaters like the She Dog, Skitter Walk and Spook will continue to be good choices. If a good topwater bite suddenly dies on you for no apparent reason, try a smaller or larger version before totally switching gears.
Suspending lures like the Corky and Catch 2000 will continue to work especially well on the revetment walls, but we will be fishing them less as they are not my favorite lures for hunting fish. A shallow diving crankbait like the Swimming Image is hard to beat for this application.
Wind or no wind, we are already running into small schools of reds crashing their way through small shad and finger mullet in the open lake. A single gull or tern can tip you off to their presence before the first fish ever breaks the surface. Lure presentation is of no advantage when in reach of these bullies so why waste a high dollar lure.
My first choice is a Hoginar followed by a tail rigged on a heavier than normal jighead in order to gain casting distance. A tail fished under a cork is effective, but can get expensive as well as it is not unusual to have one fish grab the bait and another inhale your cork!
I do very little fishing on the south end of the lake, but the diversity in depth and structure just north of the Causeway can be lights-out when the rest of the lake is dead. The number one decision is whether to bounce a jig over the deeper shell or fish the upper portion of the water column. Trout are the only reason I run down there, but the reds probably school in that same area more than any other place in the lake. That is not news and you can expect more fishing pressure.
Weather permitting, there is no better month to fish the shallow flats on the north end of the lake and the flats on the Louisiana side of the lake all the way from Coffee Ground Cove to Greens Bayou. Coffee Ground gets a lot of pressure not only because of the bite, but because it always holds the clearest water in the lake.
Wading at first light can be incredibly good, but depending on tidal movement, the bite can easily last all day long this month. To extend the bite we will drift 4 to 6 feet of water with a tail fished under a cork or rigged on a light jighead. Keep an eye out for birds, terns count too, ratting out huge schools of immature bait fish.
Fishing trips are more fun when shared with kids. Sign up the entire family for the S.T.A.R. tournament and double the fun on every outing this summer!
Despite the difficulty associated with making productive drifts across the whitecaps, none of the hardcore fishermen are complaining. Back to back years of flooding just all but shut us down regardless of how hard we worked so we are well aware of the fact that there is something worse than wind. Scattered trout rank well ahead of no trout!
Dirty water has not contributed to the problem as it is expected and we fish it with confidence. The single biggest reason that a solid bite is fleeting most of the time is boat traffic and it only takes a few boats. Even as few as three boats making repeated drifts across water less than four feet deep hurts the bite!
We can only assume that the wind will continue to make the catching a little tougher this month, but should Mother Nature elect to give us a break, the fishing could get as Capt. Chuck Uzzle says, “stupid good” overnight. So much of the lake hasn’t been fished at all for the past two months and while the big trout have been few and far between, the average size has been very good.
Choice of lures will not change – wind or no wind. Because the best bite has been taking place in the top part of the water column, topwaters like the She Dog, Skitter Walk and Spook will continue to be good choices. If a good topwater bite suddenly dies on you for no apparent reason, try a smaller or larger version before totally switching gears.
Suspending lures like the Corky and Catch 2000 will continue to work especially well on the revetment walls, but we will be fishing them less as they are not my favorite lures for hunting fish. A shallow diving crankbait like the Swimming Image is hard to beat for this application.
Wind or no wind, we are already running into small schools of reds crashing their way through small shad and finger mullet in the open lake. A single gull or tern can tip you off to their presence before the first fish ever breaks the surface. Lure presentation is of no advantage when in reach of these bullies so why waste a high dollar lure.
My first choice is a Hoginar followed by a tail rigged on a heavier than normal jighead in order to gain casting distance. A tail fished under a cork is effective, but can get expensive as well as it is not unusual to have one fish grab the bait and another inhale your cork!
I do very little fishing on the south end of the lake, but the diversity in depth and structure just north of the Causeway can be lights-out when the rest of the lake is dead. The number one decision is whether to bounce a jig over the deeper shell or fish the upper portion of the water column. Trout are the only reason I run down there, but the reds probably school in that same area more than any other place in the lake. That is not news and you can expect more fishing pressure.
Weather permitting, there is no better month to fish the shallow flats on the north end of the lake and the flats on the Louisiana side of the lake all the way from Coffee Ground Cove to Greens Bayou. Coffee Ground gets a lot of pressure not only because of the bite, but because it always holds the clearest water in the lake.
Wading at first light can be incredibly good, but depending on tidal movement, the bite can easily last all day long this month. To extend the bite we will drift 4 to 6 feet of water with a tail fished under a cork or rigged on a light jighead. Keep an eye out for birds, terns count too, ratting out huge schools of immature bait fish.
Fishing trips are more fun when shared with kids. Sign up the entire family for the S.T.A.R. tournament and double the fun on every outing this summer!