Sabine Scene: March 2017

I am both relieved and excited to report that the catching part of our trout program has drastically improved over the past month. Not only are the numbers there most days, but the size is there as well!

Having endured the epic flooding over the past two years, we no longer take our tenuous saltwater bite for granted. Even in the best of years Sabine Lake leans toward the fresh side of brackish, but our trout population was forced to relocate to survive the glut of fresh water during those two incredible events.

Without wading through the countless theories of how they adapted, suffice to say that they made it and are starting to return to their old haunts. In fact, if it weren’t for gusty winds that eliminate fishing different areas any given day, I would say that it is “game on” from the Causeway to Middle Pass.

We are better fishermen for having to hunt trout that simply weren’t there and the biggest lessons learned were slow down, fish more methodically and don’t yield to the wind. We caught trout over eight pounds this past month crawling Corkys and tails over scattered shell on days that I would have canceled due to the wind even a year ago!

We have enjoyed a few of those days when everything in the box seems to work, but simply being able to grind away once again with the legitimate potential for catching a big trout is exciting. Just knowing they are there puts the fun back into fishing.

Areas like Coffee Ground Cove, Game Warden’s Cove and the flats between Johnson’s and Green’s are still receiving the most pressure and deservedly so. They are somewhat protected from the prevailing wind and the water clarity is consistently better than most of the lake. They are also magnets for schools of shad and finger mullet.

Having said that, we have also experienced some very good afternoons drifting the Neches flats and the flats behind Sidney and Stewt’s Island. Water movement is a huge factor in exploiting this bite and the waves produced by a passing tanker can be as helpful as a good tide change. When wading these areas, pay special attention to the height of those man-made wakes rolling your way!

Partially due to warmer surface temperatures that continue to hover in the high 50s and lower 60s, we have been catching some of our largest trout on topwaters. Mid-size baits like the She Dog and Skitter Walk have worked better than the larger Super Spook. Long pauses between twitches have been the deadliest retrieve.

This is certainly no time, however, to bench your soft plastic or hard plastic suspending mullet imitations. On days when the fish are a little finicky, the smaller MirrOdine XL has made a difference, but as a rule the only question is whether to start with a Fat Boy or Devil.

Having said that, the three best trout I have caught thus far all ate a Catch 5 in either bone or chicken. The Catch 2000 produced more bites, but the slightly larger Catch 5 duped the better fish. We are fishing both lures on the same retrieve that we do the Corky.

While at least a third of my clients refuse to even tie on a Corky or Catch 5, they will now grind away all day with one of Bass Assassin’s new Salty Snack lures. They have done so well at times, in fact, that I have switched over and joined them.

The Salty Snack is shaped like a Devil with rings on the body for added vibration and, most importantly, the lure sinks in a horizontal position when fished with the enclosed wormhook rigged exposed. It casts well even with no lead and I have found that the hookset ratio is better when you leave even more hook exposed than recommended.

The redfish bite cannot get much better than it is right now. We are catching them in the bayous and the passes, but lots of folks are doing just as well fishing the ship channel and the jetties. While Gulp and virtually any tail will catch them, I really enjoy having them smack a shallow running square bill like the Echo 1.75 or a four-inch Usual Suspect swimbait. The bonus benefit in fishing the swimbait is that the flounder like it as much as the redfish do.

Every trip is a good one when fishing with kids!