The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Having always been a little superstitious, I recently dared to entertain the thought that possibly all I had to do to improve the “catching” part of fishing was to openly complain about the conditions.It worked a week ago!

I no sooner hit the “send” key to mail in my article than Mother Nature decided to make it appear that I was trying to dissuade readers from taking advantage of a red hot Sabine Lake.The morning I wrote that column it was raining, the river was high and steadily dumping more muddy water into the lake and we had caught very few fish in the three previous days of fishing.

The very next day the water was still ugly, but it was twenty degrees warmer and a light east wind had allowed small stretches of water on the Louisiana side of the lake to clear.Doug Patterson joined me in the hunt as I simply wanted to give the lake one more shot before running over to Calcasieu until things improved on this side of the state line.

The clearer water was unexpected, but the real difference makers were a surface temperature that had climbed twenty degrees and the presence of small mullet loping across the shallow flats.We immediately started catching redfish on tails and Corkies and before calling it a day we were catching trout up to four pounds as well.

The next day was foggier, but even warmer, and the decision to stay here on Sabine was a good one.My clients caught both trout and redfish as soon as I lowered the troll motor and we left them still biting that afternoon.At that point, I was starting to believe that I was onto something by simply bemoaning the weather in print to change our luck.Wrong!

The very next day a stiff northeast wind ushered in more rain and colder temperatures and as of yesterday, the bite was still all but non-existent for the wee contingent of persistent anglers continuing to challenge Mother Nature.I would like to think that this week’s column could change things once again as we have enjoyed more sunshine, but that may indeed be wishful thinking.

A hard west wind that blew across the weekend just pounded the clearer stretches along the east shoreline and we are looking at more rain for the weekend.After running up to the Tyler area to fish last weekend I can assure you that there is also a world of fresh water yet to arrive.The water was still out of the banks of many of the small feeder creeks and it looked like rapids pouring across the floor of the pine forests.

In the event that all of this negativity does indeed soften Mother Nature’s heart once again, the Louisiana shoreline will be the first area to clear.We did very well on floating Corky Fat Boys and five inch Tails in red shad and Hot Chicken rigged on 1/8^th ounce heads.

While waiting on improved conditions, more especially on the north end of the lake, I received a report Sunday evening that could change the game for trout fishermen willing to change their tactics.In an effort to get out of the wind and still fish last Sunday, two visiting Houston fishermen caught six redfish and fourteen trout up to five pounds drifting the Causeway reefs.

They said the water looked terrible even on an incoming tide and their best bite came right at the end of the tide change.By their own admission, having no clue as to where to begin, they started out drifting worms and five inch tails at depths of eight to twenty-two feet of water.After quickly catching two fish on one drift on a Catch 2000 they spent the remainder of their trip in less than ten feet of water.

They were casting in the direction that they were drifting and said that they felt like the reds and the trout were suspended about four to six feet deep.Regardless of the water clarity, technique or choice of lures….the fact that the fish were even there and feeding was a very positive sign for those of us that have exhausted every other possibility on the tougher days.

The deeper water is not nearly as dirty closer to the bottom and the salinity levels are higher at those depths as well.When the bait fish start stacking up deeper it can simply be a matter of tying on the right lure. They did add that their friends never gave the shallower Catch 2000 bite a try and they finished with only four black drum and two redfish.

Perhaps the best solution of all is to switch gears and chase double digit bass and slab crappie on Toledo Bend and Rayburn.The larger sows are already starting to stage for the spawn and the crappie bite has improved drastically over the past week as well.I ate a pile of fried crappie filets that a show dog couldn’t jump over Saturday night and I don’t know why I fish for anything else!