Hommel, Jaynes hold serve in trout series

This past week saw the fishing improve on Sabine Lake as we dried out some and the lake continued to clear. The only fly in the ointment was a stiff southeast wind that eliminated fishing much of the lake every day.

The flounder bite was on the upswing as evidenced by the truck traffic on the revetment walls. The folks fishing on the rocks actually had an advantage over the boaters as it was a hassle trying to hold a boat off the wall with a 20 mph. wind at your back.

There was a very decent trout bite on the Causeway reefs, but you had to get there early. The tides and the wind didn’t coincide most days so you had to get your catching done early. The east shoreline was also more user-friendly, but you had to be on top of your game in order to take advantage of the trout bite.

The structure all the way from Johnson’s Bayou to Green’s basically consists of one long gentle sloping flat punctuated by the bayous and a few small drains. Aside from figuring out what lure and what color the fish want, you have to also figure out how deep the fish are holding each day. One day they are chasing mullet in 2 to 3 feet of water and the next they are holding up well off the shoreline in four to six feet of water.

When the wind is pushing you off the shoreline into the open lake, you can rest assured that a large portion of your drift is spent in non-productive water. A drift sock will slow your drift speed down, but there is no substitute for planting a Talon or Power Pole as soon as you catch a fish. An anchor or Stake out Stick is equally effective, but requires a little more effort to quickly stop the boat.

I didn’t have a particularly hard time finding trout last week, but I struggled with catching them. I had clients catch personal best trout on back to back days and another client catch 13 trout while I managed to put only two in the boat. That is how it is supposed to work and I will take that result every day, but it does make you question your own catching skills!

I fished every day but Wednesday when I spent the day at Daley’s hosting a series of mini-seminars. A lot of folks turned out and we were still sharing information and explaining techniques when the doors closed at the end of the day.

Adam Jaynes was also logging hours on the water all week both guiding and looking to put together a solid pattern for last Saturday’s third qualifying event in the Gulf Coast Trout Series. He and his partner, Aaron Hommel, lose a couple of hours of fishing each event to travel time back to the weigh-in so they have to get it done in a hurry. It’s hard enough to find fish, must less make them bite on your schedule.

The pro Cure/GTI team was in second place for the year entering this event and eventually lost a few points to the first place team with a ninth place finish, but still remain tied for second over all going into the final event of the year. Their best three trout weighed in at a respectable 10.91-pounds, but Adam said the total could have easily been much better.

Jaynes worked a party with me the day before the tournament and as tough as the fishing was he still had three trout that would have totaled 15-pounds. Saturday morning the trout were holding in the same area, but they broke off two trout over the five-pound mark in the first thirty minutes. They caught trout all morning long, but just could not find another big fish.

The overall leaders, Joe and Roger Friedrichs, strengthened their grip on first place in the team of the year chase with their second straight win. They brought in the heaviest stringer weighing 18.92-pounds and also captured big trout honors with an 8.2-pound fish.

Toledo Bend was apparently very crowded this past weekend with the Spring break traffic and the Oilman’s Classic taking place over the weekend. Johnny Borque said they caught a lot of crappie, but gave up on bass fishing due to the crowd.“We tried to fish two creeks in the Clear creek area, but it was boat to boat early in the morning,” said the T-Bend resident.“We caught 20 to 30 nice crappie Saturday and Sunday and we’ll just bass fish again next week. It is nice to see the lake back up and people able to use their docks again.”

The whacky worm bite pretty much ruled on the south end of the lake, but I didn’t receive any reports of bass over the seven pound mark. In fact, a lot of folks reported catching loads of small male bass and very few keeper fish. Maybe they should have put the whacky worm down as Jayne Pitman caught a 6.90-lb. bass Saturday evening and another six pounder Sunday morning fishing a chrome blue back Long A over the grass in three feet of water.

It is not too late to call the Orange First Baptist Church office at 886-7461 to see if they have any more tickets left and if they do you better grab one quickly. The third annual Wild game Dinner is set for Saturday afternoon on the church property located on the curve on MLK north of I-10. The food and fellowship alone make it a good deal, but there will be speakers and drawings for door prizes to boot. See ya there!