Sabine Lake fly and conventional tackle fishing reports & photos
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
10/31/2007 McMurry gets big fish this time
Don McMurry and Bill Heugel wanted to fish the flats today. We were on the flats at 7:45am hoping to catch an early morning bite but this wasn't the case today. The bite didn't kick off until around 11:30am when the tide had really started falling along with increasing water temperatures. We had a real thrill when we saw a large shape moving across a shallow flat right for us. At first I thought it was a huge Sheep's head but as it got within casting distance we realized it was a bull Red fish in the 35 inch class. Bill was on the casting deck and made 3 cast to the fish but things happened so fast the fly never really got in the fishes face. As it eased by the boat it had to swerve to miss the push pole and that's when it spooked. All of our hearts were beating 100 mph when it was over. I really was disappointed the fish didn't eat along with Bill and Don. We moved to a back water area of Bessie heights and found several Reds working the grass lines blowing up on shrimp, I guess the cold weather hasn't moved all the shrimp out of the marsh yet. We stalked the fish that Don has in the photo above for 10 minutes and finally got a shot at it and what a shot it was. We were looking at 10:00 off the bow when out of no where the Red shows right beside the boat! Don made a great roll /flip over the boat cast and placed the spoon fly right in the strike zone with out spooking the fish, amazing! The fight was on and the fish immediately ran under the stern of the boat and fouled the fly line in the muffler bracket of the motor. I managed to get it free before the fish had time to break the leader and the battle was still on. Finally the fish came to the net and high 5's were in order. The fish was 24-3/4 inches long and weighed 5-1/2 lb., just the right size for the 8wt. Orvis zero "G" rod Don was using. After pictures and reviving the fish we watched it swim off into the estuary. Bill took the bow and boated a nice rat Red shortly and had two refusals. Later Bill had several more fish spook before he could get a good shot off. Finally Bill got the fly in a Reds face and it ate but Bill was snake bit today. As the line came tight on the hook set it parted with sound of a bat striking a baseball and the fish was gone. We saw at least 15 fish today but it was much later in the day when the activity started, like we saw on Sabine lake yesterday. We boated four or five fish today and had a good time being out in the marsh, witnessing a beautiful sun rise and seeing the diversity of bird and Wilde life in the area not to mention we never saw another boat all day. Thanks to Bill and Don for making my job much easier the past two days. Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com
¶ 3:41 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
10/30/2007
Trout and Reds on the Fly
Bill Heugel and Don McMurry wanted to fish Sabine lake on the fly today and what a day it was. The birds worked early on this morning but most were small school fish. We did manage one keeper. As the sun rose the birds scattered so we moved to the Louisiana shore line to get out of the wind and maybe catch a Flounder on the fly rod. The water clarity was horrible over there and we only had one hook up but it got off before we got a look, Bill felt it was a flounder. As the day progressed the fish hadn't turned on for us yet . We ran back across the lake and fished the North revetment wall of Pleasure island and found a few birds working in the area. We found some small trout under them along with a few keepers. Bill had a silver rattle rouser on and seemed to do better than Don's shrimp/ shad pattern. This was the program for the rest of the day. Look for Gulls working and stay in the area even when the Gulls had left and that's what they did. As soon as we would get within casting distance the Gulls would leave but the Trout would still be there. Near the end of the day around 3:00pm. we worked a few Gulls and connected with some beautifully colored Red fish. several were just under sized but Bill hooked up with a nice slot Red that was 24-3/4 inches long and weighed 4-3/4 lb. It was a good fight on the fly rod. We called it a day around 4:30pm and headed home with 9 keeper trout and one slot Red. I estimate we caught 25 Trout today but 98% of them were under sized, even though it was loads of fun on the fly rods. We Will fish Bessie Heights tomorrow and hope the wind is a s calm as it was this afternoon. Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/
Monday, October 29, 2007
10/29/2007 Loons and Trout ?The wind wasn't blowing quite as hard as yesterday so I pre fished today for a trip on Tuesday. The water on the North end of the lake looks very good even with the high winds and low tides we have had lately. I struggled most of the morning. Blue bird days and low tides have always given me a hard time. I did boat a small Red the 1st 15 min. I was out,that got my hopes up. Later in the day I saw several Loons working an area of the lake with a slick near by. It was a large slick but I thought what the heck. I worked down the length of it When I got to the Southern end I got a strike on the popping cork. I wasn't expecting a 4 lb. Trout but I was very happy to see it. I took a picture and released her. I made another drift and landed another keeper but that was it. The days total, 3 small reds and 3 keeper trout. The wind is forecast to be 8 mph tomorrow. Hopefully the birds will work and things will get back to normal for this time of the year. tight lines, Mike
Saturday, October 20, 2007
10/20/2007
Rat's In The Marsh
Alex Esquivel booked a 1/2 day fly fishing trip with me today. He has fished for Rainbow trout on the Guadalupe river but had never gone out and targeted Red fish in the local marshes out of a poling skiff. This was a learning trip for Alex. Some times your way ahead of the game if you hire a guide to show you what flies and equipment you need in your area, other wise it can be a costly and frustrating experience. We had a beautiful cool morning with a light East wind stirring the flats as the skiff glided slowly across the water at first light. We started the morning fishing a Dalburg diver surface fly. Alex got a nice blow up after about 10 minuets but the hook missed it's mark, any way it was a great wake up call. We fished for a while with out any more interest so we changed over to a "Capt. Tom Hornby" Spoon fly. It wasn't long before Alex was hooked up with a healthy juvenile"rat" red fish that was hanging right up against the grass line. Alex was fishing an Orvis Zero "G" 8 wt fly rod that had a mid flex action. The Orvis store in Houston located on Westheimer carries these flies and rods. The size of these fish are just right for the tackle we were using. The further we pushed back into the marsh the more fish we started to see. The cooler water temperatures seem to have moved the Sheep's heads back onto the flats also as we saw several of them tailing in the shallows. We missed a few fish and spooked a few fish and wound up putting three of the beautiful Rat Reds in the boat. We didn't get any slot sized fish today but we did spook two of them. Apparently they were laid up in the back of a pocket asleep. Alex had made several good cast across the area before we poled in to fish the back side and the fish never moved until I pushed the skiff right up on them. It's amazing that a 26 inch fish can go unseen in 12 inches of water right under your nose even when your looking for them? Both Alex and I thought the trip was a success as Alex boated three fish on his 1st trip and greatly improved his casting skills. I'm looking forward to our next outing. With the numbers of 17 to 19 inch fish I have seen in the marsh this year I'm really looking forward to next spring when these fish will have grown into the mid 20 inch class. Studies have shown that juvenile Red fish stay in the same areas until they reach maturity and head out into the Gulf to spawn.
Tight lines,Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/
¶ 2:00 PM 0 comments
Saturday, October 13, 2007
10/13/2007 Solid Trout in the waves.
As the sun rose on the lake this morning there was a chill of fall in the air.I had high hopes that the North wind had blown some shrimp into the lake. We were going to be looking for schooling activity later in the day. We started out fishing a top water bite that lasted on up around 9:00am. We had a few small trout and small red fish in a protected area on the North end but we wanted bigger fish. We headed West and fished the white caps out from the barrier islands. It was a long stretch before we found some fish, but the ones we found were solid. Tom Hall jr. had never been Speck fishing in his life along with his Dad. Tom sr. had 3 Trout before Jr. showed him how it's done. A well placed cast with a steady retrieve was the ticket for Tom jr's big trout that was right at 5 lb. The fight lasted a while but we finally got it in the net with great relief to me. It's not every day we catch a fish like that. The bone color She dogs kept catching a few fish every time we made the drift over a small flat that had about 3 foot of water on it. A few were under sized but there were some good keepers in there to. After the bite played out we ran across the lake to Willow bayou to get out of the wind. It was calm over there but the Trout action was almost non existent. We did catch one keeper and two throw backs. We decided to go back and fish the ruff water with hopes the wind might have backed off some. On the way across we saw two gulls sitting on the water. I stopped and had Tom sr. make a cast from the front seat, he was hooked up almost immediately. We all got plastic in the water and were hooked up. Greg Procell hooked up with a nice keeper and I think we had a triple going at one time. In the excitement Tom jr. was unhooking a fish and let his jig dangle over the side as he was going to box his catch. To his great surprise the rod kicked up knocked his hat off and disappeared over the side! If you could have seen the look on his face! I threw a bass buoy over the side to mark the spot as we continued to catch fish. There were a lot of small fish there, Specks Sandies and Reds but there were some keeper trout in there. After the bite quit Tom jr. and I tied on HoganAr's and hoped we could snag the reel that was in 8 foot of water. After about 15 min. I felt the line come tight. With great relief to Tom jr. and my self the Shimano Chronarch reel and rod came to the surface. The fish was gone but the jig was still on. I'm glad it wasn't a big Red that grabbed it or we might have never seen the combo. again. We only had 12 fish that would keep but they were good fish and all the action from the small fish made for a fun outing. We called it a day at around 1:15pm.
It didn't matter what color plastic we had on. Glow/chrt., Pumpkin seed, Limetruse they all got bit. I also caught a small Red and specks on the HoganAR when I was dragging for the lost reel. Tight Lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/
Monday, October 08, 2007
10/8/2007 Big Trout/ Shallow Water
It's my last day of vacation so I decided to spend most of it on the water. I started off around 7:30am fishing a bone she dog. The 2nd cast boated a small trout but the next one was a nice solid 2 pounder. I kept it for a late lunch when I got home. I fished around the point at East pass and had 2 more fish blow up on the bait but never really ate it. I drifted on across the 3 foot deep flat and headed West. For the next several hours it was nothing but casting.No bumps no blow ups , no nothing! I finally boated 2 small trout in the barrel channel. I drifted across onto the next flat and hooked up with a nice 17 inch trout fishing the she dog. I kept the same drift and had 2 more blow ups and saw one fish make a run at the bait but it didn't make contact.
As I was fishing along I witnessed an Osprey dive into the water and come up with a small tear dropped shaped fish. I had noticed these fish jumping like mullets for a while in the area. I got to thinking, Match the hatch! I have a bait called a catch 5 that looks very close to the small fish. I move back up to my starting point and drop anchor. I get one tied on and make a long cast. BAM!, a hard run and a good fight. 3- 3/4lb. trout in the boat. make another cast BAM! another fish this time it weighs 4-3/4 lb. It's amazing, I had been drifting over these fish the whole time. They wanted a specific shape and the Catch 5 was it. I boated 5 fish from 3-3/4lb. on up to 5 lb. ! in less than an hour fishing in 30 inches of water at straight up noon. The water was so clear I could almost see the bottom. I had another 3 or 4 fish on that fought like the ones I boated but they pulled off before I got a look at them. The catch 5 had a white belly, holographic sides and a dark green back Just goes to show you, pay attention to what's going on around you and maybe you can figure out what the fish will bite. I was scouting for a booked trip on Saturday"hope there still in the area" so I left for the house to cook the one trout I kept for a late lunch.
Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/
¶ 3:00 PM 0 comments
Sunday, October 07, 2007
10/7/07 Just some thing to look at
I took these pictures as of late and wanted to share them with the public. They are a sample of what you can see if you get out doors early and late. God, he's the master artist.
Tight lines, Mike
Labels: lower- Sydney island sun set, Top- East Pass sunrise
¶ 6:30 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 05, 2007
10/5/2007 High winds and high waves
My clients knew it was going to be a tuff day as they pulled up in the drive way this morning. The rain started just as they turned down my street and the wind was kicking up with it. Milton and Toby decided to give it a shot any way since a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work. Fortunately the rain was short lived and we headed out to the lake. We ran around to Coffee ground cove to seek shelter from the wind and give the trout a shot. The trout and Red fish were there but they didn't have any size to them except the one that Toby hooked up with but lost near the boat. We pinned our She dogs and headed for the barrier islands along the north side of the lake. The waves were unforgiving but the trout were out there. Milton's 1st cast was a nice 1-1/2 lb. trout and I boated another shortly after that. Toby again hooked up with a solid fish but had it pull off again? We all had light drags set and all the hooks were laser sharp but we still lost several fish. Most of the fish we caught were undersized but there were some solid fish mixed in with the white capped waves. After fighting the waves for an hour we decided to retreat to the marsh and hopefully catch some Reds and Flounder. The tide was super high in the marsh and I had no problem running my 21' Kenner any where I wanted. We lost several Flounder and finally boated one that was 16". We did manage a 19 inch Red fish on a spinner bait. I guess the high water had the Reds way back in the flooded grass. Normally we get more Reds than we did?
We finally called it a day as more intense rain showers moved across the marsh.
My hats off to Milton and Toby. The conditions were horrible but they hung tuff and gave it a good shot when most would have backed out. I took no pictures today. Between the waves , wind,trolling motor and not falling out of the boat I had no time to snap shots.
Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com ¶ 3:51 PM 0 comments
My clients knew it was going to be a tuff day as they pulled up in the drive way this morning. The rain started just as they turned down my street and the wind was kicking up with it. Milton and Toby decided to give it a shot any way since a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work. Fortunately the rain was short lived and we headed out to the lake. We ran around to Coffee ground cove to seek shelter from the wind and give the trout a shot. The trout and Red fish were there but they didn't have any size to them except the one that Toby hooked up with but lost near the boat. We pinned our She dogs and headed for the barrier islands along the north side of the lake. The waves were unforgiving but the trout were out there. Milton's 1st cast was a nice 1-1/2 lb. trout and I boated another shortly after that. Toby again hooked up with a solid fish but had it pull off again? We all had light drags set and all the hooks were laser sharp but we still lost several fish. Most of the fish we caught were undersized but there were some solid fish mixed in with the white capped waves. After fighting the waves for an hour we decided to retreat to the marsh and hopefully catch some Reds and Flounder. The tide was super high in the marsh and I had no problem running my 21' Kenner any where I wanted. We lost several Flounder and finally boated one that was 16". We did manage a 19 inch Red fish on a spinner bait. I guess the high water had the Reds way back in the flooded grass. Normally we get more Reds than we did?
We finally called it a day as more intense rain showers moved across the marsh.
My hats off to Milton and Toby. The conditions were horrible but they hung tuff and gave it a good shot when most would have backed out. I took no pictures today. Between the waves , wind,trolling motor and not falling out of the boat I had no time to snap shots.
Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com ¶ 3:51 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
10/2/2007 Red fish and Flounder
I got a very late start today and didn't wet a hook until 8:15 am. I missed the early morning Trout bite. When I made my first cast I had a good blow up on a She pup but the hooks didn't bite. After that it was dead for me. I moved around the lake and caught a nice 2 lb. 16inch Flounder and a Red fish that just made 20 inches. I released the Red just to be on the safe side. Later in the day I came across a school of over sized Red fish just breaking the surface in 7 foot of water out in the open lake. The size of the Reds was astounding! I could see Reds that would push the 40 inch mark cruising just below the surface. I cast out the HoganAR and hoped for the best. I hooked up with a strong fish and got it to the boat, it's a slot fish at 25 inches. I boxed the fish and cast for another. This time I hooked up with a much stronger fish. I fought it for about 15 minute's and finally got it in the net. It wasn't one of the big boys I had seen but it measured 30 and 1/2 inches long and weighed 9 1/2 lb. What a great fight on light tackle. The Red had battle scares around it's mouth from being hooked in the past. There was even an old hook still in it's lower jaw with a short piece of monofilament attached. I removed the hooks photographed it and released it to fight again some day. I lost the school during the battle and couldn't find them again so I called it a day. I did get a few bird photographs today. It's good to see the Brown Pelicans are making a come back in our area. When I was in High school back in 1977I don't ever remember seeing a Brown Pelican around here but now I see them most every trip.When I was leaving my boat slip this morning I has greeted by a Gaggle of Geese eating grass in the neighbors yard. They are tame Canadians that live in a lake near our house. Over on the Louisiana shore line the marsh had burned and the white Ibises were feeding in the open areas.
It's not just the fish that make a good day, it's all the extras thrown in with them that make a day on the water so special!
Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/
