Sabine Lake fly and conventional tackle fishing reports & photos
Sunday, January 27, 2008
1/27/2008 To much Rain and Racing
The water in the bayou looks like Dutch chocolate milk. The sun came out around 1:00pm today and warmed things up a bit. I thought about hitting the lake after church this evening but the tide was falling. We have the best luck fishing an incoming tide this time of the year after the sun warms the shallows after noon. With the muddy conditions and falling tide I decided not to burn the fuel and save it for better conditions. I was told by a reliable source the lake was badly off color due to the large amount of run off from the recent rains.
Saturday was a cold gloomy day. I'm glad Preston's cub scout event was indoors. It was race day for the Pine wood derby. We had our car ready except for adding a few thumb tacks to weigh in just under the 5 oz. weight limit at the tech. inspection. This was our 1st time to be in the derby and weren't sure if our car we had made together was fast enough. If you have ever tried some thing new you know there is a learning curve you have to get around. Most of the heat races were won by a good margin but after several elimination rounds the races got a lot tighter. When it was all said and done Preston took 3rd place out of 10 cars in his pack. We thought for a 1st try we did OK.
I will be at the Texas fly fishers fly tying festival this coming Saturday 2/2/08. Here's a link to get the information on the event. It's a very big event and I always learn some thing new every year. If you get a chance make the drive, you won't be sorry.
Tight lines, Mike
Monday, January 14, 2008
1/14/2008
Survived the boat show
Well we finally got home last night around 9:45pm., boy was I tired. I was at Reliant center at 11:30am and closed the place down at 6:00pm. ,then things really got interesting. If you have ever attended the boat show in Houston there are dozens of individual booths all over the center selling their wares be it Tee shirts,guide services,Charter boat trips, Jewelery, Nautical art, Rod manufactures, food, you name it and it's probably there.Well most of these booths have a back drop and shelves along with a counter top and all the printed material pertaining to the type of business they do. Some of these are fairly elaborate. Well come closing time the ant hill really came alive. Every vendor started dismantling their booth. Cordless drills, hammers, wheeled dollies of all sorts appeared out of no where and then it was a mad dash to the loading dock doors out back. I had never seen this side of a big event like this. I would have liked to see how they got all the boats out but I didn't want to hang around that long. Any way I had a good time at the CastAway booth talking with the many people that stopped by to check out the new rods CastAway is offering. I really liked the new Skeleton Titanium series rods. I was told with a Shimano Chronarch Mg reel mounted on them they weigh a mere 8 ounces. The reel seats have been opened up to allow for 2 to 3 fingers to come in contact with the rod blank under the reel . This alone really increases the sensitivity of the rod. The lower handle has a fighting butt on it with the mid section totally bare exposing the rod blank then just behind the reel there is a nice section of cork that fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. The rod handle looks unconventional but is really functional. Talk about a technical rod this ones it. I can't wait to get one on the water. If you go to http://castawayrods.com/ you can see what they look like along with all the other models they make. I also learned that CastAway will make a custom rod for you if you like. All you have to do Is contact them,tell them what you want and they can take it from there.I got to know some of the CastAway staff a lot better on Sunday and was impressed with their enthusiasim and dedication to their products.
Tight lines, Mike
http://rectorsguideservice.com/ ¶ 2:37 PM 0 comments
Survived the boat show
Well we finally got home last night around 9:45pm., boy was I tired. I was at Reliant center at 11:30am and closed the place down at 6:00pm. ,then things really got interesting. If you have ever attended the boat show in Houston there are dozens of individual booths all over the center selling their wares be it Tee shirts,guide services,Charter boat trips, Jewelery, Nautical art, Rod manufactures, food, you name it and it's probably there.Well most of these booths have a back drop and shelves along with a counter top and all the printed material pertaining to the type of business they do. Some of these are fairly elaborate. Well come closing time the ant hill really came alive. Every vendor started dismantling their booth. Cordless drills, hammers, wheeled dollies of all sorts appeared out of no where and then it was a mad dash to the loading dock doors out back. I had never seen this side of a big event like this. I would have liked to see how they got all the boats out but I didn't want to hang around that long. Any way I had a good time at the CastAway booth talking with the many people that stopped by to check out the new rods CastAway is offering. I really liked the new Skeleton Titanium series rods. I was told with a Shimano Chronarch Mg reel mounted on them they weigh a mere 8 ounces. The reel seats have been opened up to allow for 2 to 3 fingers to come in contact with the rod blank under the reel . This alone really increases the sensitivity of the rod. The lower handle has a fighting butt on it with the mid section totally bare exposing the rod blank then just behind the reel there is a nice section of cork that fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. The rod handle looks unconventional but is really functional. Talk about a technical rod this ones it. I can't wait to get one on the water. If you go to http://castawayrods.com/ you can see what they look like along with all the other models they make. I also learned that CastAway will make a custom rod for you if you like. All you have to do Is contact them,tell them what you want and they can take it from there.I got to know some of the CastAway staff a lot better on Sunday and was impressed with their enthusiasim and dedication to their products.
Tight lines, Mike
http://rectorsguideservice.com/ ¶ 2:37 PM 0 comments
Saturday, January 12, 2008
1/12/2008 Right place wrong time
I've been looking forward all this past week at getting out on the water again. The weather was nice but the wind was steady out of the East. The white caps were just showing so the conditions were bearable. I waited until after 10:00am to launch the boat waiting for the shallow flats to warm up in the bright sun light. My 1st stop at East pass had a water temperature of 57 F. I fished the shell and a break that dropped off into 8 foot of water but couldn't draw a strike on the falling tide. I fished all the way down to Stewts island in beautiful water but found an absence of bait and fish . The water temperature had risen to 60F behind Sidney island but to my disappointment no trout were in the area. There were some mullet in the area that got my hopes up but there weren't a lot of them. I almost had a really bad day as I was leaving Stewts island. I had idled a long way out into the lake with the water about 2 1/2 foot deep. Just as I got on the throttle the motor struck some thing that was solid!I killed the motor and looked for the tell tell oil slick from a busted lower unit but was relived to see nothing. The prop looked OK so back East I headed. As I arrived in Coffee ground cove about a half mile further East than I had gone earlier in the day I found the water had risen to 60F. I threw out the drift sock and on the 2ND cast hooked up with a 15 inch trout. I quickly set the anchor out and started fan casting the area. It wasn't long before I felt a tap on the line and boated another trout. I felt I was really on the fish now. A few more cast and I pulled the anchor and drifted another 30 foot and got smacked with a solid strike on the catch 5 I had been using all day. As the drag peeled off the reel I just knew this was a big trout. By the way it pulled it would be in the 4 to 5 pound class. I was really worried the fish would pull off so I backed off the drag and hoped the fish would tire it's self out. Then without notice the line went slack, you know we have all had that sick feeling before and don't want to believe it so we reel even faster in hopes the fish is just running at us. Well that wasn't the case. Even with a super light drag setting the fish still came unhooked. I never got another strike in 1-1/2 hours of fishing after that. I think I just caught the tail end of the bite. I had fished for 3-1/2 hours with out a strike then moved to another area and had three fish in less than 20 minuets. I wish I would have stayed in Coffee ground cove when I 1st got out. Oh well that's my job to get on the water on a regular basis so I can stay on top of where the fish are moving. Now I know what's going on and the condition the lake is in. To bad I won't be able to get back out tomorrow. I'll be working the CastAway booth at the Houston boat show tomorrow. So if you get to go fishing tomorrow a Chartreuse back, white side Catch 5 is what I caught fish on. I threw a K 2000 and glow/chrt plastic today with out any strikes so the bigger sized bait is what they were looking for.
Tight lines, Mike
http://rectorsguideservice.com ¶ 4:02 PM 0 comments
I've been looking forward all this past week at getting out on the water again. The weather was nice but the wind was steady out of the East. The white caps were just showing so the conditions were bearable. I waited until after 10:00am to launch the boat waiting for the shallow flats to warm up in the bright sun light. My 1st stop at East pass had a water temperature of 57 F. I fished the shell and a break that dropped off into 8 foot of water but couldn't draw a strike on the falling tide. I fished all the way down to Stewts island in beautiful water but found an absence of bait and fish . The water temperature had risen to 60F behind Sidney island but to my disappointment no trout were in the area. There were some mullet in the area that got my hopes up but there weren't a lot of them. I almost had a really bad day as I was leaving Stewts island. I had idled a long way out into the lake with the water about 2 1/2 foot deep. Just as I got on the throttle the motor struck some thing that was solid!I killed the motor and looked for the tell tell oil slick from a busted lower unit but was relived to see nothing. The prop looked OK so back East I headed. As I arrived in Coffee ground cove about a half mile further East than I had gone earlier in the day I found the water had risen to 60F. I threw out the drift sock and on the 2ND cast hooked up with a 15 inch trout. I quickly set the anchor out and started fan casting the area. It wasn't long before I felt a tap on the line and boated another trout. I felt I was really on the fish now. A few more cast and I pulled the anchor and drifted another 30 foot and got smacked with a solid strike on the catch 5 I had been using all day. As the drag peeled off the reel I just knew this was a big trout. By the way it pulled it would be in the 4 to 5 pound class. I was really worried the fish would pull off so I backed off the drag and hoped the fish would tire it's self out. Then without notice the line went slack, you know we have all had that sick feeling before and don't want to believe it so we reel even faster in hopes the fish is just running at us. Well that wasn't the case. Even with a super light drag setting the fish still came unhooked. I never got another strike in 1-1/2 hours of fishing after that. I think I just caught the tail end of the bite. I had fished for 3-1/2 hours with out a strike then moved to another area and had three fish in less than 20 minuets. I wish I would have stayed in Coffee ground cove when I 1st got out. Oh well that's my job to get on the water on a regular basis so I can stay on top of where the fish are moving. Now I know what's going on and the condition the lake is in. To bad I won't be able to get back out tomorrow. I'll be working the CastAway booth at the Houston boat show tomorrow. So if you get to go fishing tomorrow a Chartreuse back, white side Catch 5 is what I caught fish on. I threw a K 2000 and glow/chrt plastic today with out any strikes so the bigger sized bait is what they were looking for.
Tight lines, Mike
http://rectorsguideservice.com ¶ 4:02 PM 0 comments
Sunday, January 06, 2008
1/6/2008
Well another week has gone by with out being able to get out on the water. We had had some dramatic tide swings several days. The water in the bayou looks like chocolate milk. I'm sure the lake doesn't look much better. I helped one of my coworkers and took his on call duty this weekend. I would have liked to give the lake a shot today with the warmer temperatures and increased water levels but didn't want to take a chance of getting paged about the time I get to the lake. Hopefully next Saturday will be good weather.
I will be in Houston Sunday the 13th at the boat show working the CastAway rod booth. If your there come by and talk fishing with me. I'm not sure but CastAway usually runs some good show specials on their rods at this event so stop by and maybe you can get a good price on a great rod.
Tight lines, Mike
http://rectorsguideservice.com ¶ 5:12 PM 0 comments
Well another week has gone by with out being able to get out on the water. We had had some dramatic tide swings several days. The water in the bayou looks like chocolate milk. I'm sure the lake doesn't look much better. I helped one of my coworkers and took his on call duty this weekend. I would have liked to give the lake a shot today with the warmer temperatures and increased water levels but didn't want to take a chance of getting paged about the time I get to the lake. Hopefully next Saturday will be good weather.
I will be in Houston Sunday the 13th at the boat show working the CastAway rod booth. If your there come by and talk fishing with me. I'm not sure but CastAway usually runs some good show specials on their rods at this event so stop by and maybe you can get a good price on a great rod.
Tight lines, Mike
http://rectorsguideservice.com ¶ 5:12 PM 0 comments
