Sabine Lake fly and conventional tackle fishing reports & photos
Monday, September 15, 2008
9/15/2008
Finally got to survey the damage at home from Ike
I knew things were going to bad butI didn't realize just how bad it was until we turned into our neighborhood. There are cars that floated out in yards, walls of bricks collapsed, windows blown out all from water and wind, mostly water. I think the worst thing I didn't consider is the silty mud that is every where. I knew there would be some but this stuff is 6 to 8 inches deep almost every where. In the house it's about 1/2 inch deep.The stuff in the house has floated every where, it's curious how things floated . The dining room table floated to the back room, a drawer from under my bed was close to the back door and some plastic steps from the front bathroom were in the computer room down the hall and to the left, strange things were going on. The water got between 4 and 5 foot deep in the house. The Kenner survived in the boat shed. I was afraid it would get pushed thru the roof but it must have just got right up to it, at least there was some good news. I will try to publish pictures but this Internet connection is not very fast.
¶ 6:37 PM 0 comments
Saturday, September 13, 2008
9/13/2008 We survived IKE but the house didn't
We moved inland 5 miles and stayed with my parents and rode out hurricane Ike. I'm glad we didn't stay at our house. I got a call this morning from my neighbor that has a 2 story house. He said our house had at least 6 foot of water in it and the tide was still rising, one of our neighbors house had water to the eaves. Stacy, Preston and I left at noon yesterday and the water was already up on our boat dock walk way and the storm wasn't even here yet. Stacy and I tried to get to our neighborhood today about 1:00pm and only made it 2 miles down hwy 62 south near hwy 105 and all we saw was water. The coast guard and local rescue workers were removing people from their roofs that got stranded, normally this area is farm/rural areas. The water rose at my dads house and needed about 2 foot more to get to their house but fortunately the water started to recede around 4:00pm. I took the GatorTail with me and left the Kenner at home. Preston and I ran the GatorTail over my dads hay pasture today just for grins, it's strange knowing we bailed hay on it 2 months ago. It looks to be a very long recovery for us and the Sabine lake area ahead. I'll try to post more pictures as I get them.Fortunatly my mother has a sattelite internet connection and I have my lap top, Tight lines, Mike
Thursday, September 11, 2008
9/11/2008
Fished this morning prepaired to evacuate this afternoon.
This may be the last report for a while. The tide was rushing in this morning up the Sabine river at the Burton's ditch weir and was above average on my boat dock behind the house already. I fished about 2 1/2 hours using artificial baits only today and managed two bass and one Speckled trout. They all liked the Red fish magic spinner bait. I got another report from a local angler that did better on the Red fish on the West weir of Burton's ditch using live bait. The weather service is predicting a 20 foot storm surge in the Sabine pass and lake area. If that's so the water will be up to the roof line of my house. Hopefully it won't happen but I got a feeling I'm going to get water in the house one way or the other. Rita didn't get in the house but came close. This storm is different and pushing a lot of water. If this happens the fishing in the marshes will really suffer. The water grasses are just getting another foot hold around here and all the salt water will kill it off again, bad for me and the marsh.We also had a big fish kill after Rita, hope that doesn't happen again either. I know this scenario has been played out over the eon's and this one of the prices you pay for living on the coast. Mother nature will heal it's self but I wish things like this didn't happen. What was shaping up to be a really great October on the lake and flats may be washed away, we'll have to wait and see. Any way pray for us and the others that will be effected to make a speedy recovery. Tight lines, Mike
Saturday, September 06, 2008
9/6/2008 What a Beautiful Day !
We finally made it out on the marsh flats today. It seems as of late every time I get a chance to fish the flats some thing gets in the way, wind ,rain, hurricanes, work. Today was cool in the morning and not real hot during the mid day hours with a light N/E wind. The fishing was very slow 1st thing in the morning but around 9:30 am. things started getting more active as the tide started to fall. We boated 8 fish today and broke one off , 4 were in the slot. We saw 15 or more fish today. They weren't stacked up together but they were there. We had to work for the fish we caught as the bite wasn't real aggressive except for the fish Preston caught. It nailed his Horny toad and put a heavy bend in his CastAway "Speck and Red special" Titanium rod . We have fished a lot of rods over the years but this rod is just what the doctor ordered as far as I'm concerned.It can handle light baits as well as heaver top waters and spoons. The tip is light and the butt section of the rod has a strong back bone to turn heavy fish. I have 4 of these rods and they are great. When spooled with PowerPro 30# braided line and a 2 foot fluorocarbon tippet the combination is unbeatable! The gold spoon was the best bait today, Dale proved that but the Horny Toad got bit also. The water was cool and clear in some places but was stained in most of the areas we fished today. Looks like the marsh is shaping up for a great October. Hope the other hurricanes don't spoil it and stay away like Gustav did.
Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
9/2/2008 Gustav had little effect !
Hurricane Gustav was more of an inconvenience than any thing around here. The local authorities closed the Rainbow bridge and called for a mandatory evacuation, I've been in worse thunder storms this summer than Gustav. I see the big picture now, it's a money thing! If they call for a mandatory evacuation it frees up money from the Fed's. the local entities can get to. If they don't the money isn't available, that seems to be the bottom line to me. We choose to stay, I've lived here all my life and only in the past few years have the emergency management teams started the mandatory evacuations. Yes if a big Category 3 or bigger storm has headed right for us I would leave since I live right on the water, tidal surge is my biggest fear,the house will stand a very strong wind. Then there is the problem of being locked out of my county or city for a week or more. I have every thing I need to live on and take care of my self and family, camper, water, fuel, food, generators ETC. I don't want to live in a hotel away from home or have that extra expense. So that's why we choose to stay if any way possible. If you don't have these things then yes stay away until the public services are back on line.
Any way hopefully I can get back on the water by this weekend. There was little rain and not much wind to stir things up so the water should be in good shape in a day or two.
Let's pray that this is the only storm that comes our way. Also keep the ones that were really effected by Gustav in our prayers and hope they make a speedy recovery.
Tight lines, Mike ¶ 9:51 AM 0 comments
Hurricane Gustav was more of an inconvenience than any thing around here. The local authorities closed the Rainbow bridge and called for a mandatory evacuation, I've been in worse thunder storms this summer than Gustav. I see the big picture now, it's a money thing! If they call for a mandatory evacuation it frees up money from the Fed's. the local entities can get to. If they don't the money isn't available, that seems to be the bottom line to me. We choose to stay, I've lived here all my life and only in the past few years have the emergency management teams started the mandatory evacuations. Yes if a big Category 3 or bigger storm has headed right for us I would leave since I live right on the water, tidal surge is my biggest fear,the house will stand a very strong wind. Then there is the problem of being locked out of my county or city for a week or more. I have every thing I need to live on and take care of my self and family, camper, water, fuel, food, generators ETC. I don't want to live in a hotel away from home or have that extra expense. So that's why we choose to stay if any way possible. If you don't have these things then yes stay away until the public services are back on line.
Any way hopefully I can get back on the water by this weekend. There was little rain and not much wind to stir things up so the water should be in good shape in a day or two.
Let's pray that this is the only storm that comes our way. Also keep the ones that were really effected by Gustav in our prayers and hope they make a speedy recovery.
Tight lines, Mike ¶ 9:51 AM 0 comments
