I had the fortunate opportunity to introduce a young man to the salt water scene Saturday. John Parsons Jr. "JD" had only fished fresh water so far and wanted to see what a Red fish had to offer compared to a Bass, well I think he's got the Red fish bug now!

The day started off with a heavy fog and a N/W wind before 1st light but the wind was still light enough to allow us to fish where I wanted to. I started "JD" off with a bone/chrome she dog working along a grass line on the North end of the lake. It wasn't long before JD had his 1st ever Red fish blow up on the she dog. He made a good hook set and a determined battle ensued. When it was over we slipped the nice sized slot Red into the boat and JD was grinning from ear to ear, " Man these things fight! " he exclaimed. The weather wasn't looking any better and the tide was almost bottomed out as we ran further South to fish some submerged grass in hopes of another Red and maybe some trout. We managed a few small trout but the Reds weren't doing their thing so we went looking some more. We fished around waiting for the tide to start coming back in. JD also got to see why we call gafftops "slime monsters" still he was impressed with how hard a 5 lb. salt water cat can pull. We wound up on the South end of the lake near Blue Buck point when the tide finally got right, about 1:30pm and the bite was on. The lake had slicked off and we could see Reds and Trout chasing shrimp on the surface. We switched to glow/ Chartreuse shad tails and had a blast catching fish on most every cast some times. I took the picture above of the Two Reds we had hooked up at the same time. The water was trout green with an easy 2 to 3 foot visibility. We actually saw several of the fish swim up and eat our plastic. JD didn't want a chest full of fish so we only kept a few for the grill, we easily would have had 4 limits of slot Reds but we only caught a few Specks that would keep. I think it's safe to say JD will be back for more in the near future as he has a new found admiration for the hard fighting Reds of Sabine lake. I caught one nice keeper Flounder today early on fishing soft plastic under a popping cork in shallow water along a grass line. We weren't targeting them but it was nice to see a keeper sized fish in one of my old Flounder spots I used to always fish.

If you've been thinking of booking a fishing trip to Sabine lake now is the time to go if you want to catch a mess of Reds.

Tight lines, Mike