Without a doubt my favorite time of year to be on the water fishing Sabine Lake and Lake Calcasieu is during the fall. We have so many options regarding catching fish and how we choose to catch them as well as it being one of the most consistent times of year to actually catch good numbers and good-sized fish. I prefer to don my Simms waders, tie on either an Egret Zombie Walker or a Super Spook and plug away looking for larger speckled trout on the flats. This style of fishing really gets going typically around the middle of November and so far 2017 has been no exception. Sabine Lake bounced back rather quickly following Harvey and the fishing, or the catching rather, has gone very well for the most part. Wade fishing suits my style of fishing as it allows me to slowly and therefore thoroughly cover an area. Wading stealthily also affords me the opportunity to possibly catch a larger number of fish without disturbing them since we do not have to worry about controlling a 23’ boat with hull slap in only a few feet of water.
Typically, if you find the bait you will find the fish. We have been keying in on areas with active mullet to catch our fish here lately in 2-4’ of water. Water temperature was still at 65°F as of yesterday. I prefer a water temperature above 60°F for throwing topwaters however we have done very well on them with much lower surface temperatures. Use the level of bait activity and the reaction of the fish to help dictate your lure selection.
If wade fishing isn’t in your repertoire fishing from the boat can still be very productive. Drifting the flats will typically produce larger speckled trout however other options include working schooling trout and redfish in open water as well as partaking in the fall flounder run. The tasty flat fish is a favorite of many along the Gulf Coast. Arguably the vast majority of flounder caught during the flounder run will be landed on some sort of Berkley Gulp product. Amazingly enough many of the stores, around here anyway, will run out of their supply early on during the fall run. Fortunately for anglers in the Golden Triangle, County Home and Outdoors in Nederland has some forethought and overstocks on Gulp. The word is getting out more and more about their tackle selection and for good reason.
Adam Jaynes | 409-988-3901 | www.justfishsabine.com
