I'm a little late in posting this, but I went out to Port Arthur, Texas and Sabine Lake for a few days. I went with 3 good friends on a trip we bid on at the Striped Bass Challenge Dinner here at West Point. It was all inclusive and our guide served as the chef also. The fishing turned out to be phenomenal even with some tough conditions (full moon flood tide, east winds).
The first morning we went into a protected bayou/pocket that had been producing quick limits of redfish. Those conditions I mentioned had definitely thrown that bite off and after a hour with no bites it was time to move. We worked our way north and things started looking up. We landed on a spot that was slap loaded with giant flounder. Unfortunately, we had went out of a Louisiana ramp and the season had just closed for them. We caught them steady for probably an hour before we all got sick of throwing them back and decided to go look for something different. We spent the majority of the day just bouncing around fishing little drains where the water was moving. We ended up with a good mess of reds, sheepshead, and black drum. As the wind died, and evening was approaching, we started looking for birds in the lake itself. The trout were pushing shrimp that were leaving the lake. We were able to spend a couple hours running and gunning schools and caught a good pile of trout and a few bonus bull reds.
The second morning we decided to wait a little later due to high winds and the fact that the evening bite seemed to be the better thing going. We started out at the flounder spot just to get the skunk off. It was still loaded and we each caught a few before moving on. We moved down to a tiny ditch not far from there that was loaded with sheepshead and small reds. From there we moved north to a canal/creek draining hard on the falling tide. It was the absolute jack pot. We set up on a couple current breaks and I couldn't tell you how many fish we caught until we ran out of shrimp. It was almost immediate when it hit the water. Redfish of all sizes, drum, flounder. Just one of those bites you will replay in your memory for a while.
And the food...…Lord have mercy!!! Ol' buddy was a dang good guide, but the food was unreal (we later found out he was a partner in a restaurant). We kept enough fish to eat and eat we did. Fish, oysters, shrimp, steak, boudin, bread pudding, etc! It was all fantastic!
I know it is a haul, and you pass a lot of other good water, but I definitely want to get back out there next year with my boat and get on the fall bite again. Especially before flounder goes out!
The first morning we went into a protected bayou/pocket that had been producing quick limits of redfish. Those conditions I mentioned had definitely thrown that bite off and after a hour with no bites it was time to move. We worked our way north and things started looking up. We landed on a spot that was slap loaded with giant flounder. Unfortunately, we had went out of a Louisiana ramp and the season had just closed for them. We caught them steady for probably an hour before we all got sick of throwing them back and decided to go look for something different. We spent the majority of the day just bouncing around fishing little drains where the water was moving. We ended up with a good mess of reds, sheepshead, and black drum. As the wind died, and evening was approaching, we started looking for birds in the lake itself. The trout were pushing shrimp that were leaving the lake. We were able to spend a couple hours running and gunning schools and caught a good pile of trout and a few bonus bull reds.
The second morning we decided to wait a little later due to high winds and the fact that the evening bite seemed to be the better thing going. We started out at the flounder spot just to get the skunk off. It was still loaded and we each caught a few before moving on. We moved down to a tiny ditch not far from there that was loaded with sheepshead and small reds. From there we moved north to a canal/creek draining hard on the falling tide. It was the absolute jack pot. We set up on a couple current breaks and I couldn't tell you how many fish we caught until we ran out of shrimp. It was almost immediate when it hit the water. Redfish of all sizes, drum, flounder. Just one of those bites you will replay in your memory for a while.
And the food...…Lord have mercy!!! Ol' buddy was a dang good guide, but the food was unreal (we later found out he was a partner in a restaurant). We kept enough fish to eat and eat we did. Fish, oysters, shrimp, steak, boudin, bread pudding, etc! It was all fantastic!
I know it is a haul, and you pass a lot of other good water, but I definitely want to get back out there next year with my boat and get on the fall bite again. Especially before flounder goes out!
