Regaining Stability

W eather patterns and conditions become more stable and predictable in April. Here on Sabine Lake that translates into plenty of fishing opportunity with the exception of the intense winds (which will occasionally give you a break) and the possibility of a few severe storms.

It marks the beginning of some much-awaited consistency for putting fish in the ice chest. Young shad, mullet and shrimp will ride in with the big tides to enjoy their short lives, and the predators won’t be doing any complaining.

With these young baitfish invading the entire system, your odds of having a successful trip are pretty high from the north end of the lake to south of the Causeway Bridge. Anglers shouldn’t have to work very hard to catch fish in the ship channel.

A good starting point is the LNG plant about a mile south of the Causeway. Bumping plastics off the bottom in about three to seven feet of water usually works well.

Trout, reds and flounders will hang out on this bank because of the abundance of bait and the makeup of the bottom structure. The trout, flounders and reds move onto the shallow shoreline and stuff themselves full of mullet, shad, shrimp and crabs.

It is a good idea to keep the boat in about seven feet of water and fan-cast parallel with and toward the bank. Throwing top waters is never a bad idea here. At times some really nice trout are stacked in here and are more than willing to attack a mullet at the top of the water column.

Another proven technique is to rig a soft plastic under a good, loud popping cork such as a Paradise Popper or Cajun Thunder. Both of these are very cast-friendly and are real attention getters. Rig it with 18-24 inches of leader and give it a couple of pops. I always have one ready to go and all I have to do is open my rod box and take it out.

Dragging a GULP swimming mullet or other curl tail grubs tipped with fresh shrimp does the most damage on flounder. We sometimes catch them as deep as 10 feet, but the most consistent bite is usually from the bank to about four feet deep.

Live mud minnows and finger mullet are also very effective when targeting these tasty flatfish. Keep an eye out for nervous pods of very small shad exploding right on the bank. When you see it, cast on top of them. Sometimes we see flounders come completely out of the water with them. That’s when you know they’re feeding aggressively.

We work this area over well before continuing south toward Light House Cove and beyond. We continue down the channel, hitting various points. The channel bite gets consistent around mid April and lasts well into the late summer months. This is always a good place to start the day before continuing on your southbound trek.

 

 

Email Eddie Hernandez at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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