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COASTAL FORECAST: Sabine

Summer Choices

A s summer finally makes its way to the Texas Coast, it brings with it an endless array of warm water, fishing patterns, techniques, destinations and opportunities. Just about every inshore species will be biting on these hot June days.

Here on Sabine Lake, deciding where we want to go is often the toughest part of the day since the bite should be on from the Neches River to the Gulf of Mexico. If that decision brings you to the lake itself, finding trout, reds and flounder shouldn’t be that difficult.

Several different paths will lead you to the fish. The entire eastern side of the lake from Blue Buck Point to East Pass should keep you in the action. Bouncing soft plastics off the bottom or dragging curl tail grubs, live mud minnows or finger mullet in two to five feet of water should work well.

One huge advantage of fishing this side of the lake is the number of bayous and cuts you’ll encounter as you make your way down the bank. Fishing the mouths of these can be killer on trout, reds and flounders as the warm water and baitfish move in and out with the tide.

Another option is to run the open bay in search of schooling trout and reds. Whether the birds are giving up their coordinates or you just find shrimp skipping along the surface and fish blowing up the calm water, this is an action packed way to spend a hot June day.

Topwaters, plastics, spoons, rattletraps and just about anything else you can reach the fish with will get hit. The action is fast and furious while it lasts. Fish that area a little longer after the fish go down, then continue running the lake slowly, watching the surface carefully for any sign of activity until you locate them again.

A good binocular will definitely come in handy here. For those who, like me, can’t resist the temptation of the Gulf in the summer months, the action at the close rigs should be just as hot as the temperature.

The legs of the rigs as well as other nearby unseen structure are like magnets to baitfish and predator fish alike. Serious numbers of solid trout are caught at the rigs every summe, and June is the month that gets it all started.

Closing night, chartreuse, and glow/chartreuse are very good color choices if you’re throwing soft plastics. You can get by with ¼-ounce lead heads most of the time, but make sure you bring some at least up to ½-ounce in case the current is too strong.

Throwing the cast net a few times on your way to the rigs is never a bad idea. Lots of times the fish will absolutely annihilate live bait, such as shad, shrimp and finger mullet and not even sniff at artificials.

We like to use a fish-finder rig and experiment with different weights to determine whether the fish are belly to the bottom or higher in the water column.

 

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THE BANK BITE

Location: North Revetment Road (Pleasure Island)

Species: Trout, redfish, flounder

Baits/Lures: Live shrimp, topwaters, soft plastics

Best Times: Mornings and evenings with moving tides

 

Email Eddie Hernandez at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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Roy Neves

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