Calm Conditions, Calmer Bite...

Hadn't fished in two weeks, so I had a pretty bad case of fisherman's withdrawal symptoms.  The weather conditions for the past two weeks, especially the weekends, had not been idyllic.  But the forecast for Sunday morning looked promising, calm winds out the W to NW along with some warming temperatures.  Sounded perfect for fishing those flats off the ship channel in the north end of Sabine Lake.

With that forecast, made the decision to get my medicine and head out Sunday morning.  Glad I waited till 9:00 a.m to launch, a fog and heavy mist was still prevalent, but visibility was good enough to safely navigate the channel.  Headed towards Goat Island, as I passed Sydnes Island, some waders were already in the water there.

Other than the lingering fog and mist in the air, the conditions were great.  Very calm with a nice glass table of water to cast into.  Began a drift behind Goat Island on the far east end.  Drifted the entire length to the island throwing Catch 2000's, a Corky, and an Electric Chicken Blurp.  Didn't get a hook up till I had reached the far west end of the island.  I had been chunking a black Catch 2000 most of the morning before switching to a gold one.  The gold drew a strike from a small trout.  Decided to head to the back side of Stewt's Island.  On the way, made one drift behind Sydnes around some scattered gulls without a bump or bite.

Began a drift behind Stewt's throwing the black 2000, tried the electric chicken blurp as well without any takers.  Switched over to the gold 2000 and hooked up on a nice 21" trout.  Landed another trout but just under 15".

After what seemed to be a thousand casts, decided to run all the way back to Goat Island in hopes things may have improved there.  Once again, the water was like glass.  Too perfect to not give a topwater a try.  I'll spare you the details, all I got to do with it was practice walking the dog, not a single swirl let along blow up.

All the while, gulls could be heard in the distance and some boat traffic was moving around in an attempt to pin down some fish.  I decided to pick up and run back toward Stewt's.  Ultimately ended up there along with some scattered gulls.  About a 1/2 dozen boats were further into the lake, I decided to hang where I was since the gulls were not really holding and were only making an occassional dive on bait.

Decided to go back to the blurp.  Made a cast to a swirl and immediately hooked up on a nice slot redfish.  Released him.  Went back to the gold 2000 and managed another trout at 18" and caught another that was once again just under 15".

Continued to drift behind Stewt's till about 4:15 p.m. before deciding I'd had enough.  Headed on in.  Seemed a shame, such nice calm conditions, but the bite was even calmer.  We can only hope to get such good conditions more often to find when that bite will turn on.

Behind Stewt'