The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

I was not surprised by the pods of dead shad we saw floating in both Cow

and Adams Bayou following Hurricane Laura, but two texts and a short

video I received regarding the dead fish in the Nibletts Bluff-West

Bluff area were very concerning.

Several area bass fishermen said the water in the river both smelled and

looked bad the week after the storm, but none of them reported seeing

anymore dead fish.Something that depletes the oxygen content like

flooded dead grass or leaves is most often the culprit, but there are

other possibilities.

Easily, the most disturbing thing about the pictures, other than the

number of dead fish along the shoreline, was the variety of fish.There

were scores of dead catfish as well as bass, bream, white perch and

drum.That was unusual in itself and usually indicates that there was a

problem from top to bottom in the water column.

I spoke with some folks that live a little further north on the river

and personally checked out a few areas closer to the Intracoastal and

saw no other dead fish.The water had that funky look to it, but I

couldn’t detect any noticeable odor.While any fish kill is a bad thing,

I would hope that Mother Nature is responsible for our loss!

The bite continues to improve in Sabine Lake for both trout and

redfish.More visible bait on the surface and more birds pointing out

these traveling buffets have made it much easier on local anglers.I

don’t think the average trout has been as solid as those taken below the

Causeway, but the numbers are excellent.

I did see two very good catches of trout up to four pounds that were

caught along the north revetment wall on a pink-chartreuse Catch 2000’s.

Both parties said they found their fish a long cast off the wall itself

and that the fish would not touch a slightly larger Catch V in the exact

same color.

Robby Leger said he limited on trout up to three pounds four days in a

row and was back working on his now vacant lot by 8:30 each morning.He

fishes only the south end of the lake and has had no problem catching

both reds and trout on a Vudu shrimp under a popping cork.

Robby is from Channelview, but has been staying in the area until he

finishes cleaning up the mess Laura left him. He has already ordered a

new trailer, but can’t use waiting for it to arrive as an excuse to

stay.“My lot is clean and ready now so I guess I’ll have to go home,”

said Leger.

Fishing reports from Toledo Bend, especially good ones, have been hard

to come by this week.Only a few of the guides are back on the water and

most of the folks with camps or homes are still doing more cleaning up

than fishing!

Mickey Ponds said he came out very well and has spent more time on his

tractor helping neighbors than fishing, but he did make two short, but

productive outings last week.“I was hoping to catch just enough white

perch for me and the wife Tuesday afternoon and wound up cleaning

seventeen good slabs.

“I caught them on a brush pile in 23 feet of water just south of Housen

Bay.” He was fishing a pearl-pink 2-inch jig.The following morning he

drifted McGee’s with a Carolina rigged pumpkin green lizard and caught

nine bass up to about six pounds.

“The wind was blowing too hard to white perch fish so I just drifted 12

to 15 feet of water for an hour or so,” said Ponds.“I didn’t keep any

fish, but they were all two pounds or larger.I also saw two bunches of

school bass, but I never gave them a try.”He saw those bass in the Mill

Creek area.

Another word of warning for those of you that have not been back on the

water since Laura roared through the area.It seems like every day there

is a new partially submerged piece of debris in areas where there was

none the day before.Wear your life jacket, hook up your kill switch and

run just a little slower for a while!