By Chester Moore, Jr
Do you want to tangle with a fish determined to destroy your tackle and give you a genuine workout?
Then head out to the Sabine River south of the Interstate 10 Bridge in Orange and try your luck at catching some of the big striped bass roaming that area.
The area between the Navy Base and Old Cow Bayou gives up a fair number of stripers this month. There has been some sporadic schooling action reported early and late in front of Burton’s Ditch already as well as some fish out in deeper water.
Hot spots include there, the outfall canal and at various points along the Louisiana shoreline on toward Shell Cut.
An overlooked spot is in Adams Bayou in what most anglers call the “Horseshoe Cut” that goes behind Dupont near the old pumping station. I have seen stripers in there while running limblines in the past and had reports of anglers catching stripers in recent winters.
Target the deep bends in the channel and focus on concentrations of mullet to find these voracious fish.
These stripers come down the river every winter and start biting around Christmas with the peak action typically in late January through February.
Anglers typically catch them on Rat-L-Traps, deep diving crankbaits and live mullet. Some have had success on topwaters when these wickedly aggressive fish are feeding near the surface but that is a fairly rare treat in local waters.
If you are looking for some different kind of fishing action, consider the Sabine’s stripers. The fishing tends to be hit and miss but when it does hit, be ready for battle.
