Folks, need some help. While shopping for a boat, I met an experienced ex-guide that pointed me to Sabine Lake as an excellent place for reds/trout. I am new to TX and have never been to the coast. I live in DFW metro. It looks like Sabine is more managable compared to Port O'C onnor and other bays. I was planning to head down in June, bring my boat and go out with a guide to learn the area. Here is where I need help. There is not a lot of info on the area on the web and from what I can see, I am not sure Port Arthur is a good area. I would bring my wife and kids. Is the place safe? Is it nice for family to visit? Is there things for them to do? Would we be on our guard all the time? Any help is greatly appreciated.

dont stay in port arthur, not a nice place. stay in orange. THere is a very cool boat ramp/bar near downtown orange. not a lot of public ramps. or you can drive to the south end of the lake to put in. Not a lot to do in that area except fish.

Hey Jimmy,I moved down to the Conroe aera last year at this time. I was looking at getting into bay fishing. The frist thing i did was get a guide. We chose Nathan Wolfgang. .The first time i went out with him he took us down in sabine pass and we fished the canals. Water was about 4-9 foot deep. We caught about 10-15 reds.We kept our limit of 3 apiece. then we caught about 20-25 specs .The largest of the trout went about 6 lbs. We kept 10 of the trout. We had a great time. This was in march or april when we fished the canals. Now we had heard the birds were working Sabine lake. I just called Nate up and asked him some question and he put us on the fish. I have been back a couple of times and before i go i will always call nate and he always gives me the streight skinny on whats bitting and how and where to catch them. He goes by basfisher2 on here. His # is 409-273-2712. Give him a call he will help you out and is a great guy and great fisherman. Mark

When you say canals at Sabine Pass, Are you talking about where you put in by the last bridge before the jetty?

Maybe 1/4 mile past the Coast Guard station?

I went for the first time back in November and will be going back pretty soon.

you can stay at sabine pass if you are simply fishing. its literally 2 min from the public ramp. you can run 5 min north into sabine lake or 10 min south out to the jetties. not much for the kids to do other than go down towards mcfaddin beach or to th sabine pass battlegrounds. decent hotel though, puts you right at the water. other than that, bridgecity hotels and launching on the north end of sabine is the only option

A couple of other ideas for you below and they can steer you in the right direction.

A day with a guide will give you some basic, safe info and then you can go from there.

Anyhow, call Adam Jaynes or Dickie Colburn. Both fulltime guides on Sabine - see their fishing reports, too.
http://justfishsabine.com/just_fish_sabine/index.html
http://www.sabineconnection.com/

I have fished with both of them and they are excellent, easy going guides.

Pleasure Island may have some condo rentals but I only make day trips to Sabine from N Houston.

Note if you fish inside the mouths of any bayous on the LA side of Sabine, you need to have a LA license to be legal.

Good luck.

Mr.Roachy, yes we had a bll down there. and Yes we stayed at the Sabine pass inn. Was a total of $57.00 for two queen size beds.

We stayed at the Sabine Pass Inn also.

Fished the beach the last morning.

great info guys, thanks!

Thats my favorite place to fish. Probably because i grew up down there. There is a Hotel and a couple of boat launches in Bridge City Texas. I like the public one under the cow bayou bridge, because its protected from the wind. You can also go out toward Port Authur and launch under the Rainbow/Veterans bridge. That gets you right out on the lake. There are a lot of guides in the Orange area that use those launches. I also like launching in lousiana, some of the best fishing is in the Bayou's and along the LA shore. Of course you have to have a lousiana licience to fishing in the Bayou's and cuts on that side.

June is a great month fir catching fish there. I will be down in June as well, spent 18 years of my life in Bridge City, stay at the new hotel in BC. The marsh is always excellent that time of year. Call me if u need any more info 817-913-4760

I should be there for a few days during that month, I can take into the marsh in our tunnel hull for tailing reds if the dates work out

Check the new regulations for Louisiana and for Texas....you no longer have to have both license. You can read it online at the TPWD or LDWF websites. It is in their respective booklets you get when you buy license. The regulation affects Sabine lake, Sabine river, Toledo Bend, and Caddo lake. Bordering waterways that can be accessed.

can you post a link to that info i have been looking for it and cant seem to find anything

Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunting and Fishing Regulations 2012-2013. License requirements for border waters....Texas-Louisiana.