Sabine Lake is like a coin, with two entirely different sides — and two different sets of fishing regulations.
One side, the Texas side, is urban-industrial. Hardly a space exists that hasn’t been developed in some way, including large numbers of massive petrochemical plants and refineries.
Fronting the Texas shore are endless numbers of offshore oil and gas jack-up rigs, some between jobs, some in for repair and some to be scrapped.
Immediately inside the armored Texas shoreline is the Sabine-Neches (pronounced NAY-ches) Ship Channel, a dredged industrial waterway for ocean-going ship and tug traffic. The channel forks to the west off Sabine Pass immediately south of the causeway bridge.
At the northern end of the lake, the Neches River flares off to the northwest, while the channel goes on to connect to the mouth of the Sabine River, the border between the two states.
The only real speckled trout fishing offered on the western shore is during the summer, when high-salinity waters penetrate up into the two rivers.
Fishing in the deep waters of the rivers is not easy, guide Jerry Norris said. The Sabine River is up to 40 feet deep, and the Neches plunges to depths of 50 feet.
In contrast to the Texas shore, the Louisiana shore is pristine — almost primitive. Instead of towering industrial facilities belching uncountable plumes of steam, this shore holds vast, sweeping tracts of marsh grass punctuated only by the mouths of bayous (pronounced BUY-ohs by Texan Norris.)
It is quiet, and not a human structure is in sight. Much of it is within the boundaries of Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.
The best speckled trout fishing year round is along or off the Louisiana shoreline. This is especially true during periods of heavy rainfall, when freshwater discharge from the rivers pushes fish to that shoreline and, with enough freshwater, southward.
Sabine Pass shows a similar contrast. The western bank is developed solidly with industrial facilities all the way down to near its mouth, where the Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge takes over. Louisiana’s side holds only the Chenier LNG plant and the forlorn but impressive Sabine Pass Lighthouse.
The most-important contrast to anglers is the presence of two conflicting sets of regulations on the lake and pass.
On Texas waters, anglers are limited to 10 speckled trout, with a minimum size limit of 15 inches. Only one speck may be over 25 inches long.
In Louisiana waters, limits are 15 fish, with a 12-inch minimum size and two fish over 25 inches long. (For those unfamiliar with the area, specified areas of Cameron and Calcasieu Parish have different creel and size limits than the rest of Louisiana.)
Size and creel limits are enforced on the water, so Louisiana anglers must always know where they are or obey the more restrictive Texas limits.
Licenses for the two states are reciprocal; meaning that anglers from either state can launch in Sabine Lake waters on either side as well as fish either side of the lake and pass with their own state’s resident license, as long as size and creel limits are obeyed.