Lake Athens 4/20/18

Took the tube out on Athens today. It was a little slower than normal. Pretty windy too. Got tossed around pretty good. Had to look for the fish today. Went more than an hr before I found them.



I ended up with about a dozen fish. Most were like the photo above, 5-6 inches with a few bigger and a few smaller. They were really full of fight. The biggest was just a whisker less than 10 inches. All fish were released to fight another day. Supposed to rain tomorrow so I'll stay inside. Hope to get out again on Sun.



Life is good here in East TX. Cheers Y'all

Nice post and some nice fish. Great job on some tough conditions.



Side Note: I think these past couple of fronts had scattered the fish on the larger water bodies. Just my two cents.

Flags,

We had just returned from Houston so I needed a break, jumped in my canoe mid-afternoon yesterday and spent the whole time north of the bridge. I never saw another boat but I know many were on the main lake because we saw the trailers as we were coming home.

I ended up with 5 bass, all in the 2 to 3 lbs. class, all full of fight. *** Soft jerk bait sort of fished finesse for bass.

I bring this up because I had several "nips" or light bites on my plastics from bluegills bouncing off of them, some possibly crappie . . . but more likely bluegills. So, they are finally moving up into shallower water, sort of around the lily pads as they begin to grow leaves.

Just a guess that in another few weeks it'll be the front end of the calendar for the really great panfishing time on Lake Athens and others nearby.

Brad

Oh! What a day for big bass for me!!! But, to start things out, my first fish of the day was a panfish with a mouth large enough to swallow a 3/0 hook!!! It was only 9" long but very heavy. Then, I caught a dozen bass ending up with two in the 5 lbs. range . . . mouths big enough to stick my fist in, bulging eyes.

Pics below. The last LMB was caught with a short cast of about 20 feet off my boathouse deck.

Brad

Nice fish Brad R. Always a GREAT day on the water! Good job.

Nice going gents. Bass are definitely post spawn. I been seeing clouds of Bass fry by nests with the Adult protecting. Sunnies need to get busy spawning so the baby Bass have something to eat.

It could be a stellar year for pan fish, this after unusually wet years since 2015. Another cold and wet spring so far if this actually helps. Tons of fry as Fitz mentions seeing, too, for food.

I need to load Flags into my big canoe, that or drag him over to some of these other potential sites to explore some new holes. I'm not sure how that might work, whether it would work or not to "tow" a tube a bit farther away to cover some new range. It'd be fun trying.

I haven't seen the bluegills move in around my boathouse yet, 4 to 5' of water under it now so maybe a bit shallow this early for them. But, over the last two weeks or so, I have started noticing them attacking bass plastic lures out in the vegetated areas along the edges.

I'd imagine they'll be thick as thieves in another few weeks.

Good times dead ahead.

Brad

Tell me when. I'll buy the lunch.

Great post Flags and Brad R. Good job guys.

awesome job

Flags/All,

I went out again this afternoon on Lake Athens very late (just back not long ago), caught 4 bass none over 14", and then I made a cast to a boathouse just across from my place and got a nice 5th strike.

This wasn't another bass as it turned out . . . but I think a warmouth based on the size of its mouth.

I was losing light fast, rough, blurry photo attached . . . but you can make out the mouth size on about a 9" long fish. I'd say its mouth was 1.5" in diameter, so too big to be a bluegill. It had no trouble swallowing a 3/0 hook with a 4" Keitech.

Brad

Brad,
That is a Warmouth.

Fitz, yes! and thanks for confirming it.

I think I posted to you some time last year that I had caught a warmouth up here very far north in the cove above the 2495 bridge. Weren't you looking for one for your aquarium?

My only observation, other than their strikingly large mouths, is they really put up a fight. This might make sense knowing that the bigger mouth likely means they target, attack and eat bigger prey.

Cool fish, beautiful colors.

Brad

Nice Warmouth. Big one!

Nice post and fish. Good job Flags.

Yes, we did talk about that. Very cool and fun fish. At the time I was looking for a WM but have picked up a nice one. My number one target for the tank right now is a small Drum. There are a few other fish I would consider (baby Buffalo, Long or Shortnose Gar) The aquarium is in harmony so no introductions except for a perfect fish.

Great job.