So, I got back to Athens yesterday and just had to put the tube out today. Stopped by Walmart to get some worms and hit the parking lot about 7:30 am. It felt good suiting up and dragging the tube down to the water. I pretty much knew where I wanted to go and as I always do, I tied on a Bobby Garland in BlueGrass for the transit over. I knew it was going to be a good day because before I eve cleared the end of the pier; I had this little thing going airborne.


I hit one of my favorite sunfish places and took off the Bobby Garland and put a small piece of crawler and got down to business. I got into the gills right off the bat and took 31 about like these from the first spot I tried. There must have been a huge pile of them in that spot and they were all running from 4 inches to about 7 inches. What they lacked in size they made up for in numbers and willingness to bite.





I decided to try an different spot but had to wait a bit because a bass fisherman had parked there and was beating the water up trying to catch something, Most the people fishing Athens waste their time in my opinion chasing bass. They work like heck trying to catch 2 or 3 fish in a day when they could catch a huge number of really nice bluegills. The bass guy got bored and left and I kicked over and found a good number of better gills. In addition to the gills there were a few small shellcrackers and redbreasts handing around. I took 27 fish from the second spot but still didn’t find the size. About 8 inches was all I could pull out of that spot.



Time to move and I went to a spot that seems to produce good fish when I can’t find them anywhere else. This held true today. There was a big pile of really good fish there. These were to 10 inchers I was looking for. Not only did they have the length, but they also had the girth.



This was the biggest fish of the day was just a whisker under 11 inches. He was as round as a dinner plate. Look at the knot on his forehead. I’m pretty sure this fish went at least a pound. I ended up with 83 fish in total before a rain squall chased me from the water.



As I headed back to the landing to depart the lake, I tied on the Bobby Garland again and sort of trolled back. Just before I got to my haul out spot another one of these showed up to play. Good day on the water.



I kept 7 that took the hook deep for supper and turned all the rest loose.






Here is a big plate of redneck happiness.


Life is good here in East TX. Think I’ll hit Mill Creek Lake in Canton on Monday. Cheers Y’all.

Nice Work Flags!

Well done flags!

Great report Flags ! Glad you got onto them. Not sure if you are interested in such things but that near 11 inch Bluegill would likely have bested the Water Body record at Athens. It crushed the Catch & Release record.

Way to go Flags...From everything I read, Athens has to be in the top 5 bluegill lakes in the state. Don't know anything about Mill Creek, but with the monsters you caught today I think I would be heading back that way on Monday

Yeah, I know but that sort of thing holds no interest for me. For what it is worth my best gill out of that lake is 12 and a half inches. I get some good ones out of there. It really is a great gill lake but most people who fish it target bass.

Solid Post and some solid fish. Nicely done.




Side Note: Love that last picture!

Good times for sure on Athens. Awesome job Flaggs.

Awesome trip. Good luck at Mill creek!

Great post Flags! Everything looks delicious

Great fish and report.

Love those Athens post. Good job Flags. I also love that last picture.