Today was the last chance I had to fish Lake Athens before I return to Amarillo. Was here an entire week but the Wife had to have bunion surgery so I have been doing the good hubby stuff rather than go fishing. It was pretty cold today, only 40 when I got out of bed and only 43 when I went to the lake. To top it off we had steady wind of 10 mph with gusts up to 17 mph which make fishing in the tube pretty difficult. But it was my last chance so I went.

To say the fishing was slow would be an understatement. I was hoping to pull a half a dozen crappie so I could take some fillets back but the cold shut them down in the spots I hit. So I just sort of fooled around tossing out Bobby Garlands under boathouses and into patches of weeds. Despite it being miserable in regards to the weather I did pull this out from under a boathouse. Not the biggest in the lake but decent and on an ultralite spooled with 4 lb line he was fun.


After tossing Bobby Garlands around I went to my old standby piece of crawler on a small jig hook and hit some on my sunfish spots. Had a few pecking at it that wouldn't commit and went to a smaller hook (1/100th oz) and finally landed a decent shellcracker. He was kind of funny colored, almost gold and he was a go getter in the fight department.


I ended up at my all time favorite gill spot and spent more than 45 min just bouncing a bait of the bottom. The spot only kicked out one fish (still too early) but is was a monster. Taped a little over 11 inches and was fat and thick. This gill went well over a pound and may end up being the biggest of the year. Gonna be hard to top this one.


And that was all I got today. 3 fish. All fish were released to fight another day and at about 1100 I had to give it up. I like to think that I am as tough as any man around but I will happily admit that I was pretty much whipped by the cold and wind. Had that deep chill clear down to the joints and the heater in the truck felt really good. Tomorrow morning I am Amarillo bound and will be trying for gills and walleye in Lake Meredith later this month.

Cheers Y'All

Three solid fish under lousy conditions...that giant bluegill has me inspired for when the sunny bite picks up ! Thanks for the great pics...

Solid post and solid fish. Good job!


Side Note: Awesome job on taking care of the wife!

Still a nice variety for tough conditions.

Awesome post. Good job Sir!

That's a nice big bluegill where on Athens Lake did you catch it at I been living in Athens for 6 years and just found out last week there were big bluegills here. Thanks In Advance.

The "Master of Athens"! Nice post and a good variety of fish under some tough conditions. Good job Flags!

Thats awesome Flags!

Well done Flags! I fished that same day on my 3 acre stock pond and never got a bite from anything. Maybe next time.