I caught a long weekend from school since they gave us Good Friday off so I headed to Athens to see the Mrs and spend Easter with her. And of course I had to break out the float tube and check out my beloved Lake Athens. April is normally a slow month for the slabs and this year was no different. I hit all my usual spot and picked up a gill here and there but they were all little ones. I doubt I got one that would make the 5 inch mark. But I did manage to pull this out from under a dock.


Warmouth a special to me because I catch very few of them. If I am lucky I may get 3 in a year. I used to catch hundreds of them in VA when I was stationed there but I haven't found any really good spot for them in TX. I believe he is the 3rd one I have got in Athens. Needles to say, he went back in the water but he took a 1/100th oz jighead deep so I cut the line and didn't even try to take the hook out. I'm certain he will make it. As I said, I place a high value on warmouth.

While the gills tend to be slow in April, the crappie are usually willing to play. I got into good fish at several of my favorite crappie holes.


Bobby Garland Baby Shad in BlueGrass was the ticket. I didn't keep count but I'm guessing I got around 2 dozen or so. They were pretty evenly split between good legal sized fish and 8 inch dinks. Biggest was about 14 inches with a couple about 13 inches. I turned the bigger fish loose so they can spawn and keep the genes in the lake and I kept 6 fish between 10 3/4 inches and 12 inches for the fryer. Mrs Chief and I ate 3 last night and she has 6 filets in the freezer for a later date.


Cheers Y'all. Life is good here in TX. Happy Easter to all. He is risen!

Looks like you had a GREAT DAY! Good job Flags.



Side Note: So far I have I not caught a Warmouth this year!

Those crappie will cook up nice. Great post Flags. Glad to see some "Tube Time" on the water. Also love the color of the Warmouth.

That sure is a pretty warmouth, and some yummy looking crappie!

I was out on Athens that day and saw a man in a float tube, and thought it might be you. I'm glad you got on the crappie. I tried for them myself but didn't have any luck to speak of.

Beauty of a warmouth and some good looking crappie Flags! Thanks for the report

That would be me. I am the only one I know that fishes the lake in a tube. Lots of kayaks but as far as I know only me in a tube.

Awesome post and fish. Good job Flags.