Texas Fishing Forum

Decline in schooling fish on Athens?

Posted By: Chris_K

Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 05:22 PM

Has anyone else noticed this? Usually they’re everywhere.. this year they’ve not been schooling as well.. what gives?
Posted By: Fish2222

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 05:36 PM

Originally Posted By: Chris_K
Has anyone else noticed this? Usually they’re everywhere.. this year they’ve not been schooling as well.. what gives?


I agree..... I've been out there every week and hardly seen any real "schooling"....water temp might have something to do with it.... it's mid 80's
Posted By: coachmas

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:15 PM

Reports I’ve gotten have been steady with good quality fish being caught.
Posted By: GIG'EM AGGIES

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:19 PM

Originally Posted By: Chris_K
Has anyone else noticed this? Usually they’re everywhere.. this year they’ve not been schooling as well.. what gives?


Steez and Fish2222 probably caught'em all.
Posted By: RudiTexas

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:29 PM

July 1st they were busting all day in the cove we were in. South cove by the dam in the very back caught a couple on yellow Magic’s.
Posted By: Chris_K

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:45 PM

Originally Posted By: coachmas
Reports I’ve gotten have been steady with good quality fish being caught.


My report is they ain’t schooling, not in the usual brush piles, and I’m not seeing anyone else catch them either. Now obviously I’m sure someone is always on em, but the last week or two have been brutal for me
Posted By: SteezMacQueen

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:49 PM

Originally Posted By: GIG'EM AGGIES
Originally Posted By: Chris_K
Has anyone else noticed this? Usually they’re everywhere.. this year they’ve not been schooling as well.. what gives?


Steez and Fish2222 probably caught'em all.


Nope. The schooling fish are not as easy to find lately. Yesterday, I couldn't find a single under 14". I think I caught 3 17" fish in a row that MIGHT have been schooling. Or, maybe luck.

Only fish I catch are top water when I go there. It's what the lake is for, right?
Posted By: SteezMacQueen

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:50 PM

Saying that, one guy that fished the tourney said he caught schoolers. It showed too, 5 fish for less than 5 pounds.
Posted By: Chris_K

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 06:51 PM

Originally Posted By: GIG'EM AGGIES
Originally Posted By: Chris_K
Has anyone else noticed this? Usually they’re everywhere.. this year they’ve not been schooling as well.. what gives?


Steez and Fish2222 probably caught'em all.


Makes sense roflmao
Posted By: Frank the Tank

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 07:26 PM

Nothing about that lake is how it was 2-3 years ago. It gets hammered like never before. The pressure per acre of water is phenomenal now.
Posted By: meP2too

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 10:58 PM

I don’t usually mess with schoolies, but Friday night I made some casts when they started busting under a dock light. Like most of the night I did not hook up. Fished from 9pm to 1am caught 2 out of 5 bites. I was throwing a spinnerbait and the fish were biting worms. All bites came out of hydrilla in 3 feet of water.
Posted By: coachallentca

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/15/18 11:25 PM

I was out there today and saw a few schools and caught 1 about 2 pounds. It was a tuff day as we caught 10 total.
Posted By: jbcarroll3000

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 12:04 AM

Originally Posted By: Frank the Tank
Nothing about that lake is how it was 2-3 years ago. It gets hammered like never before. The pressure per acre of water is phenomenal now.


Agreed.
Posted By: Jeezy

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 12:08 AM

We caught 5 fish yesterday. All in grass in 8-10 fow. It used to be easy to find unders and catch them on that lake. Only one of the 5 fish we caught was an under. Biggest was a 5 lb 20 inch slot.
Most in our club said they caught a bunch of good slots, and there were a few overs weighed. I know at least one team culled an over. For me it was the toughest the lake had ever fished for bites that used to be easy.
Posted By: Razorback

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 01:34 AM

I have fished Athens five times in the last six weeks and have not seen any schooling fish at all. I know a couple of guys in our club found some, but the schooling was not widespread.
Posted By: Brad R

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 01:51 AM

I live on Lake Athens, typically fish up beyond 2495 where what I have seen are smaller schools that pop up here and there.

Cody S. and I chased them all around last week (kayaks) in the cove between the ramp and the 2495 bridge, caught several in the 2 lbs. range. Up in our cove, NW corner of the lake, they were schooling heavily until a few weeks ago, less so now I think. But, even then the schools seemed smaller.

There was a day last year, perhaps many, but the one I recall was boats launching from the ramp and never even leaving the area. Pretty nice sized schools were popping up everywhere. "Never leave when fish biting" was working though for some, of course, they have no interest in catching 1.5 lbs. bass and they head out to deeper water, other places looking for size.

Brad

P.S. The heaviest schooling I have ever seen was on Wheeler Branch. I have seen schools that were sort of circular shaped, 40 feet in diameter with what appeared to be a fish every square foot. And, often more than one working at the same time. Clear water . . . Bill Wilcox said that lakes with clearer water tend to have bass that are more sight-oriented feeders, that they school up tight. BR
Posted By: Ken A.

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 02:33 AM

More fishing pressure has that effect on lakes, especially when they are only 1,800 acres with very little timber.
Posted By: Chris_K

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 02:50 AM

Originally Posted By: Brad R
I”

There was a day last year, perhaps many, but the one I recall was boats launching from the ramp and never even leaving the area. Pretty nice sized schools were popping up everywhere. "Never leave when fish biting" was working though for some, of course, they have no interest in catching 1.5 lbs. bass and they head out to deeper water, other places looking for size

I may have been there that day, there was a school of 3 pounders mixed in there.
Posted By: reeltexan

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 03:16 AM



Bass used to school on most "clear" water lakes in summer and fall in Texas.
When Fork was new you could set your watch by them in the afternoon in certain areas.

Pressure.
Posted By: GIG'EM AGGIES

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 10:42 AM

The year Rayburn opened I saw bass schooling that was so large you couldn't cast across it and have caught 4-5 pounders schooling on Fork in the late 80's. Agree, pressure will change everything and the only good thing is there will be more motels and marina's built because of it.
Posted By: tin man 55

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 05:34 PM

i was on Athens Sunday morning; saw a lot of activity but only 1 or 2 fish at a time. i too remember the days on Fork and others where you couldn't cast all the way across a school; who knows how many bass were involved.

now all i see are 1 or 2 at a time...
Posted By: SoCal Tom

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 05:41 PM

Originally Posted By: tin man 55
i was on Athens Sunday morning; saw a lot of activity but only 1 or 2 fish at a time. i too remember the days on Fork and others where you couldn't cast all the way across a school; who knows how many bass were involved.

now all i see are 1 or 2 at a time...


We fished Fork in August last year with our Club. Struggled all day long and then a school came up on the 515 bridge. We followed them all the way down. Caught them on swim jigs, spooks, whopper ploppers and under spins. Ended up with a solid limit of unders in 30 minutes.
Posted By: Sinkey

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 05:46 PM

See, even Youtube videos hurts the schooling bass! roflmao..........Just kidding!
Posted By: Brad R

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/16/18 09:50 PM

Originally Posted By: Chris_K
Originally Posted By: Brad R
I”

There was a day last year, perhaps many, but the one I recall was boats launching from the ramp and never even leaving the area. Pretty nice sized schools were popping up everywhere. "Never leave when fish biting" was working though for some, of course, they have no interest in catching 1.5 lbs. bass and they head out to deeper water, other places looking for size

I may have been there that day, there was a school of 3 pounders mixed in there.


Chris_K, I have caught two big ones, one around 5 lbs. that followed in a schooler that I had caught. Looked like he was trying to eat it. I either caught this one or a like-sized one a few casts later. That was the biggest bass I have ever pulled out of a school. And, this was off my boat house so not in very deep water where big bass often sit below the "kids" and gobble up the stunned shad falling below the frenzied action.

It is really a lot of fun unless they are all 13" long, then, time to move on.

Brad
Posted By: west tex angler

Re: Decline in schooling fish on Athens? - 07/17/18 03:28 PM

The early days of Toledo Bend were just great for schooling fish. Big schools would stay up for 2-3 hrs. And size was up to 6 lbs. I wouldn't go anywhere on the lake without a Cordell Near Nuthin tied on. When the school would go down, we would hit them with a 1/4 ounce white marabou jig. Still caught them. Aw, the good old days!
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