Took my wife's cousin's oldest son out for his first time lake fishing. He does lots of creek/tank fishing for LM and even more salt water fishing, but this was his first trip to a lake to fish from a boat.
I pretty much just guided for him although I did boat a few fish while using shallow diving square bill and watermelon/red soft plastics I gave him free reign over the boat and the water.

I put him in an area where he could fish 2-12' depth, most fish came from 3-5 near a main lake point and we'd fish into whatever cove we were at for a few hundred feet. I told him to put on a shad colored lipless crank and pull it over and through the hydrilla. He hooked up right away (3rd or 4th cast) and never looked back. He finally hooked into a good Decker fish about 9am that weighed in roughly 7lbs. He was so excited only four words came out of this mouth the entire fight, during netting, hook removal, weighing....you get the idea. Of those four words only one are repeatable here and that word was "Holy". You can guess the rest. He followed that fish up with a 6lber and totaled the day with about 20 fish. Off the water by noon and a very happy young man ready to go again!
We did double up once. He mad sure to let me know his was bigger.
Most fish caught were males readying beds, but a few ladies were up checking things out.
Pics of the larger fish attached

The lake is full, actually a little past full at this point, higher than I've seen it in a long time.
On the water Sunday at 7:45am
Pretty chilly air temp to start (34F) and very windy (10-15mph) from the north.
Water temp 53-55F
No generating.
Saw more boats than I expected, but not crowded by any means. Didn't see other boats catching anything, but wasn't paying much attention either.
I'd say first two weeks of Feb is gonna be excellent on Decker IF the weather cooperates.
Y'all don't bunch it up too much though. I don't wanna hafta fight to get on the water!

Nice report.

Thanks for the report. Glad you had a good day on the water.

The lake is not full. It's still about 2 to 2.5 feet low. I fished it on Tuesday.

Tournament out there Sunday if you wanna join. It's 7am-12pm $40

"The lake is not full. It's still about 2 to 2.5 feet low. I fished it on Tuesday."


what do you consider full? over the docks? i will be back out tomorrow and will take a pick so folks can judge for themselves. i will say again it's the fullest i've seen it in years.

"Tournament out there Sunday if you wanna join. It's 7am-12pm $40"
appreciate the invite, but I rarely fish tourneys anymore. Is this a paper tourney?

Excellent post and some awesome fishing

Thanks for the report. I love to fish Decker for sunfish with my fly rod. It's a rich fishery.

I've fished that lake consistently since 2002. It's actually about as low as I've seen it. Actually it's best to be careful and trim your motor up when you launch right now. I'm sure anyone with knowledge of the lake can agree with this.

This tournament open for anyone? Is there a website with info about it.

i do stand corrected, its not full. i challenge your assertion that its lower than ever, though. where it is now is where it has been for the past three years, with exception of the recent draw down.

most boats must trim up to launch/load no matter what lake or what boat. its also a good practice to be in

anyway, went back out yesterday and caught a few on the same pattern. water temp was up to 57 in most spots

It was lower a few weeks back until they started pumping water in. Still a lot lower than it usually is and has changed the fishing a bit this year. Coupled with a warmer than normal winter. Fishing is still pretty good though.

It's slightly higher than it was a month ago but looks like it's staying at this level. It's perfect level in my opinion. Keeps the fish from going to far into the reeds. As far as the tournament, it's every Sunday put on by Central Texas outdoors. They give you a measuring board for the day and assign you a number on it to verify with pictures. It's taking over 100" for 5 fish the last 3 weeks or so.