Fred "Rionator", Mike "USMC_GY", and Myself went to Austin and fished two of their very fine lakes. The fishing was "ON FIRE"! We hit Decker Lake at 7am and fished till 12noon. We caught over 75 fish and all of em were very healthy and fat. Bluegills in the 8 to 10 inch range, Redear in the 8 to 10 inch range, two Crappie (one black and one white) both in the 14 inch range,a nice Channel Cat in the 16 inch range, and several small bass rounded out the catch. Fish were caught next to reed beds. Worms, Crickets,Jigs, and Curly Tail Grubs were used. Float and drop shot techniques were used. All fish were released to fight again with the exception of a few that made it to the frying pan. We broke for lunch at Rudy's Bar B.Q. and then headed to Lake Austin. The bite was good but the boat traffic was heavy. We caught well over 30 fish. Redbreast in the 9 to 12 inch range,Bluegill in the 8 to 9 inch range,several nice Bass and a couple of Redspotted Sunfish rounded out the catch. Fred locked into a monster and that will be posted on another story! A great day of fishing with two super friends on two of Austin's fine lakes. No where but TEXAS!

Nice catches gentleman's congratulations

Thanks Robert. The morning was perfect for fishing with the overcast sky's. The bite was on!

Man you guys have been on a roll these past weeks! Nice Fish!



Side Note: What did you catch the Crappie on and what technique were you using. Float,bottom, Drop shot, or artificial.

Thanks Curtis for the reply. It was the first time I had ever fished Decker Lake. I caught the Crappie which was a Black Crappie. Caught it on the bait of champions "WORMS" using a float. Just about every fish will take a worm no matter what type of species they are. This was the first Crappie I had caught this year. The last bunch of Crappie I caught was on one of the Creeks I usually fish at and it has been about a year since I caught one. They are truly good sporting fish.


Side Note: The lake your buddies live on has a good population of Crappie!

Thanks Chuck for the information. I know there is a population of Crappie on the lake. I have caught a few nice ones this year and have released em. I have met several anglers who fish for Crappie there on a regular basis and they seem to do good a lot of the time. PM me some spots if you know of any.



Side Note: Decker is a power plant lake and so is Calaveras. Cally has a Crappie Wall. Is there Crappie in Cally as well?

I will PM some you some spots! As for Calaveras it like other power plant lakes was one heck of a Bass and Crappie lake in it's early time. Once they started stocking Reds in Cally it really reduced both the Bass and Crappie Populations in that lake. If you notice the power plant lakes that don't have Reds usually have a healthy population of both Crappie and Bass! As for Crappie in Calaveras? I have not seen or heard of anyone catching a Crappie on Calaveras in a while. If there are any Crappie on that lake they are few and far between. Just my two cents.

Congrats on the good catches, nice job. I have a question: I notice that you often fish two or more lakes/ponds/rivers/creeks in one day. After you've caught the numbers of fish you guys caught on Decker, why would you stop fishing that lake and go to a different lake? Just curious, not that I find anything wrong with it other than, at my age, it makes me tired just thinking about that much fishing in one day. LOL

I asked the same question LOL

Great Question "fish till I drop": Each lake is different. Scenery and tactics change when you go to a different body of water. I like to change things up just a little. I have on many many of times in the past and still do love "One stop fishing" which means fishing one area when the bite is good. However every now and then I like fishing different bodies of water and to use different tactics and to enjoy different scenery.

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the reply. One thing stands out and that is that you have a lot more energy than I have had in many moons. Nice to use it while you have it.

Great catches guys!! Always seem to do good when drowning some worms! i know no one will say.. but where is a place where one could catch some crappie.. have not caught any since i was a kid and lake corpus christi was a lake..

"fish till I drop": I hope the lord willing that I will be fishing for a long time to come. Hopefully one of these days we can meet up.


"Newflyguysa": Thanks for the reply. I have also heard at one time that Lake Corpus Christi was a good Crappie Lake. I fished Corpus several times and caught some nice White Bass!

Thanks for the information. I kind of figured that the Reds would play into the lack of Bass and Crappie. I guess you can't have the best of three worlds. Reds,Bass,and Crappie! It is amazing that the Gills do good in Calaveras.

No problem! I also think that the food source in Calaveras puts out a Bigger Blue Gill. There is a ton of shad in that lake!