Decker

Yeah, I know I said I was done with Decker until we got some rain...well, we got some rain, but that's not why I went. I was lazy and over slept! Whew, now that the confession is off my shoulders, here's a report.

I got on the water about 10am and went to one of my favorite spots that always produces. Tossed a white fluke, watermelon/red fleck lizard, california 420 fleck brush hog, watermelon 7" worm, shad color chatterbait, shad color square bill, shad color lipless with out a single bite. Decided to toss tequila sunrise 7" worm and BAM first cast a little 1.5#'er hammered it. Ok, now we're working. A few more tosses and BAM another hard hit from a small fish. Ok, once is an accident, twice is a trend, three times is a pattern, right? BOOM, number three chokes on it. Great, I'm off and running....except that was all I caught. I did get a few other strikes, but missed them (i switched to braid on this particular rod a couple of weeks ago. I've never missed so many strikes! I will be switching back to fluorocarbon for Sunday at Fayette)

The bite shut down completely when the wind picked up out of the north. Water temp 67, clarity to 3'.

FYI there were several small (i assume) males on beds in 1-3 FOW, but they weren't biting for me.

Anyone headed to Fayette Sunday I'm in the old army green skeeter with a blue GMC tow vehicle. say hi

Nice report bud. Is the water back up to normal level??? Water temps?

Looked it up and shows lake to only be 1/2 foot low! Anybody that's been out there that verify that? Good to launch 20' bass boats now?

I don’t think the 1/2 foot low can be right. But I haven’t been out there in a few weeks. I just can’t imagine they were able to pump that much water in there.

Me too! That's why I'm asking! When you went last time did you use a kayak or big bass boat?

Sorry, but I thought I had the water temp in there. It was 67. As for the level I don't know who reported it was only I have foot low. You are launching off of the Lake bed for all intents and purposes. Top of the wheel Wells on the trailer barely get underwater but for me that's enough. I definitely would not launch if you don't have a jack plate to raise your prop almost all the way out of the water or a strong person to load and unload by cranking.

For what it is worth I asked the guard shack guy about them closing the Lake and not putting any more water in to it. He said that he is not the case. The powers that be are still going to maintain the Lake and the park but he had no answer as to why they are not pumping water into it lately.

I used my sea ark aluminum boat that has an outboard jet on it. It’s no problem with that boat. No way I can get my Ranger Z520 in there.

Thanks Liebersdad and doctorb...I guess it's off the list for a while.

Are the pumping water into the lake? Last time I was there I couldn't get my boat in, but they were pumping,

They were pumping water in yesterday. I took my jet boat out to launch again. I really can't tell that the water has come up much at all. A couple of bass boats had launched but I honestly don't think I could get my Z520 in there still. One saving note is that the fishing is actually not the greatest out there right now so you're not missing as much as you think.

Truth although when I was out last week I saw males on beds and I saw a report where couple of yakkers caught some nice 4-5#ers last week. I LOVE this time of year on Decker usually, but like you I'm gonna wait til they put more water into it.

I'm not going to wait for more water. It's actually kind of nice out there without the lake being crowded. The fishing is getting a little better. I think it's going to be really good in about 3 weeks.

I think it would be extremely odd for fish to be on beds right now at Decker

I wasj ust as skeptical as you are, but I seen't it with my own two eyes

Steve, is it safe to launch a 20 bass boat at current lake level?

Water level appears to be creeping up slightly. Went today in my jet boat. I still don’t think I’m ready to chance launching the Ranger out there yet.

Dang it.

Did anyone hit Decker today? Just wondering what the water level is like now, gonna hit it on Monday with a 18.5’ skeeter. Any tips on launching right now? Thanks

i should have instead of fayette, but i trusted the weather guessers saying 7mph wind. f-ing liars. i have a 19.5 skeeter and launch with little problems, but i also have a jack plate. you will launch from the lake bed as the ramp is just about completely out of the water, but your wheel wells should be submerged...barely, but submerged

Thanks for the info Liebers

Fishing was hard at Bastrop today. Beautiful weather but fishing sucked. The wind was out of the NE at close to 10mph until about 2pm. I got skunked, Wife caught 2. Yippee!

i stopped at bastrop after giving up on fayette (there's a pattern developing here...too bad it's not a fish catching pattern!)

launched from south shore about noon and managed one fish on a shad crank and several short strikes on a white swim jig before calling it a day. talked to several people on both lakes who said it was brutal all over. at fayette a kayaker using live scope asked if he could scan a tree where i was posted up. he said there were several large bass around the group of trees at varying depths so we pitched and twitched and tossed and dropped and swam and everything else we could think of...they simply wouldn't open their mouths. hate to say it, but glad it wasn't just me!

any time!

Hit Decker on Monday, launched with no problems around 0700 hit our first spot and my brother hooked up with a nice 3# on his first cast with a frog. A bit later I caught a 2.5# on a chatter bait. It slowed after that for a few hours with some short strikes. Then Bob tied on a swim bait weightless except for a nail weight and fished it top water and the bite was back on. We wound up with about 10 or 12 lost count. Fun day on the water. Just remember to trim up when you are loading and with one on the winch and with the help of the outboard we loaded with no issues. We did notice there was water pumping in, it wasn’t as strong a flow as normal but it was pumping.

Great news, thanks! Was color important (white, grey, green) or was speed more important?

That is good news. Maybe I'll take a shot at it in the next few days. I'll be in a white Legend 199 if you boys run by me! Hope to see you there! How low was the water level if you could tell?

Thanks Emmett!! Nice report!

What really seemed to work was the Reaction Innovation swim bait in green gold swimming top water.



Water looked to be maybe 3 - 4’ down on the the docks.

Thanks Emmett and thanks for serving our country!

just happen to have some of those, thanks!

Here’s a picture of the ramp as I was loading on Monday

That's WAY up from what it was last time I was there! By about 2 feet it looks like. Heading out in the morning to use your advice (THANK YOU). I'll be the one in the old olive green Skeeter with the XR6 on the back and possibly this dude running co-pilot

Now that’s a co pilot. We fished mostly by the outlet, where all the Lillie pads usually are, good luck. Let me know how it works out for you

Awesome Emmett! Thanks bud!!