I had the opportunity of fishing with my dad this past weekend at the beautiful Dogwood Lakes Estates - East Lake.  Fishing with my dad is always a good time, but it was a special treat to be able to be with him when he caught his new personal best bass a 9.15 pound whopper!

We had fished steadily most of the day with mostly smaller fish, consistent with several other reports.  at 5:45 My dad mentioned casually that he thought he may have hooked a nicer fish.  When I saw the bass flash 20 feet out I knew it was a good fish and quickly scurried to get the net.  The fish fought hard and went under the boat and had the line pinched between the boat and a stump.  I was thankful that my dad's reel had malfunctioned earlier and he was now using my reel spooled with braid (and a 6 foot fluorocarbon leader).  We managed to net the bass and get it in the boat and get some good pictures.  It was a great moment to celebrate a huge fish with the man who taught me to fish 40+ years ago.

I ended up catching a large 6.65 beauty later that evening on a topwater lure as we neared the end of our trip.  We had a great time at a beautiful lake.

Now for the details.  We started out fishing after a huge storm had disabled power in Henderson for 4 hours the night before, so we were a little skeptical of our fishing success.  The water temp was 72 degrees and the air temp was 63.  Most of the fish we caught were less than a pound and we ended up harvesting 80 bass altogether.  We tried everything but the fish mostly wanted plastic worms fished really slow.  The water was very clear and you could easily see a moderately bright lure fished at 1-2 feet from the end of the cast all the way back to the boat.

We did get to meet the landowner who was a super nice fellow.  He has put together one of the most beautiful spots on the club.

Posted By: Bruce Bernard