Reservation Number : 32827
Property Name : Lake Encino
Reservation Date : 05/30/2022 PM -
Total Fish/Sizes : 10 fish - 4 to 6 lbs. & 15 fish under 4 lbs
Lures Used : Shad colored swim jig with green head, bass-colored whopper plopper, & bluegill swim bain

At 12 noon yesterday I decided to take a Memorial Day afternoon trip out to Lake Encino in Dunlay after spending the weekend with the family. I showed up at 5:15 pm with clear skies & heavy wind out of the southeast. I didn’t bring a boat & exclusively bank fished due to the wind. Lake level is low, but very healthy. Vegetation runs from the shore to ~10-15 feet out but is not overwhelming & adds some perfect spots for large bass to ambush from the edges. Saw some scattered surface breaks when I pulled up, but decided to save the topwater action for later in the evening.  I began fishing with a ½ oz green-headed swim jig with a shad-colored 4” rage tail & immediately landed x2 bass ~3 lbs. on each of my first two casts. I hoped it wasn’t a fluke & that I had caught the lake during a frenzy...& it turned out I had. I fished exclusively with that swim jig for the next two hours & landed ~20 fish total. 10 of them measured between 19” – 22” so my best guess for weights is ~4-6 lbs. (potentially a little more than that on some fish, but I forgot batteries for my digital scale). I included some of the pictures but eventually stopped taking them so I didn’t waste time not having a lure in the water. I caught most of them across the entirety of the dam & caught the two fish I harvested that were 12” long on the north side of the lake near the timber. ~7:20 I switched over to a whopper flopper just to mix things up & enjoy a topwater bite. Landed 4 bass between 2 & 4 lbs. with it & then decided to throw the new 4” bluegill swim bait right before dusk & landed one more ~3 lbs. 

All-in-all, it was the most incredible bass fishing I’ve ever experienced. I have never caught that many large bass in one day & I was actually exhausted toward the end of the trip. 

Thanks to the landowner for partnering with PWF & kudos the PWF team for helping produce such an incredible place to toss a line in. I hope to have another record day like this again soon!

Cheers,

Brad