Reservation Number : 33543
Property Name : Dogwood Lakes Estate: East Lake
Reservation Date : 08/20/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 10 cull, 3 returned
Lures Used : Whole Tackle Box

One of my absolutely favorite properties in the PWF network. One of the toughest lakes to actually dig into because the fish aren’t easy to get to bite but there’s always that off chance you can strike gold. I didn’t strike gold but at least it was a fun day! Water looked a little low from my last trip in February and May, but certainly not anywhere near as bad as some of the properties closer to the DFW area.

I fished 7am till 7pm – as hard as I could. I’ve fished here enough now to know the lake pretty well but still couldn’t find some of these monsters hiding. I threw the entire tackle box but the only thing I could pick up a pattern on was a small Bucca swim bait that I ferociously twitched like a jerk bait from the bank back towards the boat. All cull fish were just under the 16” mark and were still fun catches but rules are rules! Removed them all in hopes of keeping those monsters big, and for good reason – all of the cull fish were in less than 3’ of water and were destroying what I presume to be early shad spawners?? Not sure but they weren’t afraid to make some crazy blow ups and were all very fat-belly fish, but under the inch limit so removed them nonetheless.

I mostly trolled around about 20 feet out from the bank working concentric circles and would alternative between casting to the shore and slowly reeling back towards the boat and/or casting out deep towards the center of the laker and super slowly retrieving back towards the boat. I know where the structure is at from previous trips using electronics but couldn’t get the beats the bite no matter what I threw.

I did decide to get a little wild and test out a new 12” swim bait I recently got and was hammered by a bass – she launched from the air and threw the lure. I was excited but set the hook too fast and don’t really think I got the treble hook contact I needed (clearly) – but again, this fish was opposite the house/island and in less than 4’ of water. On that same side I also had another smaller 6” swimbait get hammered but I think just headbutting the bait as I waited a second and set the hook to no avail...

One interesting thing I did see was towards the very opposite end – where it gets really shallow. I saw what HAD to be an absolutely massive catfish. The slinking s-curve of the swim just seemed unmistakingly like a catfish. I tossed my 3” paddle tail at it and spooked it. Either way, it was a huge fish – had to be well over 2 feet long. Fun stuff!

Around 3:00 I was met with some very ominous clouds so I raced back to my car to hunker down. The next 45 minutes was pretty wild as a cell blew through fast, hard, and very loud. Tons of lightning, thunder, at least 3” of rain, and a lot of wind. I waited it out in my car, and once the puffy clouds and bluebird skies came back I went back out to see what else I could find on the lake...

As always, this is such a fun property that even though it can be a really tough bite I know it’ll continue to be one of the premier spots in the PWF network and can’t wait for some cooler temperatures to stick around to hopefully find some of the monsters lurking around feeding on the shad population.