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What's up everybody, it's Simon from Lake Hub. Today's spotlight is on Lake Tawakonee in northeast Texas
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Lake Tawakonee is 50 miles east of Dallas. It's about 38,000 acres
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It's a really good sized lake and it's really accessible if you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex
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Tawakonee was built on the headwaters of the Sabine River, which goes all the way down to the Gulf Coast
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And so it's built and run by the Sabine River Authority. This lake was built in the late 1950s, early 60s, primarily for water use
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Lake Tawakonee is named for the Tawakonee people, who originally resided in this area
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very closely related to the Wichita's. In fact, I think they're actually registered
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present-day with the Wichita tribe. It was probably actually closer to Tahuakana
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but the English interpretation is Tawakonee with a W. Tawakonee is a wide open lake. It's a great lake for boating. It's a great lake for fishing
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It's a great lake for camping on too. There are lots of amenities here. There's a lot to love
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There are a bunch of marinas, most of them on the west side
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There's a couple on the east side, but most of them are west and southwest of the lake
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So the lake is pretty much split right into by Highway 276
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into kind of a north part and south part. The bridge is really low
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I mean, maybe you can get underneath it with the bass boat right now, but it's pretty low
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So you're either generally going to stay in the north section or you're going to stay in the south section
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A lot of the marinas and amenities are in the west and southwest portion
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So on the west side of the lake, where 276 comes in, that's the town of West Tawakonee. Across the bridge
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that's the town of East Tawakonee. And that's pretty much the only thing going on around the lake as far as, you know, towns go
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There is plenty of camping around Lake Tawakonee. There are private RV parks. There's RV spots at several marinas
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And there's even Tawakonee State Park. So there's a state park if you have a rig of pretty much any size
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If you are into tent camping, you know, kind of boondocking it
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there's something for everybody if you like camping. So the fishing at Lake Tawakonee is really, really good
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A lot of people miss out because they blow right on by going to Lake Forth chasing trophy bass
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Now, there's something to say for that. But the bass fishing is still really good at Lake Tawakonee. And what's really, really good, what the lake is really known for
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is catfish. I mean, it's known as the catfish capital of Texas. And when we're talking about catfish here at Lake Tawakonee, we're talking about blue cats
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This lake is loaded with blue cats. You're watching Lake Hub. We are sharing the joy of lake life. That means boating and fishing and camping and
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There is a ton of wildlife around Lake Tawakonee. All the usuals
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deer, turkey, foxes, you know, hogs, coyotes, that sort of stuff. But the bird watching is really, really good. People have registered
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over 200 different species of birds around Lake Tawakonee. And in fact
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Tawakonee, being a sister lake to Lake Fork, is part of the January Lake Fork eagle count. That's right
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Eagles. There are eagles that winter here on Lake Tawakonee. That's pretty cool
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As far as housing goes, there's a lot of waterfront housing in the area
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Some rentals, you know, some vacation rentals. Not as many as some other lakes. It's not a big like, you know, vacation tour spot
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Which kind of makes it a hidden gem. The real estate market is kind of a mixed bag
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But there is a lot of waterfront opportunity on Lake Tawakonee. The boating on Lake Tawakonee is fantastic
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It's a wide open lake. So you don't have to worry about obstructions. You don't have to worry about lanes. You don't have to worry about
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you know different coves and stuff like that. I mean, it's just a wide open, you know, hull booty kind of boating lake. The terrain around Tawakonee
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is this post oak transitional savanna. So we're kind of pushing into East Texas. A lot of people would call this area East Texas
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But it doesn't look like East Texas. So you can see behind me a lot of oak trees
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There's mostly oak trees around this. Kind of shallow rolling hills and valleys
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No real, you know, big remarkable geological features around the lake. But really, really pretty in the fall. If you want to get out, do some boating and fishing on a beautiful lake
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not too far from the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, check out Lake Tawakonee. Start your adventure at
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LakeTawakoneetexas.com. I'm Simon with LakeHub. We'll catch you next time
