I went out on EM with a buddy last Friday and he managed to land a REALLY nice hybrid - which most of you know is not stocked.

I figure with the flooding that we may have gotten some from Bridgeport, but what bodies of water does the pipeline pump from? Is it possible that we got a large group of them or did my buddy just catch a fluke fish for the lake?

Awesome fish! Somewhat of a rare catch but you seem to hear it more often recently.

We catch a few after floods from Bridgeport. But not a lot. Me and my customers have caught a few small ones. In years past we will catch a few big ones in the heat of summer. a buddy did catch a big one
a few weeks back. They say we cannot get fish from the pipeline from Richland chambers and cedar creek
but that is not true. Before the pipeline we did not have yellowbass but we have a lot of them now.
Johnny

Awesome catch. I knew there would be some of BP's hybrid in EM. Got a Gps coordinate? I will definitely have to get down there more this winter.

They will begin to show up in numbers in May via the thread fin spawn. South end of the lake up shallow, will destroy a shallow diving wobbling crank bait.

I have been fishing this lake very hard for whites for years and I have caught very few hybrids but on occasion you may get a good one. I got lucky and pulled a 28.5 incher that went just at ten pounds a couple of months ago. It had been three years since I caught my last one at Eagle. We do get some but not enough to specifically target in my opinion. At least not in recent years. The two best lakes around here with good populations of hybrids are Benbrook and Bridgeport by far.

Lake Bridgeport does not have a very large spillway....Some will go downstream, but Hybrids seem to be homebodies. There was concern that we lost "Too many fish" according to dim bulb locals. After a summer of many limits, that is just not the case. If those Hybrids get too thick down there, I will come down and thin them out.

I fish Eagle Mountain a lot and if somebody wants to target hybrids on Eagle Mountain
they ought to take up watching paint dry if would be more exciting. We will catch one by
accident ever now and then but only after a flood like we had this spring.
Johnny

I know what you are saying. I just had to give ya'll a hard time. I have fished EM for years and only caught 2 hybrids there. Both were caught while trolling for sand bass years ago. And it is true, watching paint dry is much more productive than targeting hybrids there. I'm not saying I won't take some folks out who want to go to EM, but not by choice, usually. I like the quieter solitude of BP over EM.

They are creatures of habit, If you caught them in the heat of the summer last year, check that area the same time this year. Drop a 5 inch or so Gizzard Shad (or 3-4 inch perch) under a school of feeding Sand Bass. If any Hybrids are nearby they will be there looking for the easy meal and hammer your bait.

2& 3 years ago when I fall fished egml,stumbled on a pattern that first 2 weeks in november one could consistently catch 1 or 2- 7# + hybrids 1/2 hr before sunrise chunking shallow on rocky wind blown points that had bait pushed up on them. Biggest was 11.5#'s, they would fanish at sun up when whites stormed in ,so targeted those til done. Never caught another one anytime of year. 6# under hybrids can be caught early chunking the inlet when pumping in fall.

Dim Bulb Locals.....Lol. I agree that there is a good fish population still. We had a few bad days back in July at BP, but most days we caught 6 to 12 keeper size hybrids and plenty of sandies. I saw a lot of guys fishing there catching nothing, and other boats were catching. It appeared to me that the fish were picky on what they would bite more than anything.

Forgot too add, very nice Hybrid! I would bet some fish are in still in the river between the two lakes, another good rain should move them down to EM.

No way to determine if there is a population jigging slabs. Live shad is only way to see if there is any numbers, and who does that on EM?