I've never been to the lake but I've heard good things and I enjoy fishing new water. Thinking of fishing the east bank that looks to be rocky and deeper.

I'd appreciate any words from those who have fished the lake.

Usually a great lake for numbers. Pretty easy to navigate and great scenery as well. That east shore on main lake has been my best areas for smallmouth. This time of year just start out with topwater along points etc on main lake and in river area. They like poppers and also white buzzbaits. Later on you can throw Texas rigs wuth green pumpkin baits as well as shad colored shallow cranks along the rocky banks and points. Focus in on areas where there is a change in size of rock etc. The docks cn be good on mainlake and up in the 3 Fingers area. Flipping, cranking, and jigs etc all will work. The walkways and area behind the docks are great to focus on too. If there is any type of flooded willows or shallow wood then I highly suggest you fish it as they love it. Not a lot of wood but what is there holds fish.

Like I said keep it simple and just cover water. If you go very long without a bite then move.

I've been thinking about heading out there as well. How is bank access for a float tube? I can cover 50-75 acre area pretty well. I see plenty of shoreline roads, but not many parks or access points on google maps, assume most of the roads are private? Looks like 3 spots where the highway crosses and 1 access mid lake east side.

Fished Bridgeport Friday (7/28) for the first time with a buddy who has fished there a dozen or more times. I was really impressed with the backwaters up by Wise County Park where we put in... very scenic to begin with and we had a pretty good shallow-water bite early, boating nine fish before 8 AM and missing at least that many that hit short. Most were caught on weightless Senkos and flukes with a couple coming on topwater (Yellow Magic and Whopper Plopper). Nothing bigger than 1.5 pounds.

After the sun cleared the tree tops we moved into the main lake and fished our way down the east shore and then flipped the marina at 380/114. Had lunch at the Shell station, as much to get out of the sun for a while as anything else. Good lunch; great service! We didn't boat another fish after the morning bite, though we saw some keeper-sized bass following our lures. We saw fish on the graph on some deep points but couldn't get them to bite. Water temperature was 88+; air temperature was headed to 103*.

The water is amazingly clear right now. We were harassed all day long by blue gill or sunfish mugging our worms. I was hoping there were bass around big enough to eat the blue gill we saw, but if they were there, they didn't make their presence known. My buddy has had pretty good luck around the boathouses in the North Side Marina & Resort area (30' plus deep water), but we couldn't get more than bluegill rat-a-tat-tat strikes yesterday.

First impression: I like the lake and, Good Lord willing, I plan to fish it again soon. It's a relatively short drive from Fort Worth and appears to be able to generate some good numbers. They must have had a good spawn last year as we saw a lot of 10"-12" LMB and small fry from this year. I can't speak to the presence of large fish since I haven't seen anything like that yet. Looking at the map there is a lot of lake left to explore given the river channel that leads to another part of the lake to the west. Something for another day.

You can launch at the dam as its on that shoreline.

Thanks a lot Mark and also you FlaNative. The very clear water sounds great. I'll be making the 2 hour drive early enough to get on the water by first light Monday, then I plan to find a room in Bridgeport and fish another 4 hours Tuesday morning.

I've been wanting to fish Bridgeport for a long time and your reports have me excited.

Thank you as well Mark

Hope the info helps. Hope you catch a bunch.

Be aware that TP&W has a zebra mussel alert for Bridgeport. The lake is infested and you have to drain and clean your boat before entering another lake. Several other north Texas lakes are infested too. Don't let that keep you from having a great day on the lake, weather is suppose to be great this week. Enjoy.

Lake has had the warning for a year or two but can't recall seeing it infested with them out there. Been all over the lake and have not seen tons of them.

Yeah, I haven't seen tons either, but I have seen a few dock lines that had several on them, and a few other places.

Maybe a precautionary measure but they have a boater advisory out that the lake is infested. I usually take them at their word and they do post signs at the boat ramps if that's the case. You'll know next time you're there.

Looking forward to your report after your trip...