When I was a kid the lake was full of great white fishing. Moved away for 22 years and now 10 fish is a good day, even have went out with Johnny several times and only 7 -10 each time. Did losing the power plant draw hurt it that bad? Maybe they just cant get off a good spawn anymore...no current?

Lakes go through cycles.. There have been some very good spawns the last few years with the amount of rains we have had. Could also be a bait issue. With all of that being said, I think the fishing everywhere isn't like it used to be

I grew up on the lake for the most part, and I thought this spring/summer was better than I have seen it since the 90s. Definitely better quality. Eagle Mountain's biggest problem is that it has too much bait. Need to put Hybrids in there to balance it out. We did catch a bunch of small hybrids this summer thanks to Bridgeport. A handful of nice ones last couple of years

Coop2564 I don't have several trips with 7 to 10 fish. I do have one or two a year. Sorry you are the lucky one. In answer to your question we averaged 62 fish a trip for last season. I agree that is down. We have went from 86 three years ago . My theroy is there is so much bait in the lake they don't have to school up to eat shad. I would guess if we only caught 7 to 10 fish I would have made some compensition for the trip. Would like to know the full story on all these bad trips. Sounds like we went in July or August when the fishing gets bad for a couple of months but I would warned you as to what to expect.

The crappie are not the same either used to catch a limit most of the time with plenty of throw backs. Most of the time now its just 3 or 4. I fish the south end it may be better up north i don't know.

Personally, I think a LOT of the smaller fish got washed down to Lake Worth and the Trinity. I've caught more on those two bodies of water, in the last year, than I ever have before. And I can't throw a cast net without it having small sandies in it.

I fished EM regularly from 1967 until 1999 and caught tons of white bass - schooling early south of the islands and on structures later in the morning and afternoons. Back in the 70s and 80s on summer, Saturday mornings there would be as many as 50 boats fishing the schooling white bass just south of the Islands. I believe the power plant was operational back then but has been shut down for some time now. Could that change have affected white bass fishing? Could the water discharge year-round have been a positive for spawning white bass?

Hi. Johnny first trip was a learning trip as you called it. And was in may 2018. 2nd was in June muddy water 2019 reg fishing trip! Me and my son in law! We fished just south of pelican island 1st then spend rest of morning just off rock near damn! No you charged full price! But hey thats fishing!

Full price for 7-10 fish?

I have fished on this lake for a long time... the sand bass fishing used to be spectacular on this lake... it was a normal thing for me to come out here in the early 2000s and get REGULAR limits with friends o would take fishing. I moved to the lake (on the water) seven years ago.

The sand bass fishing HAS SLOWED down out here. I am no biologist and do not pretend to know why the amount of fish has reduced but I am anxiously awaiting the next survey they conduct on the lake to get insight on what has happened to a once great sand bass fishery.

We caught them pretty regularly last year. Plenty of limits on our outings but it’s still a bit early IMO

Hybrid bite was very good on EM today. They were tearing up the mini flash mob A rigs. Water temps about 57 to 58 degrees. Some more warm days, and not so cold nights, and the sandy bite oughta be on point, very quickly.

Are there good lighted docks on EM? Maybe those sand bass and hybrids are feeding well at night?

I know of one very nice dock with lights and brush piles, if you unload at twin points, and go past the dam, the last cove on the right, house on the corner of the point. He has some nice submerged green lights and a couple brush piles sunk. Has a couple of jet skis, and a big nice wake boat up on the lift. I've caught sandies, and crappie off those piles in the warmer weather, saw him land a 20 lb flathead on a jig one night....LOL. Super nice guy.

Also another one, back behind and to the East from there, has several green lights submerged, with a couple jet skis docked. Caught lots of sandies in there too. Also caught some on a couple other docks there with just incandescent bulbs on pole lights.

EM and BP mirror each other quite a bit, the Sand Bass bite is slow here too. I suspect part of it is the big freeze slamming the brakes on the fish, extending the "February Funk" into March.

As mentioned above, when it warms up the fish will be back out in the main lake and feeding. Tremendous amount of bait here too.