Bridgeport...how's it fishing?

Thinking about hitting up Bridgeport Sat / Sun...how's it fishing?

Water clarity, water levels, etc...

Anything I need to be wary about as I haven't fished it before.

Is it open again?

water color is good. I've been catching good numbers of fish (12-15 inchers) each time I go out, just not many bigger ones. Pretty much any bank out there has flooded brush on it with fish.

As far as I know it's open again.

Thanks for the feedback Charles.

Report...it was a fun day for sure. Many fish were caught a variety actually.

Largemouth, smallmouth, and drum.

All fish were caught close to the bank in the brush, but it needed to be near shade and around 8-10' feet of water drop off. The river is chocolate milk but the main lake is stained enough to fish it.

All of my fish but one came by brush hog. Brett caught fish on crank baits and brush hogs.

Will be going for sure....

PS: This was my tub of the day. 6.12 lbs

Thats a nice fish for bridgeport. >5lbs don't come super easy outside of spawn

That fish jumped like 4-5 times and on both sides of the boat. Swear we heard a whale surface up river.

Popeye! Nice👍

I got a 6.4 on a buzzbait this morning on my first cast. Then a few little ones on the buzzbait. Up north along a steep bank with a laydown. Biggest one I've caught on Bridgeport.

BP seems to be putting out some quality and quantity...congrats on the catches

It definitely surprised the both of us...thanks again with the assist.

Sounds like a good day! Congrats.

Those are redneck bass on BP, they try their best to get away from west coasters...

Sounds like a great day on a great lake. Been too long since I have spent a lot of time out there. Gonna change that very soon. Love that lake.

Yeah, I can see why. It's an amazing fishery.

Lots and lots of quality fish on Bridgeport. More than most people realize

What colors / combinations work on Bridgeport with the stained waters? Best place to put in?

I have always felt Wise County Park is about the best ramp to launch from. As for as colors and baits I would keep it ultra simple your first trip out there. Get you some shad pattern squarebills and medium divers, maybe one in a bream color as well with some yellow on it and start covering water. Pay attention to areas where the rock size changes, gravel bottoms etc.
As far as soft plastics anything in green pumpkin with a tad of chartreuse on tail will work. A creature of a craw on a Texas rig is money there. You can throw it anywhere there including flooded brush, docks, rocks etc. They love to hold on any type of wood there too.
The lake is loaded with fish. If you are not getting bit then move. Don't overthink it. Drop your TM and let it rip.

There's so much truth to this...I'm not going to repeat it.

Solid info. Gracias. I like the start slinging approach versus go graph all day your first day and look for xyz.

Personally it were me and I just wanted to start getting bit I would start running mainlake points with the baits I mentioned. Historically I have caught more smallmouth on the east shoreline of mainlake. It is a fairly safe lake to run. Swing wide of any points and you are usually OK. Any flooded stuff on mainlake will be money too. Like I said keep moving if you are not getting bites. You can catch a lot of fish out there this time of year.