Fort Worth Fishing Charters & Guides

Fort Worth Fishing Charters

When most people think of Fort Worth, TX, they also think about the neighboring city of Dallas and big city life. When it comes to planning a vacation, museums, amusement parks, concerts, golf, shopping, zoos and other city-style adventures top the list. Fort Worth certainly has plenty of that, with lots of things for the whole family to do. One thing that is often overlooked in this major metropolitan area is fishing. Ft. Worth fishing charters offers excellent freshwater angling opportunities on several lakes.

Fishing Near Fort Worth

Bass fishing in this part of Texas is mainly largemouth and hybrid bass. A hybrid is a cross between a white bass and a striped bass. Spotted bass are caught usually while chasing largemouth. Old Bucketmouth is easy to catch with the right gear. Whites and hybrids are school fishing and require different tactics. In Texas, panfish cover a wide variety of species. The two most chased are the bream family and crappie, pronounced CROP-ee. Most young anglers start fishing for bream because they are caught with plain poles and bait like insects and worms. Crappie are another schooling fish and are caught trolling or still-fishing with minnows. Catfish, sometimes nicknamed “Mr. Whiskers” is a Southern food staple. Channel cats are plentiful and easy to catch with stink baits and cut bait fished on the bottom, especially in holes and channels. Flathead and blue catfish can reach more than 100 pounds in this area. The real monsters are caught in the water below dams and channels in the lakes. These are live-prey eaters, think freshwater grouper. Hand-size bream are excellent bait. Fort Worth anglers in the know will often fish at night around lighted docks. The light attracts baitfish and insects. Predators like big blue and flathead catfish cruise at the edge of the light looking for meal from the swarming bait and panfish.

Fort Worth Lakes

There are several lakes in the area for your crew to explore and cast lines. Here are just a few to consider: Benbrook Lake is managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Fishing on Benbrook requires a pass. It has a max depth of 70 feet and covers 3,635 acres. This lake is ranked as one of the top places in Texas for catching hybrid bass; it gets an annual stocking of these fish. Structure is nearly all trees and underwater ridges. Unusually, the lake does not have a lot of vegetation. At 8,694 acres, Eagle Mountain Lake has a max depth of 47 feet, making it a fairly shallow impoundment considering how deep some other lakes can get. Anglers report crappie and catfish, including monster blue cats, are common in the lake. Standing timber provides the perfect habitat for the crappie. Catching a limit, once you find a school, is easy. The lake has five marinas and some offer boat rentals. Lake Worth is located within Ft. Worth and covers 3,489 acres. With a max depth of 22 feet, this is one of the shallowest lakes around. When the crappie and white bass are spawning, this is the place to go. At only 250 acres, Marine Creek Reservoir is the smallest of the lakes in the region. What makes this waterway special is the ShareLunker program. The lake was stocked a few years back with ShareLunker-sized fish, so your chances of landing a hawg, a nickname for big largemouth, is excellent. At 51 feet deep and just shy of 2,000 acres, Lake Arlington is in the middle of the pack. This is a top pick for bass and catfish in the region. A warm-water discharge in the tailrace sets up a major feeding ground for predators. Hybrids are not stocked anymore so catching them is unusual. Stump fields, marked with buoys, are a good place to find spotted bass. Opened in 1989, Joe Pool Lake is a newcomer to the Ft. Worth scene. It has three state parks and one marina. A second marina was closed. It covers 6,469 acres and reaches 75 feet deep. The lake has special Joe Pool-only regulations for anglers. Of special note, if you are after bream, the lake does not have a slot or creel limit. Just be responsible and only take the fish you can use. At 8,000 acres, Grapevine Lake is the third biggest in the Ft. Worth region. As such it attracts a lot of people for water activities. The lake has several parks and marinas on the shores. Flipping jigs around the docks is a proven method for catching big bass on the lake. This is one of the top lakes for finding blue catfish. At 29,000 acres, Lewisville is a Texas-sized lake! It averages about 22 feet deep with pockets that go to 67 feet. Lewisville is a top destination for crappie and white bass anglers. The many fingers and sloughs provide the perfect spawning grounds. That means big populations of both fish.