Liberty Reservoir Bass Fishing Reports

[Lipripper]

Good report Creel and like you said find the shad and you will find the Bass 

[crawdaddy]

anyone hear about the rockfishing this fall?

[Creel Limit Zero]

I'm hearing good things about the rockfish this fall in the Chesapeake.  I have yet to get out there and do some fishing for some rocks.    

Fished Liberty 10/16 from 6:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Water clarity 2-5 feet, The further up in the reservoir we got the less clarity it was.
Water temp 66-69
Air temp 55-70
Party cloudy
Windy - 15 MPH with 25 MPH gusts

Fishing was tough this past Sunday.  We got out there with great ambitions.  Had crank baits and spinner baits rigged up to do some searching.  We went out over points and laydowns.  The water levels were about as high as last weekend, still up from the lows of the summer but still about 5-6 feet lower from the high levels it was at in Spring.  Tried throwing to shallows with some jerk baits and shallow cranks.  Tried over points in 6-15 feet of water.  Carolina rigged some drop shot worms, split tail grubs, and ugly otters.  Tried bouncing a deep diving crank bait over rocky points.  Finally tried to dead stick a tiki flash and a jig and pig over several different types of structure and points.  No matter what we tried, we were not able to get a bite from anything.  We didn't even have any blue gill or sun fish pull on any of our worms, just nothing. 

After trying different methods of fishing over all different kinds of structure, we decided to give it up around noon and at least catch some fish.  We tied on a small #8 hook and an 1/8 ounce split shot on a couple of rods.  Opened up a can of corn, and threw out half of the can over a small section of a cove.  Threw the corn next to a lay down in the back of the cove, in 2 - 8 feet of water.  There were alot of carp swarming the area.  We set up about thirty feet from where we "chummed" with the corn, and ate a sandwich.  15 minutes later there were a good 10-12 good sized carp in clear view feasting on the corn.  We cast right into the middle of them and "bang" got some nice carp.  We caught 5 good sized carp, all around 3-6 pounds a piece, and had our line break 3 times when we couldn't pull that carp from the laydown before it got wrapped up in it.     At least we caught something.

After that we headed back to the dock.  We talked to about 10 other anglers at the dock when we were leaving, and all of them were as frustrated as we were.  Of the 10 anglers, all of us were fishing for bass, and only one smallmouth was pulled from all of us.  That was an 9 incher the angler said. 

I think the lake was in the fall turnover stage after all the other anglers complained of the lockjaw.  May not be the case, but to not even get any bites from some blue gill makes you wonder where all the fish went.  We tried many different methods, so maybe it was in the turnover stage.  Well, I'll be back this coming weekend to check it out again, if it was in turnover on the 16th, that means the 23rd they'll be back into the fall feeding frenzy.   

[pettr0oo]

I hope so....i will be up there this weekend....but ofcourse fishing from the shore.  But thats ok i like walking around out there very nice place.  I know its going to be a rainy weekend so i'll probably start under the Nicademas bridge.

[Creel Limit Zero]

All right PettrOoo.  I would think the bite is going to get real hot this weekend!  Good luck to you, and let us know how you did!  I'll probably be there on Sunday, so hope you don't catch them all.   

Nice fish in the avator too.   

[pettr0oo]

Creel limit zero

I am not that familiar with liberty.  Where abouts do you like to fish.  Like i said  the other day i went was my first bass there a bit bigger than the one in the pic.  Any grassy areas that i might beable to find walking around.  Also a man told me when i was there that the stripers are hitting at liberty also....have you herd anything about that.  Well anyway good luck on sunday....stay dry      

[Creel Limit Zero]

I have heard the striper bite has started in Liberty, but I have yet to get one of those guys.  I think the best action for those guys are at night over the rocky shore lines that are wind swept.  Unfortunately, you can't be on the water at night, so you would have to do it from shore. 

As for grassy areas, there are not too much of those, but there is alot of structure in the upper areas of the lake, and with the falling water temps and shad migration this is where they are.  I would suggest 3 areas, in this order.  Go to the Route 140 bridge, I think there is sufficient parking up by the bridge, but if not there should be just up the road on Glen Falls Rd.  This is where the Pataspco dumps into Liberty, and there is a nice pool just North of the bridge.  Or go to Route 91 South off of Route 140, and take a left onto Cold Saturday Dr.  I don't remember if this is a private road with posting or not, I haven't went here in a couple of years.  I never had an issue, and you are pretty close to the water here.  The last one is off of Route 32, North of Route 26.  This is also part of the upper reaches, since Morgan Run dumps into the Liberty here.  You do have to do some shore walking to get closer to Morgan Run, but there are some good paths.  This area always has lots of people fishing, as there are always 5-6 cars parked next to the bridge.  My suggestion is to first try the 140 bridge, I think you'll be satisfied.   

[pettr0oo]

Wow thats great thank you for the help...i will probably check it out this weekend.  I went near the nic bridge this past weekend i did not catch a darn thing ... atleast it was a very nice day.  Did you end up out there this past weekend if so how did you do.

[Creel Limit Zero]

Yeah, I fished Liberty on Friday afternoon - 10/21 from 2:45 PM to 4:45 PM. 

Cold and 
Air temp was 44-48
Water temp 59-63
Wind - 15 MPH with 25-30 MPH gusts.  I don't mind 15, but the gusts brought the  in sideways.   
Clarity - 4-6 feet

Fished the rocky shorelines North of Liberty road bridge.  With the  and wind, didn't want to commit going to far North.  Frustrating day out there with the cold and rain.  We tried to fish quickly, and hit as much as possible.  I Carolina rigged an ugly otter in EP secret, two others were fishing a double willow leaf spinner bait and a crank bait.  Tried to cover as much water as possible.  We only caught 2 dinks before we gave up.  I wasn't getting any bites on the ugly otter, but on one point I had two follows on it when swimming it up to the boat.     I thought then, maybe a nice weight to get it down there and swim it over the point would work.     Sure didn't.  They seemed to be active when I saw the follows, and I saw on one shallow sandy shoreline a couple of bass cruising the flats, but couldn't convince them to grab anything either.   

I think a couple of more hours out there we may have found a pattern, but with the  and cold, we decided to call it a day and grab a couple     

[crawdaddy]

I had great luck at Liberty on Sunday, we had planned a trip to Ocean City but it fell through so we headed to Nicodemus Bridge. I caught about 50 crappie and one largemouth in two hours, the largemouth was small since I had been fishing for crappie with little shad darts. If your looking for rockfish, I'd suggest live lining crappie off the bridge or an even better spot is the one cove north of the bridge.  If your coming up the lake from the boat ramp it will be the big cove on the right past the bridge. if the water is muddy, the stripers and pike will probably have herded the crappie and white perch in to the cove and be sitting at the mouth waiting for them to come out. Jumbo shiners or live crappie would be the best bait. But like always this time of year its hard to predict what coves they'll be in so don't limit yourself to that one. If all else fails, its always fun to catch dozens of crappie off the bridge with a chance at some around a pound.

[Creel Limit Zero]

All right Crawdaddy.  FYI, when using crappie caught as live bait in Liberty I believe is against the rules.  I don't believe you can use anything caught in the reservoir as bait in the reservoir.  I was reading that this past weekend and was shocked.     Just be careful if you see any Park police.     I rarely ever see any on Liberty though, only once all year. 

[pettr0oo]

Wow that sounds like a great day.  I was in the area near the nic bridge sunday also.  Had no luck but i was not trying for cappie i wanted to check that out but it just looked way to crowded for me.  But anywho do you guys know anybody with one of these SeaEagle boats.  I was checking them out online they look really nice.  Seems like they would fit me nicely i normally don't fish to much with a buddy or anything so i don't need anything bigger.  Price is not to bad.  I also live in a apartment so i really don't have anywhere to park a jon boat with trailer.  Let me know if you guys have herd anything about these boats.  seaeagle.com  the advertisement on this site

[Creel Limit Zero]

I do not know anyone with one of those SeaEagle's, but looking at their site they do look nice.  I also have seen quite a few people on the different reservoirs with canoes too, with a trolling motor attached to it.  Might be something to consider, so if someone does want to go you would have the room, plus it's small for pretty easy storage.   

[crawdaddy]

Sorry I havent commented ina while, still a little ashamed after the live crappie incident. But guess what, I had two huge hits this weekend on live crappie, so you can take your laws and stick them up your

[Creel Limit Zero]

I'm not ever sure if that is correct, I just think I saw that somewhere in some literature I got from the boat ramp permit.  Did you catch big largemouths on those crappie or where they stripers?  Where were you at when you got those hits?

[Creel Limit Zero]

Hit Liberty Reservoir on Sunday 8/19 from 5:30 AM - Noon.  There was a reservoir bass club launching from the same ramp, but somehow I just jumped in front of the line, launched my boat, and got out of there in a hurry.  Can you say 30 second back down and launch.    

Anyway, cloudy all morning, still dark when we took off, light started coming out as we made the first cast.  Started out chucking spinnerbaits in the AM, nothing for the first minute.  Dad grabs a senko and throws it to a stump I just smacked with my spinnerbait as I retrieved it back, and pulls in a 4 pounder.     I put that spinnerbait rod down and started pitching a worm from there on out.  We did real well most of the morning until around 10:00, then it slowed down.  We ended up catching about 15 bass, almost all keepers, with 3 over 3 pounds.  Sure would've liked being at the weigh in to see what the club got.  If it was a team tourney, we would've had close to 15 pounds as a team, but neither of us would've had over 11 solo.  Around 11:30 the  started, we are 3 miles from the ramp, and going 4.5 MPH on the TM takes a bit to get back.  We finally get to the ramp, a bit after 12, put the boat on the trailer, and by the time we get in the car the rain stops.   

Oh well, great day on the water.   

[MiztaGizma]

Is Liberty Reservoir the same place as Lake Liberty, in Liberty, KY?

[Bass Mafia]

No, Liberty Reservoir in Maryland... Carroll County. For years, I've heard it called Liberty Lake also.