Liberty Reservoir Bass Fishing Reports

[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.

[20inchbass]

Let's keep these going. I'm a big fan of Liberty.

I went fishing there today, Oct. 9, 2010.
We caught 8 bass (5 LM, 3 SM) and 3 Sunnies. Biggest Largemouth was 14 1/2" and biggest smallmouth was 16 1/4". Everything was caught on crankbaits.

What do you all find works best here? I've had a good bit of luck with cranks, but I'm open to try anything.

[bassincali]

i read the post from aug but if its still a tough bite try throwing tubes youll proboly get some strippers as well and the bass will be a bit bigger. id throw white, smoke, or what ever is the hot color out that way watch out with the white and smoke colors the strippers love em. hope this helps

[inNOTof]

Strippers??? I could use some strippers, right now!!! 

[LURECOLLECTOR]

i was planing on fishing liberty this sat but didnt make it did anyone go and get anything big  bass  or strippers 

[TProud]

anyone know the water temp? I havent been out in about 2 weeks last time it was 45* wondering if its near or into the 50s yet.

[LURECOLLECTOR]

no its still 46 degrees

[20inchbass]

Anybody get any fish this year yet? How deep are they?

[TProud]

I had no luck 2 weeks ago. Although I think I was fishing way too shallow. Only 20' or so might have dabbled into the 25' range. Im just new and dont know the patterns yet.

[TProud]

I know its late but I plan on hitting liberty tomorrow (sat 4/9/11) I dont know much about the patterns this time of year im thinking of running towards 32. Since i've never been over that way yet. if anyone has any tips or wouldnt recommend going this way all help is appreciated. Im just looking to learn to fish better or more productive. I dont know if anyone has run across me I have a grey starcraft and a lil ranger pulling it. well good luck if anyone else hits it this weekend cya on the water.
-Tim

[inNOTof]

Hey T, havent been to Liberty for a few weeks. Going up the 32 way wouldnt be a bad idea. I tend to stay away from Liberty/Prettyboy this time of year because the Loch is sooooo on fire! So, given the water temp in the high 40's try secondary points with jerbaits/jigs.

I'll be looking for you out there and will say "Hey" if I see ya....good luck!

[TProud]

yeah I didnt have much luck. It was a good day tho for the most part lite winds temp didnt get up to high tho wish I would have brought my cover alls. water temp was mostly at 50 lower lake was 49. But yeah I need to learn to fish that lake better and find the secondary points Im a novice. I have never fish loch raven and I only have permits for liberty and prettyboy. But thanks for the info maybe i'll get out there this week or next for a night. yeah just look for the grey boat or grey truck

[inNOTof]

Liberty has beat me more than I have beat it thats for sure! It can be a tough lake at times.
FYI, secondary points are easy, they are basically points inside of a cove....to keep it simple. Good Fishin'................