Liberty?

[longislandtomd]

Am I the only person sitting around thinking of new ways to spend more money on my hobby/obsession? New rod holder here. A few more hooks. It starts to add up quickly.

Anyway, here is my newest idea. Fish the Liberty Reservoir.

I've fished the reservoir in the past, but I've never targeted the reproducing stripers. The state record comes from the Liberty I believe. We are talking stripers in excess of 40lbs.

Fishing the bay bridge is fun, but I live in Reisterstown and waking up at 0:dark thirty can be a chore. Liberty is no more than 15 minutes from me.

This will be a winter full of research and developing a game plan. First action item is to find a reliable contour map of the 14 mile reservoir. Does anyone know where I can find an actual contour map? The bathymetric map on the DNR site wont cut it. I need to find some of the old river channels....

[surfdog]

went to a PSG meeting when a guest speaker was talking about stripper fishing the reservoirs in md. the guy knew his stuff, holds the most records in the state. what i came away with is:

1. water temp. 52
2. fish the shelterd side of the res. sheltered from the ne winds
3. fish the points on that side of the res.
4. find the thermocline usually 32'

[longislandtomd]

jerry sauter? i've read a bunch about him. im going to cut and paste this into my research.

goal for this year is modest. 20+ lb striper from Liberty in 2011....

I hope the winter is treating you well. If I dont talk to you before, have a happy holiday!

[surfdog]

yeah that was his name. winter never treats me well. happy holidays to you too.

[Memory Maker]

First ...... unless something has changed, you're not supposed to use you Yak at any place other than Liberty and Pretty Boy .......... second .... Liberty stripers are different than bay stripers .......... I've caught a few there but that was well over 10 yrs ago ........ biggest was 10lbs ........

Back then we slow trolled large shiners or drifted chicken livers along some sharp dropoffs ...........

They spawn above Nicodemus bridge in the early spring ...........

At least 1 biggun was usually caught every year usually in late winter when the ice was out ........ however ...... I have seen 20 lbrs caught in the summer and had 2 strip my reel and I never turned the fish ........

Some guys slow trolled crappies and did well but I don't think it's legal .....

Things have probably changed over the years since I fished there but it was fun and Liberty is very beautiful and peaceful .........

Good luck guy .......... looks like you have a great goal for the new year ....

[Redfish12]

Does this reservoir require a permit?

For freshwater striper fishing check out YouTube for tennessee striper fishing. Live bait on downlines, planers, floats, etc. They out out 12 rod spreads and troll around .7mph. Lots of big fw stripers out there. I've tried on smith mountain lake but it's impossible to keep the bait alive. I'm hoping to build a better tank this winter and try some more. The fish also move around a lot and even if you go over a school they move before you can drop a jig on them sometimes! So far I'm 0-8 this year from the kayak on freshwater trips.

I'd be interested in trying my swamp munkey jig on that lake, need to do my research

[mytmouse]

Mike,
You do have to pay. It's $60 a season. I have been pondering getting one for next season.

http://www.baltimorecity.gov/LinkCli...id=334&mid=755

I didn't see anywhere that you can only use your boat/kayak in the resevoir...

MYT

[chimo]

Yup, your boat isn't supposed to have ever been used anywhere else.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...ibertyres.html

"Due to the potential for zebra mussel infestations, boaters on Liberty, Loch Raven, and Prettyboy Reservoirs must sign an affidavit stating their boat will be used only on these reservoirs. Live bait is prohibited unless purchased from a Maryland certified zebra mussel-free bait store"

I have fished here a few times from shore. Caught a few decent largemouths. I've talked to Jerry before to and he was telling a story of losing what he believed was the next state record striper while fishing there.

chimo

[mytmouse]

Yeah I just saw that on another document: http://www.baltimorecity.gov/LinkCli...id=334&mid=755

I highly doubt that everyone heeds these rules...

MYT

[mdmakaira410]

yeah not everyone.. including myself. I fished the bay twice while i was still fishing the reservoirs. I dont wanna be that guy who introduces zebra mussels into the reservoirs though. Im going to start thoroughly scrubbing my kayak after bay trips if i even consider fishing the reservoirs. I might grab a jonboat for the spring though so hopefully that wont be an issue.

[Memory Maker]

yeah not everyone.. including myself. I fished the bay twice while i was still fishing the reservoirs. I dont wanna be that guy who introduces zebra mussels into the reservoirs though. Im going to start thoroughly scrubbing my kayak after bay trips if i even consider fishing the reservoirs. I might grab a jonboat for the spring though so hopefully that wont be an issue.

Don't bother scrubbing after a bay jaunt ......... zebra mussels are fresh water only ............ the city pulled this BS over 20 years ago after the Great Lakes found them ....... back them some dumb@ss biologists predicted the demise of the Great Lakes because of them and there were problems with them clogging intake pipes .........

Just look at the Great Lakes now .......... cleanest water in centuries ....... don't hear much about the intakes being clogged much so I guess they fixed that too because the places around the great lakes seem to be thriving. It could be easily handled if they did get them but the City really doesn't want fishermen so they make it difficult .......... good thing is that if you go through the bull, you have a beautiful uncrowded almost private place to fish .......... and if you pay your dues to the lake, you could have some nice catches ..... but you really have to learn it ......


Truth is that the first Zebra mussel in the area was found in the Susquehanna in MD within the last couple of years. It has taken over 20 years to go from the Susquehanna in upper NY to here ......... I believe it's because of the water temps ........ zebra mussels thrive in cold water ...... Susky gets warm in the summer ....... but that's just my opinion ........

[DOGFISH]

I had a friend, quite sometime back, who had a boat special for Liberty. He actually kept it there. I think there is a compound there, where you keep your boat. It was a small bass boat, with a custom made electric motor, made with a golf cart motor. These guys prided themselves in their reservoir fishing rigs. It was like 24 volts and would move right along. That way they could fish further reaches of the reservoir that others with regular electrics would not be able to reach. They would have a regular trolling motor on the bow for fishing. The larger motor was for getting to the fishing location. Those days may have changed with kayaks. A paddler can cover alot of water in a day, let alone a hobie. Of course I may be left out. It looked to me that kayaks with electric motors were not allowed. The rules seem to say that only boats and canoes may have electric motors. I don't want to have to dedicate my kayak to fishing only those reservoir waters. Even though, the reservoirs and the landlocked stripers sound like fun. I would be willing to spend the $60, but I like to fish alot of different waters. Who knows?

[Memory Maker]

I had a friend, quite sometime back, who had a boat special for Liberty. He actually kept it there. I think there is a compound there, where you keep your boat. It was a small bass boat, with a custom made electric motor, made with a golf cart motor. These guys prided themselves in their reservoir fishing rigs. It was like 24 volts and would move right along. That way they could fish further reaches of the reservoir that others with regular electrics would not be able to reach. They would have a regular trolling motor on the bow for fishing. The larger motor was for getting to the fishing location. Those days may have changed with kayaks. A paddler can cover alot of water in a day, let alone a hobie. Of course I may be left out. It looked to me that kayaks with electric motors were not allowed. The rules seem to say that only boats and canoes may have electric motors. I don't want to have to dedicate my kayak to fishing only those reservoir waters. Even though, the reservoirs and the landlocked stripers sound like fun. I would be willing to spend the $60, but I like to fish alot of different waters. Who knows?

First ........ if you put a motor on it then you have to register it with the state ......... just register it as a canoe then they can't say anything .......

Second, I had/have one of those boats .......... 6-8 batteries and 3 motors on the back and a bow mount on the front .......... would take about 3 hours to get to Nicodemos Bridge and had to really watch your battery reserve to make it up and back.

Unless it's changed, there is no compound. People would just leave them there and sometimes chained them to stuff. Nobody bothered them. But the guys with the rigs always trailered them .......... some guys have almost $10,000 tied up in their reservoir rigs ........ ya don't leave them laying around ........

[surfdog]

i used to fish Triadelphia res. very nice also all electric. there are some very large hybrid strippers there also lake Anna in VA. we used to troll deep for them.

jerry works at BPS. if you see him give a seminar at one of the fishing shows that would be worth sitting through

[Memory Maker]

Piney Run Reservoir has stripers too and it's a daily permit and it's smaller so they are a little easier to find ......... try the deep sections by the dam I think ........ again ...... along time since I've been there .......