It was a bright, cold day in April and all the clocks were striking thirteen. Meanwhile a couple of April Fools were trolling their way through several miles of deep water in search of hybrid striped bass.
It was our inaugural trip of 2016, and we decided to take on a relatively new challenge: Liberty Reservoir. We had done quite well last season in the shallow, familiar waters of Loch Raven and decided to try our hand at this massive reservoir fed by the Patapsco River. We had ventured out to Liberty two or three times in the past, but had yet to catch a fish.
Loch Raven, our regular stomping grounds, is rife with an ever-changing topography and tons of structure in the form of trees, rocks, and weeds. It’s almost impossible to throw your lure in the water and not find a potential fishing hole.
Liberty, on the other hand, has vast stretches of very deep, very flat areas. These features allow a hybrid freshwater breed of striped bass to thrive in this habitat but also makes it exponentially much more difficult to be successful when fishing.
A hundred yards from the boat ramp, and the depth finder shows over 100 feet of water below us. We would barely be able to sink our lures to the bottom even if we let out all of our line. Not that it would make a difference – this early in the year, the fish are migrating to warmer, shallower waters in preparation for the spring spawning season.
The weather was chilly and overcast, with a light drizzle that didn’t seem to want to let up. Despite the inclement weather, our goal was to hit the eastern branch of the reservoir and follow it as far north as possible, while slowly trolling some very large lures behind us. With water temperatures around 55 degrees, fish will typically avoid chasing after anything unless it’s worthwhile, so we stuck with lures that were five inches or larger.
After a couple hours, we felt that we were progressing too slowly. We made it past the Deer Park / Nicodemus Road bridge; however, we still found ourselves in 50+ feet of water as we snaked through a windy, narrow but deep channel in the lake.
We finally came to a clearing around a peninsula that engulfs Murray Road in Finksburg. We got a little excited as the depth finder started showing 30 feet or less, and the water temperature rose to 58 degrees. The rain also stopped and the sun started shining between the seams of some very large, but fast moving clouds.
We finally anchored up in a few places along the eastern shoreline and started using our casting rods. We tried out a variety of artificial worms, minnows, spinners, and craw fish, but didn’t even get a bite. We actually had a bit of trouble finding structure as most of the area remained flat and clear.
After circling around the east side of the peninsula to no avail, we decided to drop our trolling lines back into the water and head around to the west side. We rounded the tip and turned north, finding an area that shallowed in the range of 5 to 8 feet. Suddenly one of the trolling rods bent in half and the line started running.
We killed the motor, and the fight was on! The cheap reel on our trolling rod was struggling as the fish did all it could to shake loose. We were both thinking the same thing: striped bass! The line shot up as the fish turned toward the surface. As it breached, we saw that it was indeed a bass, but not the kind we expected. What we actually had was a massive largemouth.
After some more fighting, we were finally able to bring the behemoth close enough to net. It was a perfect hook right through the lip. So while it wasn’t a striper, it was certainly a beauty and nothing to be disappointed about. Official weight and measure: 4.3 lbs and 19 inches!
After the excitement died down, we continued to explore the rest of the west side of the peninsula. We found a nice area along the western bank where several trees from a sunken island were poking through the water. We anchored up and started trying out a variety of low-snag lures. Dropping close to the shore, we managed to land another largemouth bass. It was too small to bother with a measurement but ensured that nobody on the boat would leave that day without a catch.
A short while later, our luck ran out. We decided to start the long journey back to the boat ramp and stop at a few spots along the way. We did find a couple of decent places closer to the Deer Park Road bridge but didn’t get a single bite.
Even more unfortunate was that our motor was starting to lose its mojo. It still ran, but not at the same aggressive pitch we started with. A glance at the map made us nervous when we saw how much water we had left to cover.
We headed back at full tilt; no more stopping or trolling. By the time we joined up with the western branch of the reservoir, the boat motor was down to at least half speed. By the time we passed Plumber’s Point, half our batteries had given out and we limped back the rest of the way at less than a quarter of our maximum speed. The 20 mph gusts of head wind didn’t help, but we did manage to make it back to the boat ramp with some of our dignity intact.
So in the end, we received a little taste of humility as to the actual range of our 48-volt Ray motor. However, our spirits were high as we loaded the boat on the trailer knowing that we both managed to bag a bass. Overall it was a good early start to the season, and we look forward to the next round of fishing at Liberty Reservoir.
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