favorite fish from this area, mostly the larger predator/Sport fish, so I made up a list of the fish
I wanted to catch (Northern Pike, Rockfish, Blue catfish, Largemouth, Carp and Black drum), I also had a list of non priority fish that I could target if I finished that list, One of the fish on the non priority list was to catch a Smallmouth, the last time I caught a smallmouth was over 30 years ago when I was 18. So I really wanted to catch one again, so once I finished my list, I started to see a few reports of people catching some real trophy Smallmouths at Liberty reservoir. I fished Liberty a few times over the years, but I never put a lot of time there like I have at Loch raven. So I decided to hit it hard last fall. I caught quite a few Smallmouths, a few up to almost 3lbs, but I never could catch a big one like some of the people from that area sometimes do. One thing I realized was, the guys catching the big Smallmouths were mostly locals that have fished the lake all their lives. it can be a tough lake to fish if your not familiar with the area. It seems that a lot of the Smallmouths are farther away from shore then Largemouths are, So getting a lure out far enough was one of my biggest problems. I did get a big largemouth, quite a few yellow perch, also my first Rockbass. Tons of small Largemouths, as hard as it was to catch quality Bass, I usually always caught fish, theres so many tiny Bass that getting skunked is a hard thing to do. So eventhough I had a fun year of catching lots of good size fish, I may have to try to make 2013 my year for a trophy Smallmouth. Some of the Smallies I caught may be considered big for some areas so I can't complain, even the smaller ones put up a great fight!
