What a day. A “de-skunking” fishing day.
The day broke clear and sunny; the BBs of BL arrived at the Liberty Lake public boat launch shortly after 8 AM. The surface of the lake was tabletop flat, with no wind to mar its mirror-like appearance. We did not see evidence of any fish breaking the surface to snap at the emerging, early-spring bugs--- and that was mildly disconcerting; we have been skunked at this lake before…. and no evidence of fish activity was not a good thing. We KNEW there were fish down there--- but where? We would be searching for awhile for answers...
We cruised from the boat launch to the SE portion of the lake, and it was there that we spent the next 3 hours trolling. The water temperature was 44 degrees F; a scant 1 degree rise since last week. The lake is shallow in this part, with lots of underwater foliage for fish to hide (and for your lures to get tangled with).
After ridding my lure of an underwater salad, I caught a 10” rainbow not far from the beach of the county park (at the SE end of the lake). Celebration time! I had been skunk’ed in the last two visits to this lake. Yes, I had a cookie, after washing the fish-smell from my hands.
Then, the Other Guy In The Boat caught a fish. Of course, HIS fish was bigger than mine. By an inch. No cookie for him; he had a pepperoni stick.
This “he caught one and then I caught one” went on, sporadically, until we had caught our limits. I ran out of cookies by then, too.
That Other Guy In The Boat DID catch the biggest fish of the day: A 5-pound rainbow trout (with a red streak under its mouth resembling a cutthroat!). A beautiful fish with reddish hues on its gill plates. With his catch, he holds the BB of BL record for Biggest Fish Caught In An Area Lake. A fact he will not soon let me forget.
We had a blast fishing this morning--- finally finding those attitude-filled fish, getting rid of the vestiges of cabin fever and avoiding the idea of getting some early Spring cleaning done… and especially: Flinging that “getting skunk’ed” monkey off our backs!
Thanks, WDFW

Jay K

3/21/2010 11:37:00 AM

Great report - glad to hear someone's doing well at Liberty once again. Heard it'd been slow.

hewesfisher

3/21/2010 12:05:00 PM

Another great read - thank YOU! :-)

TroutCowboy

3/22/2010 10:51:00 PM

congrats on a successful trip! curious... did the five-pounder have deformed fins and nose? i caught a 4-pounder there 2 weeks ago that at first glance looked diseased or about to croak of old age, but it was fat and firm, so didn't appear ill. i called the local fish & game office and he told me i'd caught one of the "retired" hatchery brood stock they'd released in there. i did some reading and found that in such close quarters and in concrete holding tanks the fish get pretty beat up.

i enjoy reading your fishing reports, keep up the good work! ;-)

kevinbe

3/2/2011 5:48:00 PM

In preperation for this year, might I ask what you were trolling. I've caught there in the past using x rap cranks. I'm just trying to see what others are using. The trout in this lake do grow rather large.

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