Started out from my dock and headed to the West Side of the lake to make a sweep at about 100 yards off shore. Time was about 2:30pm. I set one line on my downrigger that had a 6" UV Sling Blade followed by a 3" UV Needlefish tipped with a slice of Berkley Gulp Yellow Corn and dipped in Bloody Tuna. I lowered the line to 4' off of the bottom to target Brown Trout and started out @ 1.7mph. I then proceeded to put my other line out with 2 Split Shots (large), small Bronze Pop Gear (Yuk, hate hauling in a tire), followed by a 3" Rapala also dipped in Bloody Tuna.

My gear was in the water for less than 15 minutes when my Downrigger Pole went Ballistic!!! I played the fish while constantly adjusting the drag, as I knew I had a good fish and didn't want to loose it. At first, I thought it might have been a Bass until I saw chrome about 30' behind the boat. She was rolling near the surface and I had to dip the rod tip in the water a few times to prevent her from jumping and spitting my gear. Ironically and thankfully, I had brought my longer Kokanee net due to loosing several fish at the boat on a prior outing.

I successfully landed her and "took care of business", then threw her on the scale.........WOW a 3.18lb Liberty Lake Rainbow!!!! It's a blast catching this size Rainbow and Brown Trout on Ultra Lite Rods. One of my neighbors has lived on the lake since 1962 and he said he's never seen a Rainbow that size. I caught 2 more which averaged 12" and decided that was enough for the day. Was a great outing and a great BBQ a bit later. Unlike a lot of other lakes, I've found that Liberty Lake can be fished successfully at any time of the day. They weren't very active until about mid May, probably due to the re-ice up this year, but they'll be pretty good until mid - end of July, when the water gets too warm. For now, I'll keep sweeping the bottom for the big ones, then it's on to the Bass for me. Full Smokers Everyone!

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