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Date: April 22, 2023 Body of Water: Mousam Lake - Shapleigh, Maine Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Brown Trout and Brown Bass Time: 9 AM - 3:15 PM Conditions: Cloudy and raw; easterly wind swinging to the south over 10 mph and about 42 - 50 degrees. Water temperatures unchanged from last week at 48 -50 degrees (+/-). I returned to Mousam Lake. I figured there wouldn't be another bass tournament and I expected conditions to be very similar to the previous weekend. I was hoping for a beautiful brown trout, thinking about lake trout, and prepared to chase smallmouths if I chose to. It turned out to be a pretty good choice for a fairly raw but quiet Spring day. The session did not start well; my motor overheated as I started to move up the lake. I immediately switched to electric power and elected to stay close and troll the southern end of the lake while I let the motor cool down. After I'd set my spread (F11 Rapala in Rainbow Trout, 125 back and a DB Smelt off two colors of lead), I circled the familiar area from previous weeks. After a brief rest, the 30-horse Suzuki started right up, circulated cooling water, and idled perfectly for about 15 minutes as I continued my electric troll. Since I'd not contacted any fish, I pulled lines and headed up the lake. I made it all the way without any issues, so whatever Suzi's issue was, it was apparently ephemeral. Arriving at the productive, north-end reef complex, I chose to fish with the F11 but with a fly-line presenting a Gray Ghost tandem streamer as my second line. This outfit was equipped with 10 feet of sinking tip and additionally with several feet of sinking leader, and so the streamer remained a little under the surface. I trailed this perhaps 50 feet behind the boat, hand-held the rod, and provided frequent forward sweeps to make the fly surge ahead. I'd just completed my first pass along the reef and was starting to turn out to execute a turn when this fly got jolted! I was excited to finally connect in this manner. My first Maine freshwater trolled-fly-caught fish was not the brown trout I'd targeted, but rather a dark and rotund smallmouth bass of approximately 14 inches. That bass set the tone for the day. I continued trolling with the electric motor, generally at speeds between 1.5 and 1.8 mph. I continued to contact brown bass on rocky points, sandy humps, and nearby. One ate the Rapala, but everything else hit the fly. I also caught a beautiful, 16-inch brown trout on the F11 (almost directly over a waypoint from the previous week, adjacent to a point and sandy flat), so the F11 kept swimming for me, too. Around lunch-time, I searched the deeper water of the northern basin with the lead/DB Smelt combo. Despite marking a lot of fish, I had no takes in this area that had been so productive for me in 2022. I'd brought a single spinning rod along to cast for bass if I chose to do so. Since I seemed to have the bass located, I decided to try casting to specific structures with a jerk-bait while utilizing Spot-Lock. Surprisingly, I didn't get touched in 45 minutes, and so I returned to trolling. I expanded my trolling areas and experimented with lures. A mid-lake reef and adjacent bay produced a couple more decent smallmouths. One of these ate the DB Smelt, which had otherwise been silent for the day. Near the day's end, the trolling motor abruptly quit. It turned out to be just a drained battery. As I'd understood, the new lithium battery had delivered perfect performance right until it was totally dead. What do I have to say about this? I left the lake with swallows dipping and lots of water remaining to explore. I was surprised at the minimal trout activity, but happy enough with the incidental bass action. Of the 9 or 10 I'd landed, three weighed a couple of pounds or more, and they certainly fought better than the day's brown trout. It was nice to successfully add another technique to my arsenal, and a few more spots revealed themselves. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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