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Date: October 24, 2021 Body of Water: Thompson Lake, Oxford, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon plus four days; waning gibbous moon Boat: Numenon With: Alone Target: Lakers (Togue) or other trout Time: 8:45 AM - 1:00 PM Conditions: Clear and bright; about 35 - 45 degrees F; strong northwest wind > 15 mph; water temperatures about 59 +/- Since I had the entire day ay my disposal, I went "big", went a little further afield, and tried yet another "new" lake. This time, my destination was Thompson Lake in Oxford, just about an hour away. I'd seen some attractive reviews of the lake and its fisheries. Once again, I decided to troll, targeting togue or whatever, while I covered water and assessed the lay of the land. If I'd been surprised by the Upper Range Pond ramp the day before, I was even more surprised by the Oxford ramp near the lake's northern end. Once again, it worked; but not easily or efficiently, and only because nobody else was around trying to use it (or park), too. Once again, I had no mapping info; I picked my way out to deeper water and headed north. I thought the inflow might attract some bait and/or predators. There was still a lot of lake ahead of me when the water dramatically shallowed to 7 feet or less. Since I was looking for some holding water deeper than that, I turned to the south and east until I picked up the drop for the main lake's basin. Along this eastern shoreline, the water plunged pretty quickly into 25 feet of water and beyond; I set up my troll with the stiffening northwesterly wind. My first pass consisted of a flat line with an S7 Rapala and another rod with two colors of lead presenting a small spoon. I tried to stay in the 10 - 20 feet of water range, but this generated no interest, and so my next pass was in 20 - 40 feet. When I started seeing consistent aggregations of bait, generally near bottom in about 30 feet of water, I replaced the flat line with a downrigger/spoon combo. I was hopeful that tracing bottom in this depth range would reproduce the previous day's results. Other than one mystery release (and I might have momentarily grabbed bottom), nothing happened, even as I expanded my trolling passes. One other boat was out with me, and they seemed to be doing the same thing. As the wind increased, though, they called it quits around 10 AM. After four unsuccessful passes, I relocated to the lee of the western shoreline. Here, I marked some fish (and bait!) below 30 feet. I had what appeared to be a valid release (I had just noted some marks and I swear, I could see the rod bucking!), 40 down over 42 feet of water, but I even questioned that. A final relocation to a larger cove on the west side (past the giant boulder field; Beware! But smallmouths, take note!) also resulted in more of nothing. When a boulder grabbed my downrigger ball one last time, I called it quits before something worse happened. What do I have to say about this? It was a beautiful fall day, but the wind really sapped my energy. I also had a fair amount of downrigger maintenance in front of me. Between the four, I've swapped various functional parts for the problem parts and now have confidence in two of them (perhaps a third, too; time on the water will tell). I was home earlier than expected, but I had to tackle those chores at some time or other! P.S. Subsequent intel indicated this to be a better lake for landlocked salmon than for it's slow-growing togue. Smallmouths still intrigue, though! A Nor'easter came roaring through a couple of days after this trip; with the wind and consistently cooler temperatures, I suspect the thermocline has been smashed and turnover is occurring. When I return to the water in a couple of weeks, it will be a new, shallow-water ball-game! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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