Thompson Lake Maine

[DanC]

Does anyone fish this lake?  My parents bought a house on it last year. I do ok in the spring but last summer was terrible. This year so far is the same. I just spent the whole week there and maybe caught 10 bass. Anyone have any tips they would like to share? 

[je1946]

Can fish very tough in the summer.  i have had some success with the drop shot in the southern end.  Very early with top water in the stumps in the northern end, and if the wind is blowing hard with spinner baits over those stumps.  some nice large mouth very early along the western shore where there is a totem pole by a white house with a roof top deck along the road about a half mile down from the ramp.

[MainelyBASS]

drop shot points. drop shot points. drop shot points.

[DanC]

Thanks guys. Mainely Bass. What depth points?  I have fished most of the points in the lake. Not with dropshot though. I'll try it. 

[MainelyBASS]

With the water as clear as it is, dont be affraid to start at 40ft and move inward from there. Don't just pick random points though. Make sure that its a point that leads to something that looks like a spawning area. Including Thompson, there are a lot of lakes in that area that I fish very frequently. The water is so clear out there that in some areas the visibility is 20+ feet. Smallmouth will move out off shore to the areas that the light stops penetrating at its brightest. In darker water, they dont need to move as far to feel comfortable. I use roboworms to catch all my fish. I will say that I rely on my electronics to find fish, and then I drop down on them. Ive caught plenty without seeing them on my sonar, but it certainly is a big help locating them. Last year I won a tournament on a lake nearby with roboworms on a drop shot in 35ft of water. Don't be affraid to fish deep.

[DanC]

Thanks again. Fishing deep is definitely not my strength but I will try it out. 

[offsidewing]

I like to fish the northern end of Long Lake. Heading out there again next week.  Drop shot, tube jigs, and the Ned Rig all work great this time of year.  This time of year you've got to fish the deep side of depth transitions spots.  Fish parts of the lake where the water goes from 10 to 20/30 feet.  Smallies usually aren't picky eaters this time of year, just a little hard to find.  Also, structure in deep water will hold some big ones.  A couple summers back I even whacked a 7lb Largemouth drop shotting a rock line in 15' of water.

[JBM Bassin]

Thompson is definitely not for the faint of heart Mid-Summer... Definitely the kind of lake where good electronics are necessary to find the ledges and underwater shoals. Best bet in the summertime is to target areas between 10-20 feet with rocks, and downsizing too. Have pulled some decent smallies out of there fishing deep, but even then it's far from a guarantee. Your best bet for a Thompson bigmouth is down near the marina, there are some absolute hogs in the Heath River and under the marina docks, but even those fish are pretty finicky. However, if you do find fish... Thompson is a VERY rewarding lake. The state record smallmouth did come out of there after all, and it didn't get that big by being dumb.