Hey everyone, Captain Anthony Awgul here! As part of my mission to help people catch more and bigger bass, I post free Nockamixon fishing reports at the beginning of each month from April through November as I guide on this lake full-time. Also, if you're interested in extra detailed weekly Nockamixon fishing reports and monthly livestreamed Nockamixon fishing seminars, be sure to subscribe to, "The Nockamixon Fishing School" by visiting www.awgulfishing.com/nockamixonfishingschool
This past April has been one of our most successful months of fishing on Lake Nockamixon. The lake is definitely healthy and it's pumping out incredible numbers of giant bass! We ended April 2024 with 16 bass over 5 pounds, 5 bass over 6 pounds, three bass over 7 pounds, and one giant bass that weighed exactly 8.00 pounds. Not to mention we've caught dozens and dozens of fish ranging from 3-5 pounds!
Despite these incredible results, there's been some struggles dialing in a pattern and figuring out a consistent bite. The beginning of April 2024 was freezing cold. The first half of the month saw flooding rains, strong winds, and inconsistent weather and we saw water temperatures ranging from the mid 40's to the low 50's. During the beginning of the month, we were catching bass in their late winter seasonal patterns. Slowly dragging a 1/2 oz Black and Blue Compact Jig by Awgul Fishing caught a lot of fish during the first couple weeks of the month. We averaged 2-5 bass per trip during this time.
In the middle of the month, we got onto a solid prespawn pattern with vibrating swim jigs and spinnerbaits. We followed up fish from their deep wintertime haunts towards their shallow spawning grounds had tremendous results with the Natural Shad colored 3/8 oz Alive Pulse Jig by Awgul Fishing. We fished this bait in staging areas and through submerged vegetation and retrieved it very slow while popping it through the grass. We also had several incredible days fishing the Awgul Fishing 7" Grumpy Glide Bait. I typically find that the biggest and most dominant bass move up to their shallow spawning grounds first, and we found a couple of giant bass on these baits up shallow even in 50 degree water! We averaged about 5-7 bass per trip during this time.
As the water slowly started warming after the second half of the month, we found some more fish finding their way up shallow. However, the last week of the month is when water temperatures shot up into the 60's and we saw a massive wave of bass push up shallow to get ready to spawn! The Awgul Fishing 5" Silly Stick Worm accounted for most of our results. We fished this worm both Texas Rigged and Wacky Rigged depending on the cover we were fishing. We also had a bunch of bigger fish on the 7" Grumpy Glide Bait and the Awgul Fishing 1/4 oz Alive Swim Jig in Natural Shad.
As of today in the beginning of May, I've found that some bass have already started spawning. Not all bass spawn at the same time though, so I would expect to see waves of bass spawning over the course of this month and maybe even into June!
During the month of May, I'll be throwing a lot of the same baits that I was in April. A majority of bass should start spawning within the next couple of weeks if they haven't started already. Towards the middle of the month, we'll probably start seeing some postspawn fish.
Just a reminder, it's illegal to visually target bass on beds in Pennsylvania during the NO HARVEST bass season that's currently in force from April 13th through June 7th. Obviously, that also means you can't harvest or livewell bass during this time. Please be kind to our spawning bass and be sure to catch and release them quickly to ensure a productive spawn!
Stay tuned for my Lake Nockamixon Fishing Report for May that will be posted next month on 6/1/24. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to The Nockamixon Fishing School at www.awgulfishing.com/nockamixonfishingschooland book your guided fishing trip with me as soon as possible! We're already booking out until August, so be sure to get a spot on my calendar so we can target giant late summer or fall bass! Book now online at www.awgulfishing.comor call/text me at (267) 730-3203.
Tight lines and I'll see you out on the water!
-Captain Anthony Awgul
