Hey everyone, Captain Anthony Awgul the Lake Nockamixon fishing guide 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 5-7 days per week. Also, if you're interested in extra detailed weekly Nockamixon fishing reports and monthly livestreamed Nockamixon fishing seminars, be sure to subscribe to my, "Nockamixon Fishing School" by visiting www.awgulfishing.com/nockamixonfishingschool
July 2024 has seen the highest water temperatures I've ever recorded along with some tough fishing. We ended July 2024 with 5 bass over 5 pounds and 1 giant bass over 7 pounds. We averaged 2-5 bass per guided fishing trip (An average of 4-15 fish per day after 2-3 trips in a day) with the averaged sized bass ranging from 1-3 pounds this past month.
Water temperatures have been ranging from 80-90 degrees throughout the month. On July 8th 2024, I recorded the highest water temperature I've ever seen on Lake Nockamixon. At 5:20 PM on that day, my Humminbird Helix 9 transducer recorded a water temperature of 94 degrees where I was fishing.
I'm well aware of the bass fishing philosophy that suggests that the bass aren't very active when the water gets extremely hot. It also suggests that during the dog days of summer, the best times to fish are during the early morning and the late evening when temperatures are coolest. However, my bass fishing results on Lake Nockamixon in July 2024 strongly contradict this traditional way of thinking. I can count on two hands how many bass my clients and I caught before 8 AM and after 6 PM all month long. Almost every fish we caught this past month was caught during the late morning, middle of day, or early afternoon when the temperatures were highest. On July 8th 2024 at 5:20 PM when the water temperature was 94 degrees, I caught this bass in 3 feet deep water.
It's important to remember that bass are warm water fish that are cold blooded. The warmer the water is, the faster a bass' digestive system burns. That means the hotter the water, the faster a bass burns calories just by simply existing. That means when the water is hotter, bass must feed more efficiently on larger meals more frequently just to avoid starving to death. Over many years of fishing, I've heard several pro tournament anglers preach, "The warmer the water, the better they seem to bite!" Whenever the temperatures trended warmer this past month, the bite got better for me. And yes, we still caught bass up shallow when water temperatures exceeded 90 degrees. Whenever a cold front came through and temperatures dropped (Even just a few degrees), I struggled. As uncomfortable as the extreme heat was this past month, it surely seemed like the hotter and sunnier it was, the better the bass fishing was! Something else noticeable I want to mention is that so many of the bass we've been catching in high water temperatures have been extremely active. The bites we've been getting have often been intense "Rod ripping" bites. They've been so aggressive and active that my clients have often struggled to hold up their catches for photos since the bass were thrashing around and jumping so much more than usual.
A major challenge during the past month was timing the unpredictable bite windows. Almost everyday, my clients and I would go 1 hour, 2 hours, or sometimes even 3+ hours without absolutely no bites or action. Then suddenly, the lake would come alive and we'd often catch multiple fish. It was almost impossible to predict when these bite windows would occur, but simply knowing we'd usually see a bite window or two every charter gave me enough persistence to patiently wait out the extremely slow lulls waiting for the bite to suddenly start up out of nowhere!
Last month I reported on the sudden and drastic decline of milfoil grass around the lake (Due to a phenomenon called "Overwintering" explained in last month's fishing report here). It wasn't until the end of the month that I really started the milfoil grass finally growing back nicely. The lack of milfoil grass most of this past month made July 2024 fish very different from July months in past years.
Almost all of our fish this past month were either caught on hard cover (Like laydowns, bluff walls, rock piles, road beds, porcupine cribs, etc.) or in thick vegetation. The southern half of the lake saw higher quantities of fish caught, but a smaller average size. The northern half of the lake saw less numbers of bass, but a much larger average size. Towards the beginning of the month, we were catching decent quantities of fish on structure in 10-17 feet of water on an Awgul Fishing 3" Finesse Fry rigged on a small jig head. This compact presentation effectively resembles alewives that predatory fish feed on. As the month progressed, the deeper bite fizzled out for me and we caught almost all of our fish up shallow. We either caught our fish on an Awgul Fishing 1/2 oz Compact Jig or a Texas Rigged Awgul Fishing 4" Clumsy Craw. Several nice fish were caught around shallow vegetation with an Awgul Fishing 3/8 oz Alive Spinnerbait in Natural Shad. The topwater bite hasn't been extremely hot for us this past month, but we caught several nice fish throughout the month on an Awgul Fishing Freaky Frog.
Something unrelated to July 2024 largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Nockamixon that I want to mention is the extremely high numbers of dead striped bass we've been finding floating around the lake. I bring this up because several people have been asking me why this has been happening and because many locals are currently discussing this issue. Every summer I've seen a couple dead stripers out there, but this past month I've lost count of how many dead stripers we found floating day after day. Both the hybrid stripers and the pure bred stripers that are in Nockamixon prefer cooler water temperatures (Especially the pure bred stripers). When water temperatures exceed 70 degrees, striped bass can overheat and overstress when being caught and likely won't survive being released. That's why striped bass fishing experts recommend not targeting this species of fish during the extreme heat of summer (Especially if you plan on practicing catch and release). On the same topic, many musky fishing experts also recommend not targeting musky during the summer heat since that species of fish also doesn't do well with being caught in extremely warm water. Striper and musky aren't as resilient to hot water temperatures like bass are, so perhaps keep this fact in mind when hitting the lake during these dog days of summer.
Unless we experience some more intense heat waves throughout the remainder of summer, I predict water temperatures have peaked for this year and should stay settled in the upper 70's to mid 80's through early September. Historically, August has been a pretty good month for catching Nockamixon bass out deep for me. However, with the drastic increase in milfoil grass growing back all around the lake I expect some good shallow patterns to emerge throughout the month. Many locals have complained that the bass fishing has seemed a little "off" so far this summer, and I tend to agree. However, I'm expecting that the return of the milfoil grass and the consistency of more normal temperatures in the extended forecast should result in a decent month of fishing.
Stay tuned for my Lake Nockamixon Fishing Report for August 2024 that will be posted at the beginning of next month. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to The Nockamixon Fishing School at www.awgulfishing.com/nockamixonfishingschool and book your guided fishing trip with me as soon as possible! We have some slots remaining for September and October, 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.com or call/text me at (267) 730-3203.
Tight lines and I'll see you out on the water!
-Captain Anthony Awgul
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