Fishing Lake Nockamixon, near Quakertown, has become a regular Monday event for myself and good friend Den Slifer. This morning was no exception. With his sixteen foot Smokercraft in tow we headed out toward the lake at 4:22 am this morning. With the cooler temperatures and cloud cover we anticipated a good bite could be in the making. 
 
The few past weeks we had found the fish to be in deeper water out from the weeds. This is common for the "Dog Days of Summer". We also had located a stretch of shore line, with a good drop off toward deep water, that was holding a magnitude of fish. Assuming this past pattern would hold we headed out toward the known structure to start the day.
 
Den shut the motor down thirty yards from our goal so as not to spook the schools of fish that were sure to be there. In the pre-dawn darkness the lake was calm and quite. We had numerous rods that were ready to go with assorted lures for whatever would be encountered. Den eased his boat into position with the electric motor and took the first cast. My lure hit the water only seconds after his. I felt the boat move in the familiar motion that happens when someone sets the hook hard. "Got a good one", he said. I instinctively grabbed the net and took up position to scoop up our first fish. The fight was short lived but yielded a dandy Smallmouth Bass of about seventeen inches. I will note here that many times the first cast into a fresh spot will produce a fish. Sometimes a sign that more will come but most of the time it ends up being the only fish to be caught from that spot. As it was with this one, we caught no others from there. A few pictures were taken, the fish released and we continued to work the area but that first cast was the charm.
 
As morning light now made things a bit easier we headed off to check out a few other hot spots.  Den let me select the next spot and we stopped to fish a point that dropped of quickly into deep water. This area held no fish today but we proceeded down the shore line that had deep water and good looking weeds. My rubber worm fooled a small bass and things were looking up. Den decided to toss his half ounce jig head with a rubber crayfish toward deeper water but still parallel to the weed bed. His offering had sunk only a few feet when his line snapped tight. I again recognized the movement of the boat and looked in his direction. Den's rod was bent over good as he yelled, "It's a real pig!" Just so you know a big bass is referred to as a Hawg, Pig or Monster. It just depends on what word comes out in the excitement. So anyway I grab the net and prepare to secure this "PIG" once it tires out a bit. Den brought it near the boat and I lowered the net and raised his prize. Wow, this fish was a real Hawg weighing in at five pounds and four ounces. A lake "personal best" for Den and one to remember. After about six pictures the fish was returned to the water. 
 
A few more were caught in different spots and about 11 am the sun came out and things pretty much shut down. We pulled out at 1 PM and returned home with good memories. Lake Nockimixon can humble the best anglers but can also reward your effort with trophies. Take a trip up there if you get the chance and I hope the "NOCK" rocks your boat.

 Back in April of this year I did another blog about this lake. Check it out here ... http://limerick.patch.com/blog_posts/fishing-fever-16-a5cf9709
 
So now I'm getting ready for a trip up to Canada this week and will report on that next time.