“I would spend as much time as it takes to find this type of cover, “ he concluded, “before I started fishing. And I’d remember every such area I found. If you find bass there one day, the chances are almost 100 percent you’ll find them there your next trip.”

Once you find the proper cover areas, the catching isn’t overly complex. Like many guides, Alley favors frisky shiners in the 6- to 7-inch range, fished under a float. This is a key tactic for trophy fish. Float those on the windy side of a hydrilla point early and late in the day, and in cuts and pockets at midday, and rods normally stay bent.

If lures are the tactic du jour, a big selection isn’t required. Bass move to the open edges of hydrilla early and late to feed on shad. Rat-L-Trap lures from Bill Lewis can be deadly, if the hydrilla allows their use. Minnow-type jerkbaits are another effective option and can be twitched on the surface, jerked down below, or just pulled along with a steady, shallow retrieve.

In areas where hydrilla has come within a few inches of the surface, Reno Alley finds the Culprit Pro Frog one of the most effective baits available. Swim it slowly and steadily across the surface. Willow-leaf spinnerbaits with No. 5 or No. 6 blades are also a top bet in this situation.

When the sun climbs, savvy anglers don’t leave fish they’ve found.

“Those bass are just going to drop back to thicker hydrilla in the same area they just fed in,” Alley noted. “A 7- or 10-inch Culprit worm is a good bet to cast into pockets and cuts. A very effective tactic is to flip these baits into the crowned-out hydrilla patches. Once the hydrilla crowns out, it opens caverns underneath, and they hold a lot of midday bass.”

Even with low water and some loss of hydrilla, Istokpoga remains a top fishery in this area. A special slot limit requires that all bass between 15 and 24 inches be immediately released, which keeps a lot of good bass in the lake.

REDDY LAKE
At 3,483 acres, Reedy Lake near Frostproof may lack the publicity given to better-known waters, but it doesn’t lack the bass. In fact, one FWC biologist conducting sampling on the lake noted that they seldom find as many 8-pound-plus bass as they do here.

That quality fishery is routinely confirmed during local tournaments. In one Jan 2007 event, it took more than 18 pounds to win -- and that was with only a three-fish limit!

That alone ought to get anglers interested. But there’s another factor to consider: This is one of very few lakes in the area that sees bass habits virtually unaffected by low water.

“Reedy is kind of like a shallow lake where someone took a big ice cream scoop and made a big hole in the middle,” said Reno Alley, who lives on the lake’s shores. “But they didn’t get it shaped quite the way they may have wanted it.

“There are sharp drops and ledges in the 10- to 16-foot range that hold bass through most of the year. There are also peppergrass beds growing as deep as 15 feet, and a lot of brushpiles that have been planted over the years. The lake is shallow around the banks, but after you get 50 to 100 yards off them, it drops off pretty quickly.”

Spring of 2007 saw the lake down 3 feet, but that is meaningless here.

“Once you get done with the spawn,” Alley explained, “you can pretty much forget any shallow-water bass activity. The bass are only there in the spring. The rest of the year, they stay deep. The only thing the low water means now is that there is less deep water for them to hide in. That’s a plus for anglers. But for the bass, it’s business as usual on Reedy.”

For Alley, “business as usual” means getting off the banks and probing deeper water.

“The most consistent depth to find bass seems to be around the 12-foot range,” he mused. “There are a number of ledges, drops, and submerged points at that general depth. And that’s also where a lot of private brushpiles have been planted.”

Another key deepwater cover, maybe one of the best, are peppergrass beds.

“Peppergrass will normally top out in the 7- to 8-foot range,” Alley continued. “But there is a lot of submerged peppergrass in 7 to 12 feet of water. You need to find these with a depthfinder, but it’s worth the time it takes. They are magnets for offshore bass in the summer because they produce oxygen and hold a lot of forage.”

A depthfinder is critical on this lake, and so are lures that can get deep. On ledges and drops, deep-diving crankbaits in chrome, Firetiger or crawfish patterns excel. In fact, Alley’s best bass from Reedy went more than 14 pounds and ate a chrome diver on a 16-foot ledge one July morning.