Guide Eddie Bussard will be looking for scarce hydrilla "walls" on Lake Toho this month in order to locate largemouths. Photo by Bud Reiter

There is nothing like a little weather system to either give bass fishing a boost or make it a bust. For example, take September 2004 -- please take it!

Those of us who rode out the "Year of the Hurricanes" will certainly remember last September as a total bust. In fact, given the frequency and the intensity of the hurricanes we experienced, anyone even venturing out onto the water could realistically have had their sanity questioned.

But as veteran Sunshine State anglers know, weather pretty well dictates September bassin' in Florida every year. Last year was merely a case of extremes. Under normal circumstances, September is a month that, while not seeing a full transition from summer to fall patterns, normally sees the fall fling begin. The only things that are required are a few typical September storms, a bit of overcast, and maybe an early cold front. Combined, these things begin to drop the water temperatures enough to shake bass out of their August doldrums and get them feeding. If those conditions develop, September can be a fine month. If they do not, anglers are stuck with August patterns until the weather does cooperate.

No one can truly predict September fishing, unless they can predict the weather. But if we have a normal year, here is what anglers can expect on some of our top bass lakes.

LAKE TOHOPEKALIGA
September can be an excellent month on Tohopekaliga, or Toho, as it is more commonly known. Locating bass is not normally difficult: They are positioned in the offshore hydrilla beds in 7 to 10 feet of water where they have spent the summer. Cooler temperatures get the fish moving, and an abundance of shad can generate some serious schooling activity. Look for bass to be moving early and late in the day along the edges of the hydrilla, where aggressively fishing topwater plugs, lipless crankbaits, and hard- or soft-plastic jerkbaits in shad finishes can produce some fast action. That schooling activity can continue throughout the day if it is overcast.

During a bright midday, anglers casting or flipping soft plastics into cuts and pockets and along hydrilla points score some fish as well.

At least, that's how things normally work. Unfortunately, this September could be different.

"There wasn't a lot of hydrilla left in Toho this spring," said veteran guide Eddie Bussard. "The recent drawdown knocked a lot of it back, and the hurricanes last September ripped up most of what was left. I have found some hydrilla growing a foot or so off the bottom in 6 feet of water, and if we have a normal summer there should be some topped-out hydrilla available this fall. But there may not be much of it."

According to Bussard, finding what offshore hydrilla there is will be the surest path to success this month. It is well worth the time it takes to locate it. Given an anticipated lack of hydrilla, bass are likely to stack up on any they can find in deeper water.

If hydrilla is in short supply, however, Bussard has a back up plan.

"Those fish are going to want to be on the deepest vegetation they can find," he noted. "That could be bulrush points or the edge of a deep maiden cane weedline. That may only be in 5 or 6 feet of water, but they use it if they don't have enough offshore hydrilla. The best areas will be those that have some floating vegetation drifted into the grass to provide mats of overhead cover they can get under. They move out from there to school on shad early and late, and then during the midday they slip back under, where you can get at them with shiners or flipping."