"This is not really a creek. It's more like a small river, and water will flow there also. A lot of anglers overlook it, but it can be one of the best spots on the lake when the water is moving in the fall. There's plenty of hydrilla around its mouth that will hold fish."

The same applies in Lake Hatchineha at the northern canal entrance and the southern water exit.

And there is also an overlooked flow from Catfish Creek on the southwest shoreline.

In each of these areas, savvy anglers find any offshore cover -- normally hydrilla -- located in the vicinity of the flowing water. If that's in short supply, check the shallower pencil reeds. The moving water and baitfish attract bass, and when not actively feeding, they hold on whatever cover is available. Turning that into a daylong pattern is fairly simple.

"You normally get some surface schooling activity first thing in the morning," Alley noted. "But these schoolers aren't like those on a lot of other lakes. They don't hold on one spot and come up on any passing school of shad. They are runners and chase the shad down.

"That basically means that fishing a spot where the fish came up a few minutes ago is usually a waste of time because they have moved on."

Anglers chasing schooling fish need to stay on the move and be able to really reach out. Experienced anglers often take a tip from their saltwater counterparts and tote a seven-foot open-face spinning rig, spooled with one of the thin-diameter braided lines. Most 14-pound-test braids have the same diameter as 4- to 6-pound monofilament and will throw a mile.

Add a long distance shad-imitating lure like a Little George, a 1/2-ounce chrome spoon, or a Culprit Goby, and you have an upper hand on reaching distant schoolers.

Some fish may continue to school throughout the day, especially if it is overcast. But once the sun gets high, most of them settle down and move to cover.

"The brighter it is, the thicker the cover you want to fish," Alley suggested. "Flipping any topped out hydrilla in that area can produce bigger fish. They like to snuggle up under an overhead roof when they can."

That may take a full 1-ounce sinker to punch through the surface mat, and the compact tungsten weights are favored. Compact baits like the Culprit Water Beetle aid in penetrating the cover, yet still provide a mouthful for the bass. On all three lakes, June-bug, red shad, or a black-and-blue combination are normally the most productive soft-plastic colors.

If there is little topped-out hydrilla, Alley recommended finding the larger patches and working them with Texas-rigged plastic worms or soft-plastic jerkbaits.

Staying on the cover areas near flowing water funnels is a top tactic on Cypress and Hatchineha under moving water conditions. Kissimmee, however, is a bit different.

The north end of Kissimmee, where the Kissimmee River enters from Hatchineha, offers a situation similar to the other two lakes. In the northeast corner, there are also two very small creeks, although they seldom put out much water.

The Jackson Canal, on the east side opposite Brahma Island, can be a hotspot with moving water, as can Tiger Creek, just south of Lake Kissimmee State Park on the west shore.

But that leaves a lot of open water lacking cover. Alley has two tactics for dealing with that.

"There's very little offshore hydrilla in Kissimmee right now," he pointed out. "So the best cover for open-water fish under moving water conditions is the outside edge of the maidencane line in four to five feet of water, or the maidencane line around any offshore island.

"This stuff runs for miles and can all look the same, but the areas I want to concentrate on are wherever the maiden cane forms an extending point towards deeper water. Those that have wind blowing onto them are usually the best bets."