September bass fishing great at Bogue Homa
This month, I’ll primarily fish my home lake, Bogue Homa, near Laurel. I understand exactly where September bass should be, and I know the lures to fish for success. Bogue Homa has a good number of largemouths 3 pounds or better, that will be relating to the grass and the grass lines coming off its banks.
You’ll primarily sight-fish and fish through the grass. A depth finder isn’t needed to catch quality bass in September when the fishing can be tough due to the temperature changes — possibly 100-degree days or cool weather sometimes. If you have a home lake you know like the back of your hand, September is when you need to fish that lake.
The most-dependable tactic
If I only can take one bait to Bogue Homa this month, it will be a 3/8-ounce bladed jig, like a Chatterbait, with a Mann’s Reel ‘N Shad as the trailer on its back. When that blade moves back and forth across that jighead, it creates vibration that goes through the head of the jig into the hook and into the Reel ‘N Shad, giving the soft-plastic swimbait a natural swimming action. The Reel ‘N Shad also makes the bladed jig a more bulky bait that’s easy for the bass to spot, and it often attracts bigger bass.
I can work this lure around shallow grass, in between patches of grass in the little channels and on all sides of floating clumps of grass breaking away from the main grass beds in September and consistently get a lot of bites and catch numbers of bass. You don’t have to give this lure any other action, since action is built into the bladed jig and the trailer.
Anglers often catch very big bass in Bogue Homa this month. If you catch a big bass in one spot, you can concentrate your fishing 50 yards above and 50 yards below that place and be successful, since big September bass remain in the same general area where other big bass are.
I like a black/blue bladed jig with a green pumpkin Reel ‘N Shad — a combination that mimics a bluegill. I’ll also have another shad-colored bladed jig with a Reel ‘N Shad in white or white and chartreuse tied on a rod. I’ll throw both jigs on a Lew’s 7.5:1 baitcasting reel paired with a 7-foot-3 Lew’s graphite rod and 30-pound braided line.
Sight fishing
I’ll have several rods laid out on my casting deck that I can pick up and cast. At Bogue Homa in September, unless the area receives an unusual amount of rain, you can see the bass schooling on top, on the edges of the grass or farther out, feeding in the grass. You’ll need lures you can cast to those fish to make them bite on top. So, on other rods, I’ll have tied a Zara Spook, a Mann’s shad-colored Baby 1-Minus crankbait and a Mann’s white Super Frog.
First I’ll cast a Zara Spook, a consistent topwater lure I can walk slowly or fast. If I see bass feeding in shallow grass, perhaps only 1 or 2 inches below the surface, I’ll cast a Baby 1-Minus, a small bait I can reel in those top few inches of water without getting hung up in the grass. I’ve had success with this lure while fishing for bass in shallow grass and schooling bass, especially when those bass quit feeding on the surface, because it runs just under the surface. The Super Frog can attract bass in open water too as it scoots across the grass without getting hung.
I’ll fish the Zara Spook on a 6-foot-10, medium-heavy Lew’s rod with a 7.5:1 gear ratio reel and the Baby 1-Minus on an 8:1 gear ratio Lew’s reel on a 6-foot-10 medium-action rod — both with 30-pound braid. When I’m fishing the Zara Spook, I’ll tie on about an 8- to 10-inch fluorocarbon leader to prevent the Spook’s treble hooks from getting tangled up in the line. I’ll fish the Super Frog on a 7-foot-6 medium-heavy Lew’s rod with a 7.5:1 gear ratio reel and 65-pound braid.
Bogue Homa is a surefire place for me not only to catch plenty of bass in September, but to also have the opportunity to catch a very big bass.
