Fished Newton Lake last Friday.  The surface water temps were around 90 degrees and yet we were still able to find bass in the shallows.  The "catch" was that we had to cast in the shade no more than a few inches from tall grass which borders the lake.  If we were more than a few inches off the mark, we got very few bites.  We did not try to fish deep because this pattern held throughout most of the day.  But man was it difficult to remain cool when floating around in bathwater!

I swam under my dock the other day and was amazed at how much cooler the water was. Nice job on figuring out the pattern 

Nice fish in the heat!

33 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I swam under my dock the other day and was amazed at how much cooler the water was. Nice job on figuring out the pattern 

This always amazed me when we'd go swimming around our dock, too.  Not even just under it in the shade, either.  You'd hit cold spots, and warm spots.  Some cold spots were much cooler than water temps, which up here can get close to 90.  Tells me that surface temps don't tell the whole story.

36 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I swam under my dock the other day and was amazed at how much cooler the water was. Nice job on figuring out the pattern 

Thanks!  It's difficult to know if the temps there were any cooler OR if the shade and shelter/edge were what the bass wanted.  With the higher water we've had this year, this seems to be a more dominant pattern on numerous lakes I've fished.