I think they are schooled up so they are harder to find, but easier to pattern when you can find them in my experience. It helps to have other locals you can talk to so you know what fish are doing (or not doing) when you aren't out there. @Pat Brown and I text pretty much daily about what we are seeing and for me that is extremely helpful and eliminates much wasted time on the water!

Joe, I reviewed my trip reports from July of last year and I was catching about half of what I'd caught in June of 2024. The doldrums continued into August. Summer is tough. However, I did catch some long girls here and there:

 

Someone mentioned talk to the locals, good advice.

Last year in mid August I was pulling down to the boat ramp and talked to a guy " local " about the fishing conditions.

He said it was very slow for the most part but gave me the name of the cove that was productive for him.

It had standing timber in 30' of water and cooler water compared to the main lake.

I fished that area for 3 straight days and was able to catch enough to be content in the dog days.

I was vertical fishing a wacky rigged Senko on a 1/16 head and letting it ride down the standing timber.

That was his advice as well.

It may not be U.   

This time of year, it's always an "Oxygen" game.   Stagnant ponds and high temperatures rob the O2 and algae run backward at night, consuming oxygen not making it.   There maybe a thermocline near the bottom but without a boat and equipment never know.   Back in OH, growing up, we'd drag a worm across the pond bottom at deepest part of the lake to get bit.   

PH is another factor, from rains, runoff, etc.   Runoff maybe high or low, but usually nutrient rich which triggers algae blooms.   They always talked about "acid rain", but here (SC) we have basic rain.   It gets my swim pool out of control.   Back in IN, after they "shot the corn" with NH3 in the adjacent field, the OH trib turned to pH13, soupy pea green from algae bloom, after a T-storm.   I used to carry pH strips.   One or two fish didn't make it out, floaters.   There was no bite there.   We learn from the extremes.

The dissolved O2 curve for water is fairly steep,(easy search) and above 90F, it's like 2 ppm, max is ~10, and that's about as much as a fish can handle to stay alive, so they're going to have survival, not eating on their minds.   

Another technique is a slow noisy bait.   The "wood chopper' is good for that.   Jerk and stays in place.   Irritates the fish into attacking.   Hula popper another good one but moves more.   Frog in the slop, twitch and sit.   I've caught good fish like that at high noon in summer or even in weed die back.   

We have to take the good with the bad.   

On my natural lake, it's getting close to the time when we get our first weed die back.  Pleasure boat traffic and a phytoplankton bloom does a number on clarity; we've gone from 12-14' visibility to 4-5' visibility in the last 2 weeks, and I think this change in light penetration begins to signal when the panfish and therefore the bass begin to abandon a lot of the weeds.  Only the deepest ones; 15-22' and the super dense and green shallow ones; sub 8' fow seem to hold fish consistently for the next couple months.  There's also a thermocline setting up since it's been so calm with no wind/rain recently.  I expect my entire fishing plan and success to flip very soon, maybe your water is slightly ahead in time.

 

scott

Summer or warm water period offers bass a smorgasbord of prey options, the ecosystem is alive with offerings to compete with and bass anglers prefer using lures to do this.

The key to success during any seasonal period is finding active feeding bass.

Summer the bass are active more often then any other period so it comes down to spending time on the water and offering bass something they are willing to strike at the right time and place.

Sorry no panacea just lots of fishing time in the right locations.

Tom

Here in Indiana it’s been tough. The lakes I fish are up 10 to 12 feet and muddy with water temps in the high 80’s as well. 
A disastrous combination.

Out on my kayak I've been targeting offshore weed beds with some luck. On Livescope I'm seeing bass holding close to flooded timber but I have not got them to bite.

 

My company is building 2 new hotels that I will be running at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and they have some ponds on site that I occasionally bank fish for a few minutes at lunch. What I have observed is baitfish in very, very shallow water and the bass making hit and run attacks. 

 

They crash the shore, feed, and quickly run to deeper water. So the past few days I've been consistently catching bass in water only 3-6 inches deep while throwing a frog and spinnerbait. I haven't caught anything in deeper water throwing a spinnerbait or shaking a minnow.

 

This same pattern held true last summer in the places I fished. I would sight fish bass in skinny water near deeper water. If I didn't see the bass in skinny water, if I found the bait there I'd keep casting in that area and usually a bass showed up.