So here is my scenario.  My home lake, deep water is considered 15 ft (the deepest section is 22).  The water this time of year usually sets up a thermocline at around 7ft or so and is stained.  Fish seem to relate to both structure and cover at this depth in the afternoon. I have good success fishing both anywhere from 10 oclock on but I have never tried fishing it early.  

I have a tournament this weekend and havn't had time to prefish so I was wondering what everyone thought about starting in these areas?  I know some fish move shallow in low light but do you think there would be fish active at those depths at say a half hour past sunrise?  Or should I concentrate on nearby flats?

Or should I give up that idea all together and do what everyone else does and fish shallow the first few hours (I know I can catch a few then, but they usually arnt big).

These places get hit hard in the afternoon on my relatively small lake so I was hoping to possibly take advantage of the first hit.

I know its just a guess but I need a place to start.

Thoughts?  Anyone else do something similar?

On my lakes 12ft is about as deep as it gets. I too noticed that i could catch dinks all morning in the shallows but no decent size fish. So, i start looking for deeper cover/structure at about 5am one day and the rest is history! It is definitely worth a shot. I would try a big deep diving crank early on and then Carolina rigs and drop shot rigs as it gets hotter! BEST OF LUCK

I may give it a try sometime since you've had it work.  I by no means live in FL but a bass is a bass.  It gets pretty hot and humid here in southern IN.  Crankbaits have been the ticket lately for me, but carolina riggs are pretty go-to in the summer.  Never really dropshotted that much.  

Thanks for your input!