I swear we’ve had the hottest summer in Oklahoma that I can remember. It got to 111 the other day where I live. If you’re going to fish in that kind of weather, better fish early and late and stay indoors the rest of the time.

Even in hot weather, the fishing can be good at first light near the shoreline. I’ll start there, but when I’m fishing lakes such as Sam Rayburn, Lake Seminole or Toledo Bend with standing timber, I like to find the places where the flooded trees come up against a creek. That’s usually where there’s a temperature change in the water, and bass really like to congregate there. They’ll suspend in about 15 to 20 feet of water around the trees.

My favorite lure for that type of fishing is an Excalibur Zell Pop. It’s a high-dollar Pop R with feathers on the tailhook, but it really calls bass up. Once you cast it out past the trees, let the ripples die away completely before you move it. Then just pop it once, pause for a count, pop it again and so on. The bass might or might not be aggressive, but they’ve still got to come up from 15 or 20 feet of water, so you don’t want to move the lure too fast. When the sun starts to get higher, you might switch to a shaky head or even a wacky-rigged worm. Let either bait sink to about 8 or 10 feet, twitch it a time or two and then bring it back in and cast again. Don’t forget to drink lots of water.

— Chevy pro Jimmy Houston of Cookson, Okla.