The Food gamefish eat, for the most part, are fish too; seeking the same comfortable temps as the predators.  So, the big boys go deep to get a meal.

 

For cold-blooded creatures like fish, the hot water may be uncomfortable, but Comfort in this sense becomes a matter of survival.  The layer of hot water in the uppermost water column is relatively devoid of dissolved oxygen.  The cooler water below can carry more dissolved oxygen.  So essentially, the fish go deep in order to breathe.

 

The two factors mentioned above tend to trump out the third necessity --- Safety.  Bottom species like grouper and snapper simply move to deeper live bottom areas, allowing them to inhabit similar marine environments as they had in the shallow areas during the winter months.  Seatrout move to comparably deeper water further from the flats during the day, and move back to the oyster bars and creek mouths in the early morning or evening hours.   Bass do a similar dance and orient to structure in deeper water as well.  Same goes for crappie and bream.  Stripers will find water in the 55 to 70 degree range and often you'll see them hovering near the bottom at close to 100 foot depths.  

 

This doesn't mean you can't catch them in shallow water, but it will typically be during times of high water movememt or cloudy days when the sun doesn't heat the flats as quickly.

 

So, how do you crack the code and find the Comfort Zone?  Serious offshore saltwater anglers have been studying water temps for decades.  Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service (ROFFS) offers a subscription (or one at a time) service providing contemporary analysis of ocean surface temperatures to help locate likely areas for pelagic fish to be traveling.  For the nearshore angler, local knowledge is probably the best resource.  Ask the folks at tackle stores and marinas.  Freshwater anglers will be glued to their sonars along river channels and creek entrances, and will have the sensitivity turned up high to see where the thermocline is setting up.

 

Trolling is a very effective technique.  You can cover a lot of area on a Seek and Find mission, and once you locate the schools, you can drop down a live bait or put out balloons with baits suspended below the surface.  Deep diving lures like the Mann's Stretch 30 and Russelures are good choices.  You can use typical top running skip bait rigs like Ilanders and feathers or squid skirts and get them deeper with a 8 to 16 ounce trolling weight connected ahead of the leader.  If you have livies on board, then try slow trolling them tethered to your downrigger. Striper anglers on freshwater reservoirs will be Power Reeling and hooking up in the middle of the day.

 

Just because it's hot outside doesn't mean you shouldn't go fishing.   Learn to adapt your techniques to the conditions and you'll be bending a pole in no time.