Photo by BIll Shaeffer.

During the summer, not all largemouth bass migrate to deep-water sanctuaries. At many state waters, the best summer fishing isn't below you but in front of you at the piers and docks lining the creeks and river channels.

Depleted oxygen levels and scarcity of cover or forage at deeper depths compel many bass to take up their summer residence around piers, the most prevalent manmade cover at many impoundments.

Piers rank high as targets among fishermen because of their visibility and numbers and their attractiveness to fish. They are, in many cases, the most obvious cover around. Piers offer bass all the comforts of home: shade, cover, food and a sense of security. Beneath their timbered framework, the whole food cycle is re-enacted. The wooden appendages collect algae, which attracts microorganisms. The microorganisms, in turn, attract baitfish, and the baitfish attract larger predators, such as largemouth bass.

Anglers don't need to study topographical maps or interpret signals on a fish locator or master GPS units to find piers. One run up and down the lake usually suffices.

The ease with which fishermen can find piers translates into a major drawback: Fishermen will find plenty of "peer pressure" at piers, since these structures are accessible to novice and pro alike.

Some anglers are more successful at fishing piers than others because they understand one of fishing's great inequities -- all piers are not created equal. The ability to distinguish productive piers from unproductive ones, whatever the lake, involves knowledge about the basic movements of fish.

While deep water is primarily the summer home of bass, fish in deep water are relatively inactive and difficult to catch. When bass feel the urge to dine, they often leave the depths and move toward shallower waters where they become more active feeders and more catchable fish. Their movements take place along well-defined paths, known as structure. Structure is any irregular feature on the lake bottom, the most common being points and creek channels. As fish journey from deep to shallow water upon structure, they stop at "breaks" along the way. Breaks can be stumps, rocks, dips in the land, and, of course, piers.

During the summer, fish may linger at the deeper breaks along structure unless other factors, such as rising water levels, force their food supply into the shallows. When this occurs, the bass are certain to follow.

The movement of fish upon structure provides one key to finding the "choice piers" coveted by experienced fishermen. The better piers are situated near deep water, close to or on points or adjacent to creek channels and creek bends, the main underwater routes of structural highways.

Additional structures, such as rock veins or rockpiles, or cover, such as brushpiles or sunken trees, increase the fish appeal of piers. Anglers often look for rod holders mounted at piers because they indicate that pier owners have sweetened the area with brush. The age of a pier and a pier's framework are important factors, too. Usually, the older the pier, the better the fishing. Many fishermen contend that bass seek out more seasoned piers because the salt and chemicals in newly treated lumber repulses fish.

Piers with distinctive features are often better fish magnets than piers with conventional features. Piers fashioned with long poles instead of straight lumber or piers with cement supports instead of wooden ones or piers with extended walkways instead of abrupt ones may hold more fish. Sometimes, boat rails near piers may hold more fish than the piers themselves.

Some lakes have idiosyncrasies, which make piers even more attractive to summer bass.

Since finding choice piers is an art in itself, let's look at how local experts find and fish choice piers for summer fishing at their home waters.

LAKE NORMAN
If you're not fishing piers and docks at Lake Norman during the summer, you're not fishing -- that's the consensus of Troy Armstrong of Denver and team tournament partners, Michael Fox of Statesville and Tony Shook of Claremont, three Norman fishermen who have spent countless hours at the lake.

"If you don't like fishing docks, you've got to learn to like fishing them if you want to catch fish at Norman," said Armstrong, who contends docks are the most reliable year-round pattern at the Duke Power Company impoundment.

"Ten years ago, you could get away with fishing stumprows and blowdowns. Some fish are still caught from them, but you'll be in trouble most of the time if you're not fishing docks.

"There's no consistent bite on deep-water structure at Norman like there is at Lake Wylie and other lakes in the summer. I don't know why, but fishermen can't catch as many fish here as they can elsewhere on crankbaits or worms from deep ledges and humps."

Shook and Fox rarely target anything other than docks at Norman during the summer, and with good reason -- there's little else to target along the lake's 520 miles of shoreline.