"When Norman was constructed, a lot of the lake bottom was cleaned off, so there's not much natural structure," Shook said. "What cover there is at Norman is mostly in the form of brushpiles and piers."

At one time, Shook had installed over 137 brushpiles from one end of the lake to the other, a throwback to the days when he feverishly fished Norman for crappie. Many of his brushpiles are situated near piers because Norman's fish are pier-oriented.

"Piers are where summer bass find shade, security and forage," Shook said.

Shook and Fox, who have had great success fishing the Norman team tournament trails run by David Johnson, rarely forsake piers and docks unless they find schooling bass. Even then, their departure from the piers is temporary.

"Sometimes, quality fish will school in the summer," Shook said. "If we find schooling fish, we'll try to catch a quick limit from the school, but we'll go right back to the piers."

Fox said their choice piers are in 2 to 12 feet of water with brush and rock around them. He and Shook don't care if they're old or new piers or of any particular construction, though they favor the ones located above the Highway 150 bridge.

"We always target largemouth bass and usually stay above the bridge because spotted bass have taken over the lower end of the lake," Fox said.

Another critical element in selecting piers to fish is finding baitfish along with piers.

"When we practice for a tournament, we don't fish," Shook said. "We just ride around the lake looking for baitfish, and I'm talking about big pods of baitfish. We may fish piers on points or in pockets, but there's got to be baitfish in the area."

By fishing piers in connection with baitfish, the anglers have a means by which they can eliminate numerous piers from consideration -- a necessity for successful pier fishing at a lake with an overabundance of piers.

"Norman is loaded with docks, but you can't just go to any dock and catch fish," said Armstrong's wife, Michelle, who fishes the Women's Bassmaster Tour and competed last July at the WBT at Norman.

To eliminate piers, the Armstrongs look for old wooden piers and docks, which are at a premium at Norman with all the recent lakeside development. They also scout for baitfish and brush close to these piers.

In addition, they look for piers and docks off the beaten path to escape the heavy summer recreational traffic at the lake. To Troy, the heavy boating traffic is a greater factor than the heat in making fishing difficult during July and August at Norman.

The piers at Norman have a peculiarity that makes fishing them even more challenging.

"On other lakes, fishermen can pattern the docks," Troy said. "For instance, if fish hit at one kind of dock, fish can be caught off other docks just like that one all over the lake."

But that doesn't hold true at Norman."

"Instead, bass are very dock-specific. If you catch fish from a particular dock, remember that dock because you can catch fish off it on your next trip. But you can't catch bass off other docks just like it all over the lake."

Fox also finds pier fishing at Norman unconventional.

"Textbook rules are out on this lake," he said. "Basically, you go with what you know from experience."

To fish piers, Fox and Shook ease up to productive piers and fish each one about eight minutes before motoring elsewhere. Fox uses 1/2-ounce jigs and 1/2-ounce citrus-colored crankbaits to probe the docks and piers. He rarely flips, preferring to cast or skip his baits with medium-action baitcasting rods. Some rods have a fast tip for jig-fishing.

Shook uses similar baits.

"We mainly use big baits, such as jigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits, because we're looking for a big bite," said Shook, whose approach is an aggressive one at a lake where bass of only 4 pounds routinely take the big-fish awards at tournaments.

"We don't finesse fish very often, but if there is a time to go to smaller baits that would be in the summer."

The Armstrongs employ a different strategy, relying upon soft-plastic shad imitations worked slowly around piers for summer bass.

HIGH ROCK LAKE
Summer bass fishing has changed dramatically at High Rock Lake since the drought of 2002. Before the drought, High Rock crankbait artists, such as Lexington's David Wright, Gerald Beck and Salisbury's Spence Brunson, used to reel in big stringers of bass with deep-running baits that probed structure 7 to 12 feet deep.

But since the drought, steady rains and increasing pressure from lakeside residents upon Alcoa Power Generating Inc., the lake owner, to maintain more stable lake levels, have altered summer fishing strategies at the Rock.