Summer isn't officially over until Sept. 22 -- and normally in North Carolina this month feels like summer, with high heat and humidity. Most people prefer air conditioning during the dog days, but if you want to catch bass, then slather on some sunscreen, pack a cooler and use the heat to your advantage.

Frequently, afternoon thunderstorms rinse away the summer sauna for a while, giving anglers a break. However, that may not be the best time to catch a bass in early September. Those thunderstorms bring cloudy skies and cooler temperatures, letting fish leave the deep cover and scatter around the lake.

But when the heat is on and the sun bright, fish stay deep, seeking the shade of cover -- and that habit concentrates them in small areas. Often the bite won't even begin until the sun is high, near midday.

As is often the case with bass fishing, largemouths in the face of steady weather and habitat conditions will fall into a pattern. Anglers who figure out the pattern catch the fish.

Around Labor Day, bass are still in a summer pattern, staying deep to find cover and cooler water. However, if we get some cool nights late in the month, enough to get the water temperatures to fall, forage fish will begin their annual move toward shallow water in the backs of coves. That movement of baitfish in turn triggers fall feeding patterns in bass.

EARLY-MONTH SUMMERTIME PATTERN
In Triangle-area reservoirs, even when it's hot, there will always be some shallow fish early and late in the day. Largemouths, stripers and white bass all chase schools of shad near the surface, but at midday with a searing sun and high temperatures, bass seek relief around cover on deep offshore structure.

Finding fish in the middle of the lake can be more difficult than finding them when they are relating to visible cover in shallow water or schooling baitfish, but by using a map and your depthfinder and dragging the right bait across the right spot, an angler in the heat can catch bass.

"Typically, many fishermen believe that in September the fish will move into the backs of coves, but I will stay with a summer pattern as long as a bite persists. It's hard to believe some of the big fish and numbers of fish caught in September, especially on Harris 15 to 20 feet deep," said Rich Szczerbala from New Hill (919/418-2912), a pro angler on the WalMart Bass Fishing League tour, a Triangle-area guide and marine technician for Brucato marine engine performance products.

"Typically, everybody believes that at that time of the year, you have the temperature change and the lake is starting to turn over. It is possible, if you have a cooler than normal month, that the fish will start following the bait to the back of the creeks," Szczerbala said.

But until there is significant cool weather to get the baitfish moving, summer rules on Triangle-area lakes.

"With the summertime pattern at Harris, I may start with a topwater bait the first hour in the morning working the points off the major creeks, then go to a Texas rig in about 15 feet of water. I use a 10-inch Zoom Monster worm in sapphire or green pumpkin colors or a 10-inch Culprit worm in red.

"I'll rig this with a 3/16-ounce bullet weight, trying to get just enough weight to keep it on the bottom. I use a 6 1/2-foot All Star rod with 15-pound-test on a Shimano Curado reel. I'll work this along the hydrilla grass lines (at Harris) on secondary points of the major creeks, White Oak, Buckhorn and Tom Jack. Also, try deep creek channels with bends in them.