Fin makes a great point here. I'm finding the fish to be sluggish at certain tide stages. If you want to increase your chances of bass success during the hot summer doldrums, being a little obsessive about finding cooler water will help you. It's so important I will avoid places I feel the water is too hot for good artificial action.

And remember, this is in reference to fishing artificials.....it's my experience that when fishing bait this can be important, but is less critical.