I'm trying to get better at offshore fishing but I usually fish in the summer between 5AM and 11AM. When fishing early, I haven't had much success catching fish on offshore structure until later in the morning. I like to throw bottom baits like big deep diving crankbaits, carolina rigs, shakey heads, etc. Should I be using baits higher in the water column during morning hours in the same depths, or should I fish shallower until the sun has been up for longer?

I think you should fish where the fish are. Early, up shallow, then as the sun move up in the sky get deeper. There are fish that live most of their lives off shore. These fish will suspend off the edge of structure and move in and out, not up and down. These can be really hard to catch. They generally will only grab a bait just above their head. Usually will not go down to get one, but they will go up. So if your on the bottom your just going under them.

I spend at least the first 30 minutes graphing over some key spots and won't actually start casting unless I see some bait and/or bass nearby. If it looks like the dead sea on my graphs I just move on to the next spot. I just wasn't sure I was wasting my time fishing offshore spots when, like you said, alot of fish will suspend during certain times of the day. I don't even bother going after suspended fish.

Yes this, the fish feed shallow at night and they tend to stay with that until the sun gets up high around 9:00. I usually fish as if I'm fishing for spawning fish from daylight on to that time and then begin to move off deep. There are a few lakes where you can just stay shallow and still be on fish. Palestine and Tawakoni seem to be in that realm. I fish Fork and Bob Sandlin and they seem to be more of a shallow to deep kind of deal. I've fished Lake O' the Pines and caught fish shallow and deep no matter what time or how hot it was., but generally the shallow to deep deal works on most lakes.

Agree with the above responses. Shallower in the AM, and when the sun gets high move out and check the deeper structure. Bright sunny days will help you find them setup on specific structure, cloudy days will likely get them roaming. Cloudy days tend to be tougher tracking them down to pattern.

Wind is your friend, wake boats are not your friend.

When we say start shallow in the morning, we're still talking about shallower areas near the deep structure, right? It's not like the bass went a quarter mile from the mouth of a creek all the way back up into the back of the creek arm during the night, unless I'm totally wrong here.

Fish should be on top of points, deep humps, ridges or ledges where they are feeding and slide out deeper as it gets hot. During summer, some lakes start generating electricity as energy demand allows so you may get active feeding in those same areas later in the morning as current increases. Idling over your fishing area looking for fish before fishing could also be spooking them. Go to the area stopping out deep and start casting shallower while easing along with your trolling motor. Once you have fished up to the shallower area, turn and start casting out deep. Sometimes it is more presentation. I seem to catch more sitting shallow and casting deep during summer.