Its very cold and i want to know were large mouth/ small mouth will hit. top water plug, worm, jig? (if jig i need ways to use it)

Bass go where the food is except during spawn. Don't worry about air temp- worry about water temp. In cold water my old rule of thumb is deeper and slower and the topwaters are usually left in the box.

thank you

thank you

for large mouth bass I use worms once the water temp. starts to decrease. They ike hanging out near rocks because they give of heat. make your presentation very slow, because they won't bite unless it is very slow and right in front of their faces. this is because they don't use as much energy when they are cold so you won't catch as many as you would when the water temp. is warmer because they are less active. So i would say worms are the wway to go when the water temp. is low, and make sure to present the worm to them very slowly and cast back in the same spot a couple of times because they don't bite on the first cast often. thats why you should cast in the same spot multiple times before moving on to a different location.

In my opinion, up-sizing your lure can help tremendously. During the warmer months I like to throw 6-8 inch worms. When it starts to get cold I'll go up to a 10 inch worm. By the time the water temperature reaches its lowest point I'll be throwing 12 inch worms. Either way, if you don't keep it slow, deep, and in contact with the bottom you won't get anything.

Posted By RedneckDMNC on 09 Feb 2012 10:35 PM
In my opinion, up-sizing your lure can help tremendously.

Now that's an interesting take on the situation...everything I've read or heard said to DOWN-SIZE during these conditions.

It does make sense in a way. When the temps drop fish get lethargic and won't chase. They look for the best return on their effort. A big, slow moving worm might just be more than a bass can pass up! Any place you find water that is even a bit warmer than the rest of the lake is liable to attract fish.

During cold water periods I like to use a Jig & Pig.
The jigs are from a 1/4 oz to 1 oz.
The Pork is 3 to 6 inches, the split tail eel is my first choice.
Black or a dark green.
As stated above your presintation is slow.
It may take me 10 min, per cast at times to bring a lure in.
At times I will fish it by rocking the jig just enough to raise the pork.
I use real Pork as it is not effected by the cold water like plastic.

as it gets warmer, nothing for me beats a slowly fished Smithwick Rouge. fish it with really long, slow sweeps with about a 10- 15 second pause in between.

Until about the mid 70s I and most other fishermen I knew kept fresh fish on the table all winter by feeding baitshop goldfish or bream caught with crickets to whatever species ate those live baits. I fished the main river bends where tall underwater trees that once shaded the river banks are home to crappie as well as schools of wintering bass feeding on the smaller fish there. When artificial baits fairly resembling bream caught my attention I began skipping the live bait step, fishing those around the tree schools. I was a worm angler from the original Creme brand rise to fame, but didn't catch enough bass on them in really cold water to count on those. They got too stiff when that cold anyway, not very convincing. As I learned more places where bass spend the winter I was able to get away from open water fishing where boat control was a dangerous chore. Any artificial lure that looked like a fish did fine, and still does. However, like said above, bass will stick with the food supply once they find it, mostly bream and small crappie/gills in the South, and if they are really lucky, finding shad schools. The other important thing is presentation of the bait. The baitfish the bass hang around don't swim around wasting energy, but must feed as do all fish in winter. They hover motionless much of the time, finding just enough food to dart up to to survive, making themselves targets for predator fish. Your task is to imitate their stop-n-go movements, mostly stop with some jiggle. I like dive-to suspending baits with rattles (any brand if they swim as claimed), twitching them at whatever depth seems logical, as long as it is above the bass school.