your lake should be similar to fish compared to table rock. at 48 degrees, those deep bass will bite. if you have kentuckies in the lake, they definitely will bite. one trick in using a spoon at this water temperature is to do nothing with the spoon. just let it hang, and once in while give it a little bumb. a gitzit haning in front of there face will also catch them, even better than a spoon will. i think you mentioned smallmouth. brownies love blade baits such as a sonar or silver buddie. just slowly lift and drop it down the contour. in table rock brownies can be caught shallower in the winter than lmg, and kentuckies. 48 degrees is a good temp to cath them on a crankbait if you want to target them. another method is swimming a grub. hope some of these tips will help. good luck.

bo

Where I am (Northern California), it never gets cold enough to freeze the lakes. And I never stop fishing, but the place I can fish sometimes become limited, not because of the temp but due to murky water.

I pick a day when a nice weather is expected to go fishing. So that in case I get skunked, it is still enjoyable. Today was one of those days. Rain is expected for next 5 days starting tomorrow, but today was nice. @ 8 am, I saw the frost on the lake shore, but the water temp was still around 52 degree. Caught 4 dropshotting, shad, worm and grub. They are small, but I still had fun. If the weather turns, I just come home.

Some pretty informative posts. Thanks everybody.

Thanks to all for the replies! I can tolerate being uncomfortable as long as there's still a decent chance (albeit low) of getting bit. Sounds like there still is, I'll keep plugging away.

Happy holidays and good fishing to all.

Bill