I have never fished top water in the winter, but it's my go to the hour after sunrise and before sunset in the spring, summer, and fall. If the popper or buzz bait won't bring them up, the jitterbug will. The bass around my area slaughter a jitterbug. Most of the time I reel it just fast enough to get it wobbling, with short pauses near cover/structure.

Got my first buzzbait strike yesterday and it was awesome....and happened a foot from the shore too!  Got the hang of "walking the dog" with a spook-type bait but didn't like it as much.