I am going to be fishing small ponds and lakes soon. Weather is around 45* and sunny. not sure what the water temps are but its probably lower by a few degrees. What lures work best? any other advice is appreciated!

This time of year, warmer days & some sun can really help.   Perhaps try to fish places that have the sun shining on them, are somewhat sheltered from the wind, & are perhaps close to deep(er) water.   Then, throw baits that you are confident in and Fish SHALLOW.  The bass will come to you.  They are coming shallow to warm up & Eat.  Fish holding out deeper may not be looking to eat.  If there's bait around - even better.  Be patient.   A jerkbait fished with a slow stroke & a decent pause can be deadly in this situation.   

A-Jay

The nice part of this time of the year is that you don’t need a lot of poles on deck.

I have Jerks to 12feet

hair jigs, painfully slow

shakey head with red floating finesse worm

Fish the warmest part of the day.

As mentioned, jerkbaits with long pauses and small twitches; not the big rips you see them use on MLF.

10 minutes ago, Smokinal said:

As mentioned, jerkbaits with long pauses and small twitches; not the big rips you see them use on MLF.

Like this ^. I like the drag and dangle" with a husky jerk or rouge in really cold weather. Do mix in a couple of "wind shield wipers" here and there though..