So I've recently moved to the Midwest, and the highs are in the 30s, occasionally 40s, during the day now. I unfortunately only have a 7' 1" heavy fast action rod meant for bottom contact and a reel with fluro to go with it. What sorts of things would y'all recommend I throw for any kind of chance? I'm thinking a glacial pace C-rig, jig with chunk trailer, and maybe a really slow free rig.

  Water temp on my water was 50 degrees on tuesday, and the bite was much more open than just dragging.  My fish were on shad, and mostly moving on schools in 20-30' fow, and I was catching them working a tailspinner from the bottom to about 10' off of it, hopping a walk the dog retrieve of a duo Bayruf jig, and shaking a jig and minnow.  That said it's been real cold the last few days, and I certainly expect a big drop in water temp the next time I'm out there.  The slow stuff might be what i need.  I lean toward a compact jig w/ a no action trailer, shaking a minnow right off the bottom, slow swimming a tiny underspin w/ a 2-3" swimbait as glued to the bottom as possible, a suspending jerk bait tuned to ever so slowly sink, dragging a little tube, and my best producer, lifting and dropping a blade bait. 

  But this sudden drop in temp can really stun the gizzard and make them dumb easy meals if they get shocked.  This might fire up the bass for short periods, beginning/end of day always seem best on my water.  Tightlining a small flutter spoon, jigging spoon or tailspinner, and/or then reel ripping 2-4" jigging/flutter spoons a few feet off the bottom, deep cranking w/ short bursts and pauses, hopping a lv500 instead of a blade bait, and working an erratic finesse scrounger or chatterbait might all get a chance.  I stick to jigs and tubes as craw imitators and drag and shake at glacial paces when signs of life are absent, but mostly lean toward mimicking struggling shad with vertically fast and erratic but horizontally slow(ish) presentations and have been rewarded frequently with plus sized bass and decent bags.  The last few years have taught me to not overlook some of this faster stuff in the cold, the bass do get active in the cold water, it's just rare that the window is there for long.

 

scott    

Burn and pause a lipless crank in pockets near the dam and shallows of main lake points that are known hunting grounds for your lake.  This is what I did my last outing in Nebraska and got bit.

Midwest covers a large area with diverse bodies of water.  It would help to know where you are located.  I fish 4 different highland reservoirs in the Midwest in the winter and no 2 of them are the same.  

9 hours ago, Jig-Man said:

Midwest covers a large area with diverse bodies of water.  It would help to know where you are located.  I fish 4 different highland reservoirs in the Midwest in the winter and no 2 of them are the same.  

You're not kidding, it didn't even dawn on me that it could be a reservoir.

 

scott

What are your water temps? I fished in the snow and 30* air temps Saturday but the water was 48* still. The bass were very active, even chasing baits in to the boat still. 

Lipless crank.

Rip and sit

I did well on flat sided cranks until a week before ice up .

Rapala OG slim

and OG tiny

also some luck with Rapala DT 6

although not sure that rod would be the best for cranks