I havent honsetly fished much this winter, but as of lately i have had the fishing bug. i fish out on the warror river and just cant seem to figure out where there hiding or what to be fishing with. i figure with the water temo being so cold they would be in shallower water. correct? but i also know how there food source changes with winter and some of the bait fish they eat not being able to survive which makes bass not want to have to go far for food so they dont expend much energy. i have tried longer darker colored worms, slowing rolling a spinner bait. i also tried using my flipping set up with a mud colored mop jig and a paca craw and got a couple of small hits but nothing major. so long story short any of use verterans got any ideas of what i doing wrong or some tips on something else to try? :-?

first, whatever you fish, keep it slow. the fish will liekly be in the slowest or still water areas, toss in a bulky jig or worm. Sometimes you need to leave it sitting there for half an hour just twitching it until they either get hungry or get mad at it and finally hit it. Otherwise there is not much you can do in this cold water other than keep trying different stuff, and remember:

cold water = slow to no movement

warm water = fast movement

hot water (+90º) = slow deep lures

So far that has worked very well for me on these south AL/northwest FL lakes and ponds

I'll be on Bankhead (Warrior River) this weekend.  We have a house up in Hurricane Creek.  So I'll let you know what we did and how it worked.  I have been slaying them up there this winter even with the cold temps.  but it has been spotty at times.  I have caught fish slow rolling spinnerbaits around main channel docks, crashing timber back in Walker County Shoals with crankbaits, pitching jigs up in Hurricane and have caught some fish that I have found chasing bait on lipless cranks.  Head up towards Gorgas and get you some of that steam plant water if all else fails.

I live in birmingham man and I feel your pain - last winter the fishing was very stable and water temps never got much lower than 54 - caught spots on the coosa all winter long 

This winter is very spotty, and we have had many slow days....I fish with my neighbor and my only criticism to him is that he does not slow it down enough in these conditions - I think when it is this cold, you gotta keep that bait in front of those lethargic bass and hope they grab it...but I went fishing on my own last weekend (saturday) and no matter how slow I fished at multiple depths, I could not get them to take at all - frustrating - tell us how you end up doing and what worked best - I may be meeting a friend over in Tuscaloosa next weekend to fish the warrior, and I have never fished it before....is there damns that control current there and the like?