The answer to this question depends on one's definition of the word "consistently."  Micro, what is your definition of consistently catching bass when it is cold?  

After fishing thru winters on a big lake, on a boat, for almost 20 years, the most consistent bait/technique has been the jigging spoon. The bass school up and attach themselves to big groups of baitfish in the winter. Where ever the baitfish go, the bass go with 'em. That's how they eat in the winter, its easy for them and doesn't take much energy to bust up into a ball of shad a few times, get a few mouth fulls and then go back to just hanging out.

I never go out in the winter months just burning banks or fishing known spots that dont have any bait present. I won't wet a line until I am on top of baitfish. The more the better. Good electronics really come into play during the winter months.

Sure, you can luck out and catch the Lone Ranger Bass in 2 ft of water while burning a bank but there's no way I'd even consider fishing like that in the winter anymore. That method has proved itself ineffective too many times.

In the mid 30's on up to about 45-46, it's jigging spoon all the way. Once the water gets to 45 or so, I will look a little shallower with a jerkbait, still in the areas where the baitfish are. I won't leave the baitfish deal until the water stabilizes at 49-50. Thats when the craws emerge and the bass start looking to get shallow to spawn. It turns into a whole new ball game then.

Micro, the Silver Buddy is a good choice in the winter months. It puts off some good vibrations. A Hopkins spoon is probably my favorite but they are all along the same line. The Hopkins has a more erratic action on the up stroke but they both flutter on the drop, etc...

That's good advice from five.bass.limit.  And it brings up a question that was discussed in another thread.  What if the main forage on a lake is bluegill?  Bluegill behavior is different compared to shad.  Paul Roberts and I were discussing this in another thread and we were wondering if the bass in a "shad lake" would have more opportunity to feed in winter compared to a "bluegill" lake.  Both of us seem to notice that we catch more bass in cold water when the main forage is shad, as compared to bluegill.  

FBL wrote:

In the mid 30's on up to about 45-46, it's jigging spoon all the way. Once the water gets to 45 or so, I will look a little shallower with a jerkbait, still in the areas where the baitfish are. I won't leave the baitfish deal until the water stabilizes at 49-50. Thats when the craws emerge and the bass start looking to get shallow to spawn. It turns into a whole new ball game then.  

That is just a really great, and concise, synopsis.

As to bluegill-based (or other) waters, I can only go on what other anglers have brought to the table, especially ice fishers. They continue to catch bass. It seems that bass and (at least mature) 'gills (and perch) winter in similar areas. Like any other time of year location and presentation are key. It's not unlikely that some waters and years may be tougher than others. I haven't ground-truthed this in my own waters to know.

5Bass.  How do you jig?  I mean, I know how to jig, but how do you do it?  Straight up and down around the baitfish?

5Bass. How do you jig? I mean, I know how to jig, but how do you do it? Straight up and down around the baitfish?

Once I find an area that is heavily populated with bait, I watch the electronics for the biggest schools and take note of the depth they are hanging. After I get over top of them I just drop the spoon and try to count it down to the lower depth range of the bait school. (If you find the right school, it can be as 'tall' as 15'- 20', as in, you see bait stacked from 15' down to 30' - 35' down.) I fish the thick schools whether I see any bass on the graph or not. There are so many baitfish in these schools that the bass are often covered up.

Once I get the spoon into the school, I just start the up and down jigging. Using the buddy type baits I try to keep the line just tight enough to keep the hooks from fouling while its on the drop. I don't do that as much with the Hopkins types. The main things in jigging spoon fishing is keeping your spoon in the strike zone and keep it moving. Keep an eye on the baitfish on your graph. If they move, move with them. If you notice that the shad are somewhat shallow you can always make the longest cast possible and yo yo it back.

If you notice the bait is really close to the bottom, try a drop shot. Jigging a spoon on the bottom can be very expensive. They grab anything and everything when they hit the bottom. Sometimes you get them back, sometimes you dont.  

Loosing spoons and I go together.  It's one of he reason I never fish them.  I will pick up some Silver Buddies and try them like you said.  Everything you said about seeing baitfish on my finder is exactly what I saw last time I was out.  

I will pick up some Silver Buddies and try them like you said.

See if you can locate a Hopkins too, or maybe a War Eagle. Both have just one set of trebles. You really should try a few different kinds or at least have them on hand. Cold bass are picky.

Everything you said about seeing baitfish on my finder is exactly what I saw last time I was out.

That's awesome, especially if they're still in the same spot when you go back. If not, just cruise around til you find 'em again.

This past winter we found the mother load of shad piled up in this creek arm right off the main lake. The arm was probably 200 yards long, 60 yards wide and 40-50' deep down the middle. That load of shad stayed in there for about 5-6 weeks straight before moving out. Once we found them again, they had moved up the lake into another cut about 1/4 mile away and they stayed in there for another 2 weeks. Last winter was good times.  ;D

As far as the bluegill/shad debate goes, this is my opinion. In a lake heavy populated with shad, the bass will most likely hang with the shad thru the winter. Typically there are far more shad than there are bluegill, the shad are usually somewhat smaller and easier to eat and shad like to stack up in big groups. It's easier on a fish that is not wanting to expend much energy to feed to run into a ball of shad and get a whole mouthful rather than chase one or two bluegill all over the lake. I'm not saying that if a bluegill came swimming slowly by a bass that he wouldnt get the hammer dropped on him because he would. I just think bass like the convenience of following the shad in the winter.

I don't know about ice fishing but you see on the underwater cameras that there are all kinds of species hanging out together in one area whether there is shad present or not. Could be that the lake is not heavily populated with shad or the shad have died off during the icy months (which DOES happen)    

I have had one of my best days when the water temp was 36 deg but usally this temp is slow. I live in East Tennessee and as a general rule the following applies. The lake here are TVA lakes with deep water over 100 foot and not any aquatic grass. When the Temp reaches 49- 45degs, the jigging spoon, silver buddy and the float and fly will produce. This bite is very predictable and a 20+ pound bags a common. When the temp drops below 45 the bite slows and a spoon or float and fly will work the best. When the Temp gets to 43 degs, a lot of the thread fin shad die off and it gets hard to catch fish for a while. Fish can easily feed on dyeing shad early in winter.  Our lake temps in winter are 45 mild winter to some ice over in cold winters. In late winter I catch more bass when it gets over 43 degs and the temp is steady or rising. The fish will get pretty active.  All of my winter fish is on deep structure, points and bluffs and usually happen from 17-25 feet, but on cold winter 25-35 foot. The large mouth feed good down to temp of 45 and get hard to catch below 42. When it get below 43 I catch more small mouth than large mouth.

In a couple if ponds, I gave had some great days on small jerk baits or suspending spots. These pond might be 6 foot and were 39-45 degs. Had to let the baits sit and make short jerks and pause, caught 40 Large mouth from 3-6 pound. By the way it was a deep ditch that had the deepest water 6 foot.

If you find a sweet spot in a lake, they will be there every year . I have some spots on the GPS and I can go there and catch 5 that weigh 15 pounds and never move the boat. But some of these spots probably took me 40 hours of fishing, and they can be great!

I keep a log of water temps, lake level, weather that day and few before,  good day and bad

Hope this helps.

In this neck of the woods, Missouri, I'm betting the lake temps have also dropped below normal for this time of year.  We've been in a North Westerly upper air pattern for a few months now.  If I was going to go fishing I'd probably do the following.

Pick a clearer lake.  I've always done better this time of year on lakes that aren't normally off colored.

Jerkbaits.  In late fall you'll start to notice shad die off.  It's usually the larger fellows.  They'll be floating on their sides barely kicking waiting for their maker to take them to the promised land.  They're easy pickins for larger bass.  I'd look for wind blown banks with cover and work the baits much like in the spring.

Spoons.  Find deeper shad pods and look for the fish under them.  I'd concentrate around the ends of points that end on a creek channel.

Jig n frog.  I like bottom bouncing these on steeper rock banks or bluff ends.

Spinnerbaits.  Choose a heavier bait, at least 1/2oz with a smaller willow and s-l-o roll it.  The smaller willow blade will spin easier and allow the bait to stay deeper vs a colorado or Indiana which tend to cause the bait to rise.  

Crankbaits.  I've never had much luck with cranks. You can load them with suspend dots or strips to keep them down but for some reason the aggressive nature of the bait just doesn't seem to draw the strikes.

A bass's metabolism is finally tuned to its circulatory system temperature which is the same as the surrounding water temperature. In cold water their metabolism slows down, their brain slows down, so the bass slows down. In cold water a bass's instincts are less finely tuned, it has less appetite and it mostly stays suspended in a hiding place near the bottom.  

It is fairly easy to catch bass in cold water, if you can find them and if you use the right techniques. This means putting bait in front of a bass that looks right, makes the right sounds, and smells right. The colder the water, the slower the bass's brain operates so the slower you must present the bait or the lure is gone before the bass's brain tells it to bite.

There are two ways to approach bass during winter, one is to fish for suspended bass and the other is to locate bass either on the bottom or in close proximity to the bottom.

For suspended bass I use the following; Cotton Cordell's C.C. Spoons & Gay Blades, Hopkins Shorty Spoon, & Bomber Slab Spoons  

For bass either on the bottom or in close proximity to the bottom I use a Texas Rigged Craw Worm or a Jig-N-Pig

I think it depends on which strain of LMB you have in your area. The Florida strain does not seem to be as tolerant of colder waters and do really slow down in the 50's. The Northern strain seems like they can go much lower.

For me, the colder the better (water temp and it's still got to be in liquid form).  

Importance in my opinion?

1) Me not being miserable. (no 20mph winds and if it's falling from the sky, it had better be frozen).

2) Stable water temps. 45 degrees or colder and been that way for at least a week.

3) Baitfish "near".  I won't be fishing in the baitfish. I usually see balls of baitfish on the graph 10'-20' deep suspended over deeper water, I'll move over to the nearest bank and fish the bottom 5'-20' deep.

4) It will be a crankbait or suspending jerkbait that I cast to 5' of water and work it back to the boat which is setting lots deeper.

5) SLOW SLOW.   I just barely want to feel a crankbait wobbling. I want a suspending bait to stay stopped in one place for at least 15 seconds, then I give it a slow tug. Pulling it about 2'. Then let it set still again.

   I like small diameter flourocarbon. Keeps the lure down there and helps it get deeper than advertised. Braid will hold water and freeze instantly to guides and reels.

  Sometimes you will feel em hit it. Sometimes you'll see your line jump. But, most times you will begin a "pull" and a fish will just "be there".   9 times out of 10, if you get a good hard thump, It's a Drum.

 The suspended jerkbait works best for me when the fish are suspended. Might be a slight break in the shoreline under the water and you drag that bait over the break and the fish will come up and hit it.

 Crankbait around wood due to most minnow jerkbaits will get snagged if you get them within sight of a stump.  And for some reason I've had better luck with BRIGHT colors on crankbaits.  Reel it down, kill it, and a bass will just inhale it. Or, just reel it back very very slow and they will just sort of load-up on it.  

 I don't think anything swimming around in 39 degree water is Firetiger colored, and have no idea why that works better than a natural color in winter?

 

But, one thing is certain for me. From Nov-Feb, The colder the better for BIG Limits.