When the water is cold, bass are sluggish. They also eat less; about half of what they eat when the water is warm. So one of the keys for fishing bass in cold water is to make your lure an easy meal for the bass. You need a retrieve that is slow and deliberate. Suspending crank or jerk baits is probably the most reliable way to catch a bass in cold water.

When the water is cold, the heat in the lake will be in the deeper water. So head out there and skip the shallows. Cast your lure/bait and allow it to sink. When retrieving, start with a few twitches of your rod tip. Follow those with a few turns of the reel. Twitch, reel, repeat. Do this for the entire retrieval. Most hits will be just after the lure stops moving.