John, I'm up to fourteen retrieves now
(http://secretweaponlures.com/retrieves.htm), but I don't use all of
them in really cold water. For that, I sometimes drag a short-arm
spinnerbait along the bottom like a jig, or I move it just fast enough
for a big Colorado blade to revolve around the blade shaft.

A man I met on the bank of Hickahala Creek gave me a 1/2-ounce,
red-headed, chartreuse & white short-arm spinnerbait and told me to toss
it out past a cypress tree. As he coached me, I let it settle to the
bottom and then pulled it through the knees, too slowly for the blade to
swivel, until a three-pound bass slurped it up. No strike... just
squishy weight on the line. A few weeks later the events I recounted in
http://secretweaponlures.com/swe03.htm occurred. That story was written
about a frigid winter day -- January, I think.
Joe
-----------------

Joe, I couldn't get the first link to work, but the second one was a
great read.

The back lake here looks a lot like that creek...lots of cypress trees.
I have had some luck with the small arm spinners, just kinda bouncing
them along the bottom, exact same color as you mentioned....but I have
had better luck with fishing some of my go to worms the same way, just
bouncing them along the bottom through the cover, and also wacky rigging
them on a Texas rig. But it is really slow compared to the rest of the
year....I got spoiled this spring!

I also rigged up another rod today with Ronnie's winter
recommendation....jig-n-pig. Never ever fished that combo before, but my
son also endorsed the idea.

John