New year, new gear.
It’s officially 2025 and we’re kicking off the new year with a promise… a promise to give you more bass fishing content than ever before from the Riff Outdoors team here at Whiskey Riff. I’m going to challenge myself to AT LEAST do 1 informative, gear-focused, bass fishing article per week where I share tips and tricks and techniques that will help you put more bass in the boat. And of course, I won’t forget about you bank anglers either… I spend a lot of time just fishing off the dock when I don’t have the time to get out on the water.
If you read any of my fishing content last year, you know that I live on a lake in Southern Wisconsin, and I primarily fish out of Old Town kayak since it’s just a little more economical for me at this point in my life. I have two little kids right now so a bass boat just doesn’t make as much sense for the family. Plus, the Minn Kota on the kayak helps me get around my 1,000 acre lake just fine. I can truly cover the whole thing if I have enough time.
When it comes to gear, I’ll always try and be cognizant of budgetary constraints and try to offer some good options across all price points… of course, some baits are just gonna be a bit pricey no matter who makes it (hard jerkbaits for example). But every single product I recommend (with an affiliate link to on Tackle Warehouse) will either be a product I own and personally use, or have tried before and recommend. Every one, personally-tested fish catchers… guaranteed.
And one last note… these “Bait of the Month” type of articles are always gonna be relative to where you live. So for example, I’m iced up in Wisconsin right now… ain’t none of them going to work. If you’re in South Texas or Florida, maybe the water is a little bit warmer and 3 of the 5 are ideal. These lists will generally be for the middle 60-ish percent of the country, and then if you’re in the far north or the far south, you’ll want to adjust… maybe go up a month or back a month, depending on where you live.
All that being said, let’s kick off 2025 with my top 5 cold water baits for the month of January:
Blade Bait
I LOVE me a blade bait in the winter months and I think it’s a bit of a slept on lure. When the water is at its absolute coldest, just above icing over, I don’t think there is a better lure on the market than a blade bait for catch those lethargic, finnicky bass that are parking it down in the bottom of the lake for the winter months. And it’s super easy to fish… just drop it down there on a medium or medium heavy spinning rod (some guys will use a baitcaster), and give it a slight lift, just enough to feel it vibrate, and then drop it back down. Easy peasy.
Colors: Black Holo, Black & Gold
Colors: Ghost Bluegill, Black Silver, Blue Silver
Underspin
I’m going to title this category “underspin” because I love an underspin in cold water (I actually like an underspin in every season), but maybe you want to wind a swimbait on a jighead, or utilize your forward facing sonar and “shake a minnow.” Either way, you can probably use the same kind of approach with either of the three.
As far as the underspin goes, I generally like to utilize it in the same way that you might traditionally use a lipless crankbait in the cold water. A slow wind near the bottom, or even a “yo-yo” approach where you wind and kill, wind and kill can be super effective. You can take the same approach with a jighead and a minnow (utilizing FFS makes it much easier but you don’t HAVE to have it). Slow-crawling your favorite paddle tail swimbait can get similar results too. I generally like a medium spinning rod, a jighead somewhere in the 3/16 to 5/16 range… up to 3/8 if you have deep water, and I run 8-lb Sufix NanoBraid to an 8-lb leader (sometimes 6 or 10) on just about every spinning setup I have.
As far as an underspin goes, love the Sneaky Underspin from Great Lakes Finesse. In fact, I kind of love everything from Great Lakes Finesse right now…
Great Lakes Finesse Sneaky Underspin
And for baits:
Great Lakes Finesse Drop Minnow
Colors: Watermelon Pearl, Green Pumpkin, Crush Shad
Rapala Crush City Mooch Minnow
Colors: Green Pumpkin Disco, Electric Shad, Perch
And if you want a good paddle tail option there’s a handful, but I just seem to have the most success on the Largo Shad:
Color: Pro Blue Red Pearl, Arkansas Glow
Jerkbait
A jerkbait is a staple in cold water, one that I have tied on just about year around, but, it’s not exactly the easiest to throw. Well… to throw properly. Anyone can tie one on and catch a fish, but it really requires more technique and practice than the average bait. The most common approach is to utilize some kind of “jerk, jerk, pause” cadence in your retrieval, and the colder the water temperature, the longer you’re gonna want to pause it. Sometimes, painfully long pauses… but that’s where the strike will happen most of the time.
I like to use a baitcaster (St. Croix Victory), but many anglers, even some professionals, will throw them on a spinning rod. It’s pretty standard to use 10 or 12 pound fluorocarbon, and then depending on your type of lake, you’re gonna wanna look for long points, steep drop-offs, bluff walls and creek channels. Anywhere you can find transitions, deep to shallow pockets, and of course, if you have forward facing sonar… it does make it easier.
Colors: Elegy Bone, GG Megabass Kinkuro
Colors: Northern Lights, Table Rock, Hankie Pankie
Colors: Ghost Ayu, OZ Shad, Pro Blue
Crankbait
Cranking in cold temperatures can be a winning pattern if the conditions are right. Generally, I’m looking for a bit clearer water and some relatively shallow rocky bottom to entice that bite. It really just depends on your body of water, the depths you’re targeting, and the temperature of the water. Further north, I’m probably going to lean towards a flat-sided to start, so feel free to play around with a few different kinds. Slow-wind along the bottom, pausing occasionally to let it float up… cranking can be a really fun way to catch them in the winter.
Colors: Rootbeer Crawdad, Red Crawdad, Copper Green Shad
Colors: Spring Craw, Midnight Pearl
Ned Rig
This is a special one for all you bank anglers out there… of course, it works great if you’re out deep on the boat too, but if you’re looking for something you can throw from shore, or in your local pond… it’s a great option. All you need is a good spinning rod, and a 1/16th- 1/8th jighead. Just throw it out there and hop it around a little.
And I’ll even help you out with a relatively affordable rod to handle all your spinning needs
St. Croix Bass X Spinning Rod – 6′10 ML XF – $86.99
And two of may favorite ned baits:
Colors: Goby, Coppertreuse, Green Pumpkin Watermelon
Colors: Green Pumpkin Goby, Goby Bryant, Green Pumpkin
*This post contains links through the Tackle Warehouse Affiliate Program. While all products are independently selected by our expert Riff Outdoors team, if you use these links to make a purchase, we may earn a commission.
