In this severe cold we are having, I felt some winter tips might help the avid angler on Guntersville at least the ones that are brave enough to challenge the lake on these cold January days. The first thing I must tell you is to be patient. Patience is a virtue that not all of us are blessed with, but a patient fisherman in cold water and north winds will pay big dividends in these cold January days. Next work your baits with patience, meaning be thorough and cover the water area you are fishing completely, and slowly and with precise casting especially around cover.
Choose baits that allow you to be a patient fisherman, you just can't crank rattle baits and be a patient fisherman during this time of year. Patient baits are baits that allow you to fish slowly like a jig or worm or jerk bait. These baits in most cases can be placed where you want them and worked thoroughly and slowly so you can fish an area in detail.
There are also many baits that can be fished both as speed baits and as slow moving winter baits like spinner baits, here is a bait you can slow roll over and around cover. You can drop it and make it flutter down ledges and in a lot of cases this can be great in the winter. I also suggest that you find crank baits that suspend, any suspending bait is ideal for winter fishing. So if you are fishing 20 feet deep with crank baits the type that suspend can rock and twitch on the bottom or near it with very little effort. I personally believe in suspending crank baits in cold water, actually to the point that I just will not buy a deep running crank bait for the winter that will not suspend. It just will not get to my box, unless I know it suspends.
An avid winter fishermen, fishes slow, precise and covers the area being fished in detail!