This time of year fish are motivated by temperature and temperature stability so it is important to take the time to pick your spots well. For me, that means cruising around the lake with a compass instead of a rod observing both wind and the angle of the sun, and trying to determine what banks are get the most sunshine through out the day.

Once I find these sunny banks I try to find a few with deeper water nearby. If a spot has good sun and  is near deeper water, I want to know if any of them have 45 degree angled banks, as that angle will give you the largest and deepest warming zone. If can get all that, plus some protection from cold wind, convection from warmer winds, and for a cherry on top, maybe some wood or rock cover as these hold warmth longer than any other cover on the lake, then I’m set............man I know that sounds picky but I have seen and even participated in situations where it all came together and I went from no bites to a day of a lifetime by numbers and by size such as I experienced last Fen. 13th while helping FLW pro Fred Contaoi pre fish for a tour event at Clearlake CA. That day featured freezing wind, water in the low forties, and not even a bite for over six hours.

When Fred found the one spot that had all these factors and patterned the correct bait and presentation for us to use it was like he flipped a switch. Over the next 4 hours we caught over 100 bass for three guys, all in the 3-6 lb range and all on the same spot.

Lake Stafford At Stafford I found larger females in the 3-5 lb. class suspending on the outside edges of the first brush lines. I got them to bite ½ oz spinnerbaits, helicoptered in, around and over the brush edges. I also used a Chartreuse Balsa B that I banged through brush and wood. Both baits were more effective when fished very slowly and allowed to “snag and shake” the brush. Males in the ½ lb. to 2 lb. class were readily available in the shallower bank area between the shore and inside edge of the brush. Top baits for those guys were 4” Wacky Rigged Senkos, 4” Dropshot Worms, and Luck Craft Bevy’s and Pointers. The males also preferred a slow presentation, especially with the Pointer. When the cold wind started to really blow in the afternoons the best bite was flipping the shallow wood cover under the bigger trees in places where there was a lot of drift wood piling up. Best baits were 3/8th ounce Black/Blue flipping jigs, tubes, and beavers. Strictly a braided line situation.
Lake Soulajule Soulajule produced fish  for me in almost identical fashion as Stafford, but I had a hard time finding brushy, sunny banks. I found plenty of 45 degree angle banks and rock. I caught fish on Lucky Craft Pointer 100’s, Deep diving cranks in crawdad patterns and ½ oz. football head jigs in Brown/Orange with a Brown jumbo pork frog. I think if I had more time then I could have dialed it in tighter as there were a  lot of great sunny banks (but not brushy).
Lake Nicasio Nicasio produced a lot of smaller fish tight to sunny rip-rap on 5” wacky rigged senkos and baby 1- in Chartreuse shad. Bigger fish seemed to be off shore, though I only had two of these bigger 3 lb. + off shore fish. One on a Castaic swimbait in the carp pattern and the other on a Carolina rigged 6” black lizard. I think with more time I could get a decent pattern going.