"The way you're fishing, it won't take more than three or four casts before you'll know if he's on the place you're fishing. But if you catch one, chances are that there will be more of them around. They'll gang up at this time of the year. You can go most of the day without a bite, then catch 10 on one spot. That's why you see such big weights caught in February and early March."

The one big difference between fishing a jerkbait slowly in February and working it much faster during the post-spawn is in how the fish react.

"The beauty of catching bass when it's cold is this: When you catch one on a jerkbait in the winter, he'll make one good run of about 10 feet, then he'll come right to the boat," Stone said. "It's not like late in the spring where they'll drag you all around the boat. About all the energy he's got is for that first little run, then he's done."

Lure colors are secondary to the spots you fish and getting the technique down pat. "It's pretty basic," Stone said. "On bright days, I like to fish something clear, translucent. On cloudy days, I like to fish baits with some kind of green hue. The real key is finding 'em and getting it down to 'em."