Bassin in December

I had never taken out the boat in December - until today, and never caught a bass in December - until today. A very long and difficult past few weeks (did I say very?) + a positive weather forecast = take advantage. So I did and although the weather did not turn out as planned, the fishing was good and the therapy was excellent.

Lake Coleman, on the water by 7:45 AM, water temp between 55-57 degrees, heavy overcast (fog early), no wind for the first two hours, then a slight northly breeze. The clouds never broke up and it stayed cool (50's) all day until I left at 2:00. The key for the day: SLOW retrieve. I caught 9 fish; 5 of them were nice keeper size between 1.5-2.5 pounds each. All but one fish came on a medium size bleeding shad rattletrap - on a slow retrieve (slow!). A few fish hit within 10 feet of shore in 5-8 ft of water; the others were further out in 10-13 feet of water. I hit my favorite points on the south side, caught 3 on the lake side. Tried the north cove (rattlesnake?) and finally caught a fish, 2 nice ones (I had tried on several trips to catch something in this cove - with not even a hit). Then back to the road bridge - caught one on the south side, then 3 more on the north side (2 good ones).

What didn't work today: soft plastic - both red shad worm and red shad brush hog failed to get any bites, spinner bait, a little top water effort, and the yellow-green crankbait (got one decent fish).