Cold-water bass fishing consistently calls for one thing- DOWNSIZING. With cold temperatures come lethargic bass, and most of the time, the bass are in no mood for a full-sized bait. Many anglers forget the Texas rig once the temperatures drop and turn only to smaller-profile baits like the ned rig and the drop shot. However, even when the temps are low, the Texas rig continues to get bit. By downsizing to a finesse worm or a smaller creature/craw bait, you can get bit on a Texas rig on sub 40 degree days.

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Video transcript:

Travis Manson:
Hey, guys. Travis Manson here. Obviously it's cold. And sometimes when it gets cold, you got to downsize. And that's what I'm doing today. I'm actually throwing a Texas rig worm, a little finesse worm, and I'm fishing a little creek channel here. And these fish are somewhat tight to the bank, but just offshore. And there's a lot of wood around and some good chunk rock. And I want to present my bait properly to these fish. I want to make it a lot smaller, a smaller presentation. And I also want to be able to make this bait come through this structure extremely well and look natural. So when we're fishing cold water, I'm going to show you guys how I rig up this finesse Texas rig if my fingers allow. So we take the finesse worm. It's real simple. We're just going to thread that hook point about a quarter of an inch into that finesse worm. I'm going to push that up along the shank of the hook, And I'm going to line up where that hook point would come out. And just like that. I want it perfectly straight and I'm just going to bury the top of that hook into the plastic to make it so it can come through cover a little bit more effective.

Travis Manson:
And there you go. So the whole key with this finesse rig is downsizing and keeping things really compact. And that's what a Tungsten weight is going to do. So Monsterbass Tungsten weight, a 1/16th is extremely small and pairs well with any your finesse plastics. If you were going to use lead, that would give you a little bit more bulkier profile. And the name of the game, especially in these cold temperatures, these cold conditions that we're facing, is to try to get as finesse as possible. And I don't have that weight pegged. Oftentimes in the colder conditions, I want that weight to just fall and because I'm working it so slow, an unpegged weight is actually going to give that bait a little bit more action. And you can do this with any type of finesse bait. You can use a small tube, a small creature bait, or a small worm like this and achieve the same results. And so it's going to come through all this structure that you see down this bank. A lot of lay downs, a lot of stumps and a lot of chunk rock. And now, because it's a 1/16th ounce weight, it's going to take a little bit of time for that bait to actually get down there.

Travis Manson:
So once that bake gets down there, I'm going to retrieve the bait back extremely slow, not a lot of movement. I hold that rod steady. And I just want to feel any little piece of cover that I'm going over. So for instance.

Travis Manson:
Here, I definitely feel a little branch and I'm just going to pop it off and just let it fall. And you'll notice I'm using a spinning rod for this setup. Now, when I get down to that 1/8th ounce or 1/16th ounce weight, a lot of times a spinning rod is going to allow you to get a little bit distance, a little bit better accuracy with your cast, especially with that small weight. And I'm really just going down this bank and picking apart everything, every little area that I can visually see. I'm also using my electronics. And so any type of structure that I can see, I'm going to throw this Texas rig worm at.

Travis Manson:
Now to me, throwing a bait on a spinning rod just feels really natural. I fish a lot of ultra clear water. I'm a big small mouth guy. And so oftentimes when I'm using a spinning rod, you're going to see me using braid. Braid is going to give you a lot better feel of what's going down there, especially in these cold conditions when you have to move your bait extremely slow, and you want to know exactly when to stop that bait and when to work that bait, having braid is going to allow you to keep good contact with that bait. Remember, we're dealing with such light weights, 1/16th, 1/8th ounce, being able to have feel and know exactly what that bait's doing down there, is extremely important.

Travis Manson:
Now you'll notice because I'm using braid, I don't want to just attach that Texas rig to straight braid. I'm going to be using a Fluorocarbon leader. This is a eight pound Fluoro leader, and you can get away with eight, 10, 12, whatever you're comfortable with. I'm going to be able to pull that fish out of here and fight it here in the open water so I feel fine using eight. The lighter diameter leader that you have is going to make that bait look a lot more natural. It's going to fall a lot better through the water column. But keep in mind the smaller your Fluorocarbon leader, the more you have to be aware as far as when you're fighting the fish or where you're casting to.

Travis Manson:
So I have to be extremely thorough in these temperatures. These fish are not going to be really active. If it was summertime. And I was throwing a Texas rig through here, I'd be able to hit this spot, this spot, that spot and move on. But because it's cold, because these fish are not going to be moving, they're not going to be chasing, I'm going to have to throw this Texas rig bait, this finesse Texas rig bait, and really slow it down. And I want to hit every little branch, every piece of cover that's coming off of this lay down because those fish are going to be extremely tight to it. And I want to be able to make sure I cover this whole lay down before I move on to the next one.