Can't help you because all my winter fishing is through the ice. I fish pan fish with small ultra lite jigs tipped with spikes or waxies. I get lots of bass while trying for sunnies and crappie. They are a real pain because we use such lite tackle and get broken off easily. The reels we use don't really have a drag so it is over in a flash sometimes. If I was able to fish open water in the winter I would try to fish low and slow with carolina rigs. Don't know if it would work but that would be the way I would initially try.