You can catch spotted bass by fishing points with jigs, grubs and tubes in the winter, especially after a hard freeze is followed by a warming trend.

Fish a 4-inch finesse worm in deep brushpiles, using a 1/4-ounce slip sinker up a 10-pound-test line on a heavy-action spinning rod. Fish vertically over the brush, and let the finesse worm get down in the tree. Shake the worm. Set the hook really hard, and start reeling as soon as you set the hook to get a spotted bass out of the treetop.

Use this same strategy with either a brown or a green-pumpkin 3/8- or a 1/2-ounce jig for spotted bass. If you don't get a strike, allow the jig to fall to the bottom on the next try. Then jerk the jig up off the bottom, and let it fall back in the cover.

Spotted bass usually will take the jig on the fall. The wind seems to mass the shad on rocky points, and the spotted bass will position themselves beneath the shad when the lake's windy. Ripping a spinner bait from the bank out to deep water is the best way to catch spotted bass on windy days.