Guide Reno Alley hoists a largemouth taken from a bulrush bed on Lake Walk-In-Water. Photo by Ernest Schribbler.

There are lots of things to like about South Florida, but winter is certainly near the top of the list. Even while successive cold fronts hold the state's northern portion in their grip, those fronts that make it to the state's lower portion are seldom severe. Normally, a light windbreaker is enough to ride out the "cold" front that has anglers in the upper portion of the Sunshine State slipping on their snowmobile suits.

Traditionally balmy winters give South Florida's bass a head start on their spawning cycle. And on most waters, January sees the first significant spawn of the year.

When that initial spawning cycle occurs, a lot of bass are going to be finning their way through easily recognizable shallow-water cover where they are very accessible to anglers. Also, studies have shown that the very largest bass normally spawn on the first cycle, which gives trophy hunters a better than average chance for success.

That opportunity for success also extends to the several-week period before the bass actually go on the beds. During this pre-spawn phase, these fish are moving up from their deep-water winter haunts to stage close to the spawning sites where they will bed.

If you know where they spawn, as well as the types of covers they stage on during the pre-spawn, the entire month can be a bass bonanza.

Here are two lakes where those goals aren't hard to achieve, plus an overlooked river that can be your bad-weather ace in the hole.

Lake Walk-In-Water
During the last five years, this Frostproof-area lake has undergone some significant changes.

Thanks to the Year of the Hurricanes and continued spraying of aquatic weeds, the abundant offshore hydrilla that once characterized this bass factory is gone. What hasn't changed is that Walk-In-Water still offers one of the top bass fisheries in the region, and January is a great month to get in on the action.

"The first spawn of the year will normally happen in late January," said veteran guide Reno Alley of Frostproof. "That makes most of the month a pre-spawn period, and some of the biggest fish of the year will get caught then."

On some lakes, locating concentrations of big pre-spawn females can be tough, but here it's a lot easier.

"The first spawn of the year is going to happen in canals," Alley explained. "And on this lake, there are two major canal systems. The Indian River Lakes Estates has a major canal system on the east side of the lake, with two canals leading back to the maze. On the northeast corner of the lake is the Nelcrest/Fedhaven system.

"The access canals run from the lake and then open up into large shallow ponds. These warm up faster than the main lake and are prime spawning sites. For most of January, bass are going to be making their way towards each of these canals systems and staging off of their mouths."

Where they stage is determined by the paucity of offshore cover. There is some bottom-stubble hydrilla and milfoil, but it'll take a depthfinder or a bottom-banging crankbait to find it.

There are also bulrush patches of varying sizes dotting the four- to five-foot depth range. This is where the bass stage, although they won't always be right in the middle of the patches.

"Bulrush is the most obvious cover," Alley noted, "and bass relate to it very well. But they may not be actually on it. They could be holding as far as 100 yards off of it -- upwind or downwind. And if anglers fish only the bulrush patches, they may miss those fish."