Winter in Florida isn't quite like winter elsewhere. We do get some cold weather, and most veteran anglers have a snowsuit they can throw on for the first run from the dock in the morning. But that suit is generally shed by noon.

Gary Simpson finds that flipping in the shallow weed mats on Rodman Reservoir is the ticket for fast action during the spawn. Photo by Rod Hunter.

Winter in Florida means a day or two with freezing nights somewhere around Thanksgiving, followed by a repeat performance at Christmas and periodic freezes from then through the end of February. However, the bitter cold seldom lasts more than a few days at a time and the weather warms quickly in the wake.

The brief cold snaps are annoying but hardly debilitating. The bass shut down for a few days, but they're back in action on the following warm up.

While annoying, those brief interludes of frigid weather do play an important role in the seasonal cycles of largemouths. They tell the fish summer is over, and that the spring spawn is just around the corner. The result is that bass make a steady transition from their deep-water summer habitat to the shallow flats where they spawn.

In that respect, the period between November and late January is one of the most important "transitional" periods of the year for the bass. It's a major shift in their feeding habits and their locations. It can be a very active period, and a productive one for anglers who can stay on their toes and think on the fly. Here are three top waters where that philosophy can pay big dividends this year.

Rodman Reservoir
Summer normally departs this northern Florida lake in October and shakes the fish out of their hot weather doldrums. By the time November rolls around, cooling temperatures have the fall feeding frenzy in full swing, and getting in on the action is easy.

"The key pattern in November is for bass to be chasing shad," said veteran Gainesville angler Gary Simpson, who in addition to handling the fishing columns for the Gainesville Sun newspaper also manages the area's premier tackle emporium The Tackle Box. "The young-of-the-year shad have grown to the 4- to 5-inch range, and the bass are feeding heavily on them."

Bass munch shad anywhere they can find them. In the open waters of the lake's main pool, however, moving shad schools often mean moving bass. It can be tough to zero in on specific feeding areas.

There are, however, a number of submerged points and bars located along the original river channel and intersecting creek channels where bass can wait, instead of chase. The same can also apply in areas where topped out surface hydrilla patches create funnel areas where wind moves shad schools through.

Simpson has a better plan than just running around these areas and searching.

"The Barge Canal can be a real hotspot during this fall feeding period," he explained. "The lower section of the canal leading to the locks provides a deep-water refuge, with the berm wall cutouts providing ambush points. The cutouts were made to allow water to drain off the flats during drawdowns, and on a windy fall day, a lot of shad can be pushed through those cuts. Bass can move up and down the canal and park themselves at any cut that has shad moving through it."

Another plus for the Barge Canal is that anytime the locks are activated, a current flow is set up in the canal that can suck shad schools off the adjacent flats and through the cuts. It's the perfect place for bass to roam deeper water, while finding compressed shad schools moving into it via shallow cuts. Many a fall tournament has been won in the canal by anglers who concentrated on those cutouts.