Strike King pro Mark Zona has three baits that he relies on heavily when fishing in cold water – 3.25” Rage Swimmer, Baby Z-Too, and 2.75” Coffee Tube. “When I talk about lures for really cold water bass, I want things that are not intrusive; that are subtle and I can basically slow down for the metabolism that the bass are in,” says Zona.
The 3.25” Rage Swimmer is “like the wacky rig of cold water,” Zona says. The Rage Swimmer generates a lot of bites in cold water and is versatile. “You can slow it way down as far as speed goes. You can also fish it like a bottom-bouncing bait,” he shares. When choosing colors for cold water fishing, Zona suggests that anglers stick with natural colors
Zona’s next selection is the Baby Z-Too because “it’s a bite getter that also catches big ones,” he says emphatically. “I won’t drop shot it in really, really, really cold water because actually, when you fish a Baby Z-Too on a drop shot, the bait gets a lot of action with the elastic technology,” he shares. So instead, Zona chooses to put the Baby Z-Too on a Tour Grade Ned Head to give it a smaller profile and slow down the movement.
The 2.75” Coffee Tube has a much smaller profile than the 3.5” Coffee Tube, so it has become a quick favorite for Zona when fishing in cold water.
“The interesting thing about all three of those is that you’ll notice a very, very small profile. These are bite getters. These baits mimic the profile of forage in very cold water – they mimic that size,” Zona says. Beyond their similarities in profile, Zona also chooses to use the same rod with all three lures. He uses the Team Lew's Signature Series Mark Zona Multi-Purpose 7’0” Medium Spinning Rod. He utilizes the 7’0” rod because it has the softest tip on it, allowing him to ease into hooksets with the tip absorbing most of the impact. On his spinning reel, Zona prefers 15 lb. braided line to a 6 lb. fluorocarbon leader.
“The areas I look for are the last live vegetation… it brings forage, and it brings bass,” he says. Zona focuses within the range of 15- to 22-feet of water to find the sweet spot to get bite after bite, as bass are usually grouped up in colder water. “Remember where you caught one, because generally he has a heck of a lot of buddies near him,” Zona assures.
