Drew Cook remembers a chilly February day on Lake Seminole when he reaped the rewards of a pattern often overlooked by other anglers. Faced with overnight lows in the 30s, he took to the water with a buzzbait and a frog. There he proceeded to boat 26 pounds of bass in a few hours by targeting fish spawning earlier than most. “It was really a lot of fun,” says the four-time Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic qualifier. “We hammered them for hours off of stumps.”
The surprise winter pattern that paid off for Cook is one that anglers across the country can replicate — even if they’re not perched on the Florida/Georgia line — if they take Cook’s advice and know where to look. Under the right conditions, it’s also a
