Another thing you will need to remember is that bass are creatures of instinct, and if you place a bait in their strike zone, there is a good chance you can trigger the fish's natural instinct to hit that bait just because it is where it is...  Now, this is not going to be as easy as it seems, because in cold weather conditions, the strike zone is not going to be very large at all.  The good news is that we know the bass will be near structure now more than any other time of the year.  If you just cast parallel or fish vertically right on structure such as brush lines, where the bottom structure drops off sharply, or near logs, larger under water trees, or stumps, and fish slow, you should be able to overcome the cold water conditions and catch bass readily. 

To get the full "Cold Water Bass Fishing Strategies" article you'll need to download it here.