The fish the young man is holding looks like a hybrid cross between a BG and RES.
Try 1/64 oz jig hooks. I find pan fish are lots less likely to swallow them as opposed to regular fish hooks. I also like the way they present the bait better. Tip them with Gulp Alive brand artificial chartreuse waxies or a quarter to half inch long piece of the Gulp Alive worms. If the bite is really tough go to thin slivers of cut bait on the jig hook.
That is what I have good luck with in cold water.
John, do you find that the cold water bite is best when visibility is pretty clear, and worst in muddy water?
I can not say for sure but I do know if I get rain that causes turbidity both the feeding and the bite can be off a day or two. I do not know if that is because of the water clarity or barometric pressure or some other weather feature or what. But I do notice a tougher bite in those conditions. Then is when I sometimes go to a thin sliver of cut bait or a shiner. I suspect live worms or other live bait would also work but it has been a couple years since I used live worms. Since John F introduced me to the Gulp Waxies I find using the artificial Gulp baits stay on the hook so much better than live bait so I use it most of the time. I can often catch 8 or 10 fish before having to re-bait. With live worms it seems like it was almost every cast if I did not catch a fish a small BG would suck or eat the worm off the hook.
Another Gulp product I have found that works well when the bite is tougher is the small 1" Gulp Minnow. They do not stay on the hook as well as the Waxies (so are not as convenient and more expensive to use), maybe only twice as good as live bait, but I find fish will bite them when they sometimes will not bite my other offerings. The Gulp Maggots I also use but they only last about half as long on the hook as the Waxies so the Waxies are my preferred bait. I will use a single one most of the time but sometimes two.
It is important to point out that I have only been fishing very much for about four years. So I am by no means an expert at angling. This is just the way I have been pretty successful most of the time catching BG in my pond. I fish nowhere other than my ponds so results elsewhere may vary.
Edit: here is a picture posted in another thread of a SMB caught on a jig head tipped with a Gulp chartreuse Waxie.
small SMB caught on Gulp Waxie I think that is a 1/64 oz jig or maybe even lighter. If the bite is tough I do not use a swivel. I just happen to have one on that day as I was using other lures at times.
