1st jerkbait trout of the year and first top water trout of the year! Water was 66 low tide. They wanted a small profile. Caught 7+ fish. Lots of blow ups. Trout were flying out of the water! What an epic evening of fishing! Learned a hard lesson: the stock hooks on a cheap top water bait failed. I changed the hooks and then the stock split ring failed. Don’t be like me. Change the hardware on all new lures. 
What river? What tide? We’re they close to shore? How deep of water? Awesome news on the top water i didn’t think they hit topeater in the winter but with these water temps maybe it’s not really winter fishing?
Wando river. Last 1/2 of the falling tide. They were on a 2ft-5 ft ledge. Middle of a creek. Water was 66 and they were looking up to feed so this was a Sping pattern. Also the reds are spreading out and not tightly schooled. I saw them feeding in the shallows and they were solo.
Thanks for the report E. I have noticed that my stock hooks would straighten out when my drag was too tight when using braid.With mono , I can set the drag a lot tighter because of the stretch factor.
Sman, guilty as charged
What top waters do you throw?
40inreds, I normally throw a top pup jr but the trout didn’t hit it. So I used a smaller profile lure for when they are keyed in on small bait or shrimp.