That's a great question. While we did have a couple bites that were just heaviness (especially when bit right after freespooling the swimbait back down and then taking up the slack again), most were more of a very subtle tap, or tap-tap like a freshwater plastic worm bite. We also had a few really smack the baits short but just not engulf them--this was the "I'm not really hungry but you enticed me enough to play bite" bite. Those short bites turned our swimbait tails into fuzz. I guess the bottom line is, they bit with a little less conviction than when the water is warm (like 60 and above). When we got bit, it was on a very slow grind close to bottom, dragging the bait on the bottom with a rod sweep, or freespooling it back after 5-15 cranks. Any small tick or tug, and you needed to crank the slack out fast and then swing once the rod loaded up.

EDIT, if you get short bit on a retrieve, immediately freespool it back to try and trigger a rebite. Some fish or group of short biters going after a bait today required as many as 2-4 immediate redrops before the fish or one in the group would eat it enough.