The underspin is quickly becoming one of the most popular and effective lures in bass fishing.
But you shouldn’t just tie it on blindly.
First, you need to understand underspin bass fishing to the fullest.
An underspin is a jig head or weighted EWG hook with a blade hanging below the bait.
The underspin is designed to be used the a paddle tail swimbait, and adds some extra flash and vibration to the presentation.
Think of the underspin as a more compact and natural looking spinnerbait.
The jig head underspins are made with the same jig heads that you would normally rig a paddle tail swimbait on.
They just have a small arm and blade attached to bottom of the jig head.
These are ideal for open water and clear water fishing conditions.
When fishing around grass or wood, you need a weedless variation of the underspin.
These EWG, weedless hooks have a blade attached to the shank of the hook and hang just below the body of the swimbait.
These underspins aren’t quite as natural looking, but are necessary for fishing around cover.
Finesse underspins come in both the jig head and weedless styles. These are really effective in very cold water conditions.
Or when fishing for smallmouth and spotted bass that prefer a bit smaller forage.
As with pretty much any bass lure or rig, the underspin can work all year round and in all water conditions.
However, these are the best scenarios where underspins really shine and can be incredibly lethal.
Without a doubt, the fall season is the most popular and effective time of year to use a underspin setup.
During the fall and late fall, bass start to school up a bit and feed on the huge school of baitfish that are transitioning into winter.
These bass will be suspended and looking for flashy prey. For years, the spinnerbait was the go-to lure for these bass.
But bass have been conditioned to avoid spinnerbaits a little bit. The underspin is a much more natural presentation.
The soft plastic swimbait is subtle, enticing, and realistic.
And the small blade gives the lure a bit more flash and sets it apart from all the other shad and baitfish that the bass are hunting.
The pre-spawn is actually very similar to the fall season. Water temperatures are fairly cold and bass are feeding up.
Of course, water temps are going upwards and bass are feeding up for different reasons.
But their behavior is actually very similar. One big difference is that bass will be much lower in the water column compared to the fall.
So fish a heavier underspin to get the bait a bit farther down.
You are probably noticing a bit of a trend here. Cold or cool water temperatures.
Yes, underspins really shine when the water temps are a bit lower.
There are only two scenarios where I will fish an underspin setup in the warm months like the post-spawn and summer.
The first scenario is cold front fishing. When a summer cold front rolls through, bass get a little bit confused.
The normal power baits like spinnerbaits or crankbaits might spook these cautions bass a little too much.
But an underpin is still very natural and relatively subtle. It allows you to cover lots of water while not relying on reaction strikes from aggressive bass.
This is the second time where I will use underspins in warm water.
Remember when I said that underspins are like more natural spinnerbaits. Overcast situations are ideal for spinnerbait fishing.
But in really clear water, the visibility is still a bit too high for spinnerbaits in my opinion. But an underspin is absolutely perfect.
It has the flash that gets bass’s attention in cloudy weather, but also has a natural swimbait body and action that looks great in clear water.
You can pretty much fish an underpsin anywhere.
It works fantastic in open water for suspended bass and also works great around cover when using the a weedless underspin.
I would say that underspins aren’t really shallow water lures. Under 2 feet of water, I wouldn’t really use them.
They are best for catching suspended or cruising bass that are feeding on bigger schools of baitfish.
Ultra shallow water bass are usually ambushing bluegill or crawfish.
But outside of really shallow water, you can use a underspin pretty much anywhere with tons of success.
Your retrieval is going to be very simple. Fish these the same as you would a swimbait or spinnerbait.
A straight reel with occasional jerks. Retrieve a bit slower in really cold water and a bit quicker when the water temps are still rather high.
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