What Is An Underspin Lure? (Easy And Effective)

If a swimbait and a spinnerbait had a baby, it would be the underspin.

An underspin fishing lure is very effective for catching largemouth and smallmouth bass when feeding on baitfish schools.

I’m a huge fan of these, and you will be too.

It provides just the right amount of flash and vibration that triggers that reactionary bite, mimicking a wounded shad that has separated from the school.

And if you’re a bass, any easy meal is worth going after regardless if you’re hungry.

Because no matter how full you are, there’s always room for dessert, for me at least. Lol.

The best thing about these lures?  It’s one of the easiest lures to use and master.

Why?

Because 90% of the action is created from the lure itself, the other 10% is on the retrieve variations (Which I’ll mention below).

It will catch fish when the days are tough.

I had a tough day yesterday on the lake, it was super windy, and no one was fishing. I was able to land this guy on the underspin after throwing everything I had in my backpack.

If you’re unfamiliar with this lure type, don’t worry.

I’ll go into detail on the following:

• The different types of underspins on the market
• How to properly rig an underspin
• How to effectively fish and underspin
• When should you use an underspin to catch more fish

There are two main types of underspins that can be used to catch fish like bass, crappie, etc. 

Underspin Jigheads 

The first type of underspin is one with lead-molded jigheads, typically in the shape of a head of a fish.

You can buy them painted with eyes, or you can buy them raw and unfinished.

One of the key differences in using this type of underspin is that the hook is exposed.

If I were fishing at a lake where there’s hardly any underwater grass and weeds, I would throw this without fear of getting snagged.

Plus, with the exposed hook, your hook-up ratio should be better.

Belly-Weighted Underspins

The second type, and my favorite, is the belly-weight hook underspin.

The non-movable weight is molded along the shank of an EWG hook and has a screw head to bury into the nose of the swimbait.

The benefit of this underspin type is the fact that you can rig the swimbait weedless.

Same fashion as if you were rigging a texas rig worm or a fluke, but without pulling the hook through the tip of the soft plastic because of the attached screw head.

I would throw these in lakes when there’s submerged grass or weeds and when I want to bounce along the bottom.

I’ve got a swimbait hook size chart if you’re unsure.

Rigging An Underspin With A Jighead

To rig your swimbait with a jighead underspin, follow these steps:

Step 1. Insert the barb of the hook into the center of the swimbait’s head

Step 2. Follow the swimbait along the bend of the hook, making sure the barb doesn’t poke out of the plastic.

Step 3. Once the swimbait reaches the same distance up the shank of the hook where the barb ends, poke the barb out and straighten the body out.

Rigging A Belly-Weighted Underspin

To rig your swimbait with a belly-weighted underspin, follow these steps:

Step 1. Insert the screw head in the mouth of the swimbait and keep screwing it until the screw head is fully embedded while ensuring the swimbait is positioned correctly at the final turn.

Step 2. Bend the bottom half of the swimbait forward a little bit so that you can insert the barb of the hook from the belly. Run the hook barb to the top of the swimbait to make it weedless. Make sure to straighten the body out.

If the body of the swimbait isn’t straight when rigging both of these styles, don’t worry.

Just take the hook barb out and redo it. 

Using An Underspin

The beauty of this lure is that it’s pretty simple to use.

All I do is cast out, usually parallel to the bank at first.

How I like to retrieve it is to reel it in slowly, that’s it. 

Let the lure do most of the sing and dance for you.

You can also vary this a bit by slowly retrieving, then pausing for a few seconds, and continuing to retrieve.

The fluttering motion of the bait at the pause will typically trigger the bite or, at the very least, get the fish’s attention.

When To Use An Underspin

I find much success when I know there’s bait fish that bass can feed on. You can use them any time of year, especially in Spring and Fall.

One of the most successful swimbaits I’ve used on an underspin is a 3’ shad in baby bass or green pumpkin shad color.

The brand I’m currently throwing for swimbaits is the Megabass Hazedong Shad 3”.

Most underspin tackle in the market over here is way too big for a 3” swimbait. I was able to find a brand called Zappu Bredy with an underspin rig using a #3 hook.

Tip: I used the 5g #3 hook Zappu Bredy underspin with the Hazedongs, they didn’t have the #2 size hooks for these, so I took my chances. To help increase the hook-up ratio, bend the barb out with some pliers.