What's the best way to fish a swimbait in this colder water during the pre spawn (water temps from 45 to 50 degrees) I use weighted underspins. 

Two retrieves for me in less that 55 degree water - 1. Slow enough that it barely swims correctly.

2. Rip it off the bottom and let it flutter back. But the bottom line is the fish will tell you. I was trying both of these retrieves for over an hour without a sniff. I was getting frustrated with no action and made a bad cast. As I was burning it back to the boat to make another cast, it got hammered. So for the rest of the day it was burn-burn-pause. Good luck!

I don't use an underspin this early, but two of my most productive retrieves are a slow, just fast enough to get that boot tail working and a couple of times during the retrieve ripping it. The other is just the opposite, burning it and them killing it before burning it again.  Hang on, because the strikes can sometimes pull the rod out of your hands. Whatever way you try, change something during your retrieve to get followers to commit.

I fish big swimbaits.  Glides, soft swimbaits, cranking baits and  slow sinking  multiple jointed swimbaits. Slow steady, or slow twitch.

Not underspins, but what has been working for me last 3 days is what can best be described as stroking a ned rig about 6" at a time.  Slow swim inches from the bottom second best. I got one each on a crank and spinnerbait today, so I won't be playing with crappie gear much longer.

14 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

I fish big swimbaits.  Glides, soft swimbaits, cranking baits and  slow sinking  multiple jointed swimbaits. Slow steady, or slow twitch.

With big softbaits (8" Pulse Tail or 10" Magdraft) do you ever find fish higher in the column? Or are they pretty much always hugging the bottom?

9 hours ago, Jig Rookie said:

With big softbaits (8" Pulse Tail or 10" Magdraft) do you ever find fish higher in the column? Or are they pretty much always hugging the bottom?

I took an 8 inch floating hudd, added some nail weights to make it suspend or sink very very slowly like ROF 3. I do fish them on bottom,  but I also love fishing them over the weed beds. Bass will come out of the weeds and nail it!!   I ordered custom real preys to sink ultra slow! 

3 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

I took an 8 inch floating hudd, added some nail weights to make it suspend or sink very very slowly like ROF 3. I do fish them on bottom,  but I also love fishing them over the weed beds. Bass will come out of the weeds and nail it!!   I ordered custom real preys to sink ultra slow! 

Yeah those Real Preys look so good and everyone I know who's fished them says they slay. Fish will come up out of weed beds even in this ice-out cold water, or are you talking later in the season?

5 minutes ago, Jig Rookie said:

Yeah those Real Preys look so good and everyone I know who's fished them says they slay. Fish will come up out of weed beds even in this ice-out cold water, or are you talking later in the season?

Last year in Ma, even tho we had a warmer winter then normal. I slayed in cold water on a very slow sinking hudd.  I was fishing in shallow water. I can fish this in very shallow water. Warm or cold. They’ll bite it! 

It’s great when they move up shallow in the spring! Right along the shore. 

Right on, thanks man!