I use the willow blade brass and love casting them over brush. I also just buy the heads and put my own bodies on them. I've even tied some hair jigs on their heads before.
I have used the Colorado blades vertical jigging buck brush with a fair amount of luck in clearer water.
Try and bend the blade and swivel away from the hook, to ears the head. I think I know what kind of "off brand" jigs you're talking about and that helped mine spin smoothly. The blade tends to lay down flat against the body of the jig.
Fishing is like pizza.......Even when it's not that good, it's still pretty good!
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