Does anyone here catch fish on bluegill type swimbaits other than for bed fishing lures? I'm looking into throwing more of this stuff early this year.

A little hard data fun for the day from our big fish database. Here are the top 5 lure colors for big fish, excluding swimbait fish and bed fish (otherwise trout and bluegill would have been #1 and #2).



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7137-color.gif

yup love the bluegill baits! Im a big fan of throwing them over trout baits but sometimes you gotta roll with trout with the way they stock them.
I'm especially partial to watching a bass blow up on a floating gill bait twitched like its injured.

My favorite colors have been the male BG patterns and also a yellow/green pattern.

What's your favorite bluegill bait and how do you fish it?

My favorite so far has to be the k;s labo gills. Theyre not the biggest gills on the market (bout 4") but there is something about them that gets me bit vs other BG baits. I fish the floaters very similar to how people fish the bd shellcracker (i swear im the only person who cant catch a fish on these) - throw it in likely spots and give it the twitch every once in a while. It also calls up fish very well when slow-rolled since the retrieve action makes a good knocking noise. The sinker just gets slow rolled most of the time.

I am really looking forward to trying out Matt's new gill baits though, I have no doubt they will perform as well if not better than these.

The main forage in the lake I fish are Bluegill. I have tried them all and have found a few winners. Many are just crap that look cool but simply do not get bit or fall apart. Here are the winners:

I have been using the Jackall Giron with good results. I have not caught any big fish, but good 3-5 pound fish and in good numbers. It sinks pretty slow and almost suspends around 10-15 feet. At my lake this is perfect. At night when the BG have finished spawning there are a ton of 3-4" in 10-15 feet of water. They move up and feed on bugs on the surface. I think they move up there so that they can see better in the dark? Anyways I cast it out and let it sink. I give it 2-4 cranks and stop the bait. I give it a long pause and then repeat the cranks. Many times I get bit right after the pause. This baits works day and night.

The K's Labo gill is another great bait. I use both with good results pretty much the same way as it was described above. Another day and night bait.

The Baitsmith Madgill(?) has lost a lot of fish for me. I have hooked and lost more fish on this bait than any other swimbait I own. I have tried rigging it a hundred ways with the same result. I notice that the fish hit it from the side and most of the time they are not really hooked. Its just stuck sideways in their mouth. The fish that eat it normal like they would a Hudd for example stick. I fish this bait in the 15-25 foot zone similar to a Hudd. It runs well and does not foul. Casting is pretty decent too as many BG baits do not cast worth a crap. I have caught more on this bait during the day than at night. It must be more of a visual thing than the swim. The tail doesn't thump hard enough to draw the fish away from cover at night.

The 3:16 BG works also. It swims better than almost all the baits but the profile just isn't perfect. I do like that it hooks every fish that eats it with his break away design. Now if you could put his design into a bait that looks like the Baitsmith then it would be a real winner. I can fish this bait at all levels because its pretty heavily weighted. I notice this bait gets bit better up shallow or near docks in low light conditions or at night.

With all of this being said I think many of the baits that mimic BG are just a little too big. The big bass may have learned that eating a big 'gill could result in their death. I like the 4" size as it has given me the best results overall.