Lure seems to attract other species

[Preytorien]

I fish one lake that is VERY clear, almost gin clear. It's clean and has very little vegetation. There are good sized bass in there, with a good range of smaller ones too. Also inhabiting the lake is a pretty healthy population of bluegill. Some of them get pretty big and they're pretty aggressive.

In fishing it, I like to use a Duo Realis Spinbait 80, in bluegill color. It seems to be a consistent producer of bass in all sizes almost every trip. Lately though I've noticed a trend, and I'm not sure how to stop it. I fish the Spinbait, and the ONLY fish I catch are bluegill. I'm not sure if it's because they don't give the bass a chance to track it and swipe at it, or if maybe the bass are someplace else in the lake. But in the past four trips, I've caught a bass with spinnerbaits, Ned Rigs, senkos, and small poppers, but the minute I put on a spybait, the bass bite shuts off, and I start whacking bluegill. 

I'm not necessarily upset to catch bluegill, it's a good fun time, and I know I could just switch back to the other baits, but it's more the question of....

Any idea of where these bass went -or- why they don't bite the spinbait?

[J Francho]

Better question....why aren't you fishing a blue gill bait?  Something like a 3" swimbait.

[primetime]

The bass may be chasing Shad in different parts of the lake and the bluegills are feeling bold and in charge of their turf since the Bass have moved on to different areas to chase Shad and they are feeling safe and think that Spin Bait is trying to move in on their areas.....

Sometimes Bluegill can be aggressive and hit large lures, I have had average bluegills smash topwater lures like large bass. Kind of strange but some panfish spawn at odd times of the year or group up.

 

[bigbill]

Catching bluegills on bass spinnerbaits? Upsize to get rid of the pesky smaller fish. But expect the bigger pickerel to strike too. They are an awesome game fish. I enjoy there fight.

When you have some bluegill on the line reel it in slow and wait for a bass to strike it.

[j bab]

3 hours ago, bigbill said:

Catching bluegills on bass spinnerbaits? Upsize to get rid of the pesky smaller fish. But expect the bigger pickerel to strike too. They are an awesome game fish. I enjoy there fight.

When you have some bluegill on the line reel it in slow and wait for a bass to strike it.

Spinbait =/= spinnerbait 

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

Better question....why aren't you fishing a blue gill bait?  Something like a 3" swimbait.

I'd love to throw a Gantarel there 

[smalljaw67]

Lucky Craft Pointer 100s are musky magnets for me. The problem stems from the fact that musky are cold water fish and that is when the Pointer 100 is the most useful to me. I've lost 7 Pointers over a 2 year span to Muskies, but the strange thing is any other jerkbait doesn't seem to get the toothy fish going, only the Pointer in the 100 size.

[Preytorien]

15 hours ago, J Francho said:

Better question....why aren't you fishing a blue gill bait?  Something like a 3" swimbait.

Ha, that's a good idea. But the Spinbait 80 comes in at 3 1/8th already. But why switch? They chase that thing like it stole something. I guess I could downsize everything and just have an outing for bluegill but the size of the spinbait makes the ones I catch on the larger size of things, so it's actually pretty fun. 

[lakeannaangler]

1 hour ago, smalljaw67 said:

Lucky Craft Pointer 100s are musky magnets for me. The problem stems from the fact that musky are cold water fish and that is when the Pointer 100 is the most useful to me. I've lost 7 Pointers over a 2 year span to Muskies, but the strange thing is any other jerkbait doesn't seem to get the toothy fish going, only the Pointer in the 100 size.

Same here. In the winter you can't throw a jerkbait without getting bitten off. I've used wire leader but then the bass won't bite the lure.

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, Preytorien said:

Ha, that's a good idea. But the Spinbait 80 comes in at 3 1/8th already. But why switch? They chase that thing like it stole something. I guess I could downsize everything and just have an outing for bluegill but the size of the spinbait makes the ones I catch on the larger size of things, so it's actually pretty fun. 

No, I was thinking something with a tall profile, blue gill pattern.  Something like a Mattlures U2.  The Ganteral mentioned above would work well too.