Best baits to throw in no shad, bluegill only areas.(Literally only bluegill)

[Moonlander34]

Hello, I’m an angler in the marin county area, and over here, we have no shad. I was wondering what baits to throw in areas like this.(I’m sure this can help others, too!)

[Scott F]

I wouldn’t be too concerned about there not being shad in your waters. Shad baits will still work. There probably aren’t many worms in there either, but I’d bet they’ll still catch bass too.

[papajoe222]

Welcome to the forums. 

Matching the hatch can make a difference in bass fishing similar to finding what color will catch them when others won’t. Unlike trout fishing, that is rarely the case. Plastic worms and spinnerbaits don’t resemble anything in a bass’ world, but they will frequently be caught using them. Even shad shaped lures in oddball colors will, at times, produce results, so don’t limit yourself to only bluegill imitating lures. 

You will learn overtime, that it’s much more productive to use the ‘wrong’ lure in the right place (where the fish are), than to use the right lure in the wrong place. 

[swhit140]

All different lakes have all different bait fish & creatures in the water. Fish will bite anything if presented well and in the right location. Many of our lakes have lots of bluegills, bass will pretty much eat anything. I think you can never go wrong with a spinnerbait or plastic worm. You never know what they want from one day to another or weather conditions.

[waymont]

Bluegill patterned swimjigs!

[Bluebasser86]

Bass aren't smart enough to see a shad imitating bait and realize there's no shad in the lake. Maybe even the opposite where they see an out of place baitfish and see it as a possible easy meal. Besides, baby bluegill have a lot of white on them similar to a shad, and so do crappie if they're present. 

[Catt]

6th Sense Movement 80X

 

Chart Black Back works pretty much everywhere 

[Harold Scoggins]

Although mine has long been retired, I've landed bass on trout colored baits where there were no trout. The same goes with shad and blue gill style baits. Bass are opportunistic predators and will go after almost anything you put on the menu. Matching the hatch is always something to think about, but don't be afraid to stray outside that box.

[Fishes in trees]

I'd probably lead off with a wacky style senko in some shade of green pumpkin or watermelon.  I'd probably use some chartreuse dye on the tail.   I'd lead off targeting deep edges of weediness.

[Jermination]

16 hours ago, Moonlander34 said:

Hello, I’m an angler in the marin county area, and over here, we have no shad. I was wondering what baits to throw in areas like this.(I’m sure this can help others, too!)

swim a jig, this is usually the type of jig i use around slips when they are on bluegill here in east tn. Something with a flash of chartreuse should work well too. if the water is too clear for a crankbait throw a chatterbait. deadly nedly is always a good contingency plan when all else fails

[deadadrift89]

13 hours ago, waymont said:

Bluegill patterned swimjigs!

X2

 

Also swimbaits in forage size/color.

 

[TriStateBassin106]

Try chatterbaits! They work in almost any water clarity and I fish ponds here in NJ that have no shad! Only shiners and sunfish. Here are some brutes I managed to get this past summer with chatterbaits! Try the zman version in Green Pumpkin and Black and Blue. Works in almost any water clarity! 

3 hours ago, Jermination said:

swim a jig, this is usually the type of jig i use around slips when they are on bluegill here in east tn. Something with a flash of chartreuse should work well too. if the water is too clear for a crankbait throw a chatterbait. deadly nedly is always a good contingency plan when all else fails

is the trailer the rage swimmer 4 inch in electric shad? great clear water swimbait!

[TriStateBassin106]

Also, for good bluegill color swim baits I would go with the sun gill color, it works in almost any water clarity like GP. 

[Jermination]

38 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Try chatterbaits! They work in almost any water clarity and I fish ponds here in NJ that have no shad! Only shiners and sunfish. Here are some brutes I managed to get this past summer with chatterbaits! Try the zman version in Green Pumpkin and Black and Blue. Works in almost any water clarity! 

is the trailer the rage swimmer 4 inch in electric shad? great clear water swimbait!

you bet---also works good in lightly stained

 

 

[boostr]

47 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Try chatterbaits! They work in almost any water clarity and I fish ponds here in NJ that have no shad! Only shiners and sunfish. Here are some brutes I managed to get this past summer with chatterbaits! Try the zman version in Green Pumpkin and Black and Blue. Works in almost any water clarity! 

is the trailer the rage swimmer 4 inch in electric shad? great clear water swimbait!

I can't get anything to bite my chatterbaits up here.

[TriStateBassin106]

3 minutes ago, boostr said:

I can't get anything to bite my chatterbaits up here.

they work really well during the spring and summer months, I burn them through the water column and the reaction bite can be great if you found a school of fish, this time of year honestly I would start throwing spinner baits and cranks or fish the chatterbait slower. 

 

My last chatterbait fish I caught was in the beginning of October since then it's been spinners and jigs which has been catching fish and soon the NEDs will have to come out since the water temp is dropping. 

 

[Jermination]

rip them through the grass, i torched a few last week on the chatterbait paralleling grass lines on the main channel up river. Use a heavier rod and it's much easier to rip through the grass. 80% of the chatterbait fish i caught that weekend came on the rip through grass, let a little bit of slack in your line and just pop it. they would suck it in before the blade started flapping again

[TriStateBassin106]

36 minutes ago, Jermination said:

rip them through the grass, i torched a few last week on the chatterbait paralleling grass lines on the main channel up river. Use a heavier rod and it's much easier to rip through the grass. 80% of the chatterbait fish i caught that weekend came on the rip through grass, let a little bit of slack in your line and just pop it. they would suck it in before the blade started flapping again

When you say grass do you mean weed beds? I tried fishing them through weed beds earlier in the summer in a tournament and I got snagged up a lot. 

[Jermination]

33 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

When you say grass do you mean weed beds? I tried fishing them through weed beds earlier in the summer in a tournament and I got snagged up a lot. 

no i mean grass lines on the main channel. typically on the main channel of grass lakes the grass extends 10-15 feet off the bank, line the nose of your boat up on the grass line and parrallel down them. the super thick stuff is a waste of time trying to throw anything but a frog or swim a worm above them--this is what a lot of creeks look like on chik and there arent but a couple different ways to attack it

 

32 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

When you say grass do you mean weed beds? I tried fishing them through weed beds earlier in the summer in a tournament and I got snagged up a lot. 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Jermination
adding pics

[Jermination]

trying to find a good pic of the main channel grass lines i'm talking about, this is probably about the best i have but you still can't really see them great

[TriStateBassin106]

1 hour ago, Jermination said:

trying to find a good pic of the main channel grass lines i'm talking about, this is probably about the best i have but you still can't really see them great

ah that type of grass, yeah that stuff is a problem here in NJ at this one place I go to, can't throw anything in there and it almost takes up the entire lake during the summer months, nothing gets through it. 

1 hour ago, Jermination said:

no i mean grass lines on the main channel. typically on the main channel of grass lakes the grass extends 10-15 feet off the bank, line the nose of your boat up on the grass line and parrallel down them. the super thick stuff is a waste of time trying to throw anything but a frog or swim a worm above them--this is what a lot of creeks look like on chik and there arent but a couple different ways to attack it

 

 

This is the grass I'm talking about, it's from this once place in North Jersey, bass are in there but not a huge number of them, it's actually out of control and they finally started treating this body of water in September for it. 

[Jermination]

yeah man theres not much you can do with that kind of stuff, especially in shallow water areas. I never feel comfortable punching because its so thick from top to bottom. Every now and again you can catch some absolute studs out of it(like this nice little 11.3 largemouth last year  ), but they've always come on a frog when the mats are full. in the winter its pretty sparse back there and catch a bunch yoyoing and ripping rattletraps

[Mobasser]

I fish a smaller lake that has bluegill as the main forage fish. The best bait is always a Zoom 4" finesse worm in any purple, grape shade. I never know if it's the size or color of this worm , but it's nourished everything else I've tried

[TriStateBassin106]

1 hour ago, Jermination said:

yeah man theres not much you can do with that kind of stuff, especially in shallow water areas. I never feel comfortable punching because its so thick from top to bottom. Every now and again you can catch some absolute studs out of it(like this nice little 11.3 largemouth last year  ), but they've always come on a frog when the mats are full. in the winter its pretty sparse back there and catch a bunch yoyoing and ripping rattletraps

Can the fish even move around in that thick matted stuff? or they just suspend in it? 

[Harold Scoggins]

4 hours ago, Jermination said:

rip them through the grass, i torched a few last week on the chatterbait paralleling grass lines on the main channel up river. Use a heavier rod and it's much easier to rip through the grass. 80% of the chatterbait fish i caught that weekend came on the rip through grass, let a little bit of slack in your line and just pop it. they would suck it in before the blade started flapping again

 

3 hours ago, Jermination said:

trying to find a good pic of the main channel grass lines i'm talking about, this is probably about the best i have but you still can't really see them great

 

1 hour ago, Jermination said:

yeah man theres not much you can do with that kind of stuff, especially in shallow water areas. I never feel comfortable punching because its so thick from top to bottom. Every now and again you can catch some absolute studs out of it(like this nice little 11.3 largemouth last year  ), but they've always come on a frog when the mats are full. in the winter its pretty sparse back there and catch a bunch yoyoing and ripping rattletraps

Dagnabit, I've been a fan of Bill Dance since 1967, I'm going to buy me one of those hats!