mini pop-r, crickhoppers, rebel crawfish for bluegill?

[fishhugger]

trying these lures for bluegill... i'm fishing a lake, 7acre, california. i've gone out a couple times at 630a... it's light by then. i've gotten some nice bites from 630 to 645, and there's some dimples near the shores. lake surface is like glass.  

i use these like topwaters --- twitching on surface, even jumping. i do my best to let them sit for 20 seconds, instead of constant slowly retrieving. my latest thing today was wobbling the rod tip back and forth quickly, slow retrieve...

i think using them as crank baits would result in lots of snags, or covered maybe with vegetation.

if i did use them as crank baits, which i think is what they are designed for? i can't imagine a hopper or crawfish swimming at mid water.  and that's where i'd fish these, until i get more skilled at depth control, and avoiding snags. but - i would tend to use a spinner for mid depth fishing...

should i not think of them as what i buy them as (a specific animal that behaves a certain way) and just fish them all the same?

i should get my butt out of bed and at the lake when it's still dark, right? esp for topwaters?

thank you

 

[The Bassman]

Mini Pop-R has been a doer for me for years. Panfish, bass (some big ones), and even a channel cat. Time of day doesn't seem to matter. I fish it both slow and fast (especially when it's windy).

[Jar11591]

In my experience, bluegill get a little tight-lipped during dark hours, but will bite willingly all day long. Pop-Rs, Rapala UL Pops and Storm Hopper Poppers are the topwaters I throw for bluegill. 
 

And yes, don’t get too caught up in what animal the crankbait is supposed to imitate. Craws do scoot through the middle of the water column sometimes, like when they are trying to get away. They scoot up and backwards, sometimes several feet off the bottom, and I’ve even seen them scoot right up to the surface. Either way, a bluegill will attack a little crankbait whether it’s a perfect craw imitation or not. 

[TnRiver46]

Those are great lures but the bluegill seem to always get all 3 hook points from a treble inside their mouth. They can work well cranking below surface but I’ve always done best twitching them on top like you described.  I always prefer to grab the fly rod for bluegill. 

[Eric 26]

Although I haven’t done this in a few years, If they’re only biting top water you can’t beat a rubber legged spider in my opinion. I just use the smallest round clip on float I can to cast them out. They even attacked the float when things got heated ? I agree with @TnRiver46 that they seem to wind up with all 3 hook points in there mouth, I suppose I could do as @bulldog1935 does and replace the trebles with single style hooks. ?sounding like a good winter project.

[bulldog1935]

Here's what @Eric 26 is talking about, on a sinking freshwater trout plug (Duo Ryuki S), I swap hooks from small trebles to larger gap plug singles, and use in the salt for speckled trout, redfish and snook, imitating winter glass minnows. 

 

If you're ready to take up fly rod, Round Dinty is about the best bluegill lure ever. 

I've found sliders more effective for bass than poppers, essentially, a fly rod wake bait. 

 

Here's a sinking Japanese finesse plug, MagBite Mimiq, that would probably do your crawfish imitation, and beside it, my very effective fly pattern. 

All finesee plugs, going down from Mimiq,

Rodio Craft RC Cicada wakebait

lower two are Smith Gunship floater/diver

[Jigfishn10]

Other than a fly rod, one of the ways I fished for bluegill still used a dry fly.

 

I would take the back treble off a pop'r and tie on a leader with a dry fly. 

 

Every so often I'd pop it. Once in a while I'd get a bass on the middle treble, but more often than not I'd get a bluegill on the fly.

[Bluebasser86]

I have one of the tiny Pop R's that has the single hook on the back that I use for fishing small creeks. It's a fun bait although great in the hook up ratio department. I have a rebel crawfish with the same hook configuration but haven't used it much. 

[fishhugger]

14 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Mini Pop-R has been a doer for me for years. Panfish, bass (some big ones), and even a channel cat. Time of day doesn't seem to matter. I fish it both slow and fast (especially when it's windy).

i like the mini... . since the end of it dangles in the water, i like having that part swing tantalizingly in the water.  haven't had bites yet on pulling him in. i thought it would only be effective in low light, or even night? and the mini is so tiny --- uh, i use 4# mono on it currently, a very light rod, with a 4# leader.. (my main line is hi vis).  do you use heavier line -  in case you get larger fish? thanks!

14 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

In my experience, bluegill get a little tight-lipped during dark hours, but will bite willingly all day long. Pop-Rs, Rapala UL Pops and Storm Hopper Poppers are the topwaters I throw for bluegill. 
 

And yes, don’t get too caught up in what animal the crankbait is supposed to imitate. Craws do scoot through the middle of the water column sometimes, like when they are trying to get away. They scoot up and backwards, sometimes several feet off the bottom, and I’ve even seen them scoot right up to the service. Either way, a bluegill will attack a little crankbait whether it’s a perfect craw imitation or not. 

thanks.. no idea craws swam that much.....  ok... i'll be flexible on what the bait is supposed to be... they are just drawings, kind of. other than the color and rough shape...

[The Bassman]

8 hours ago, fishhugger said:

i like the mini... . since the end of it dangles in the water, i like having that part swing tantalizingly in the water.  haven't had bites yet on pulling him in. i thought it would only be effective in low light, or even night? and the mini is so tiny --- uh, i use 4# mono on it currently, a very light rod, with a 4# leader.. (my main line is hi vis).  do you use heavier line -  in case you get larger fish? thanks!

 

I've done well all hours of the day with it. I swap the stock hooks out with VMC #10 needlepoints (no feather). Also, I use light braid tied direct most of the time. Can be a hassle because of tangling hooks, though. I'll occasionally use a mono leader but I can be a bit inattentive about checking and retying like I should, though.

[fishhugger]

19 hours ago, The Bassman said:

I've done well all hours of the day with it. I swap the stock hooks out with VMC #10 needlepoints (no feather). Also, I use light braid tied direct most of the time. Can be a hassle because of tangling hooks, though. I'll occasionally use a mono leader but I can be a bit inattentive about checking and retying like I should, though.

couldn't find vmc needlepoints... i've got gamakatsu siwash, open eye, size 10. are those similar to the vmc you're using? i'm not used to changing out lots of trebles, and siwash are the only hooks i no of to do it with... 

[The Bassman]

I've bought them in bulk on e-bay. Haven't tried using singles in this instance. I've used them on small cranks, though. I would think they might cost you some missed strikes. The stock hooks have always seemed to flimsy to me. Feathered or not is just a personal preference.

[fishhugger]

having a lotta fun chasing the gills with mini lures....   i'm using 4# mono, hi vis, shakespeare microlite 7' rod ---   i use the lures as top waters quite a bit. , i like to cast 60, 70' to get to some nice areas. there is limited bank access. the problem (to me):  when i cast that far out, the line belies out from my rod tip, and the rest of the line floats on the surface, finally leading to the lure, on the surface. 

 

that's a lot of slack, right?  i don't see how the fish can get hooked that way.  and there's no way to get rid of the slack; you'll just drag the lure towards you.

 

so my questions are:

am i casting too far, and i can't effectively fish a top water that far?

should i switch to braid? this is assuming the weight of the line is an issue.  that seems complex, altho i use braid for lmb, etc. 

or, , having that slack to your top water pop-r is not an issue, and please explain what i'm totally missing...

 

thanks again!

oh, here's brekkies.