What's your favorite Bluegill crank bait for Bass?

[Bass_Akwards]

Hey guys,

Most of the ponds I fish, have bluegill as the main forage for bass. I never see shad.

As far as cranks and jerks, what Bluegill patterend lures have you guys had the most success catching LMB's with?

Thanks as always,

Todd

[Raul]

Most of the ponds I fish, have bluegill as the main forage for bass. I never see shad.

Thanks as always,

Todd

My dear friend Todd, for a second forget all you have learned and read about "matching the hatch", it 's pile of BS when it comes to 99% of the time.

In other words:

It don 't matter if there ain 't no shad it only takes a good lure action + presentation + location to catch the fish.

The ponds & lakes where I fish don 't got no trout and I catch the fish with rainbow trout patterned lures, actually I caught my first ten pounder with a Rapala Minnow RT pattern.

[.dsaavedra.]

thats true, but i dont think matching the hatch is BS. i think that it is beneficial a lot of the times.

a really good bluegill crankbait is rapala DT-4 in bluegill. it has a good shape of a bluegill and the colors are very realistic.

you might also try mattlures bluegill swimbaits, but they dont fall into your category of cranks and jerkbaits.

[FishTank]

The Rapala DT is my favorite but with the right presentation and the aggressive mood of the fish, like Raul said, it doesn't matter.

[Rob G.]

Where I fish the forage baitfish vary quite a bit, with Gizzard Shad being #1.  I do however use some Bluegill colored lures.  Bandit Baby Bream (actually a better shad imitator than bluegill) and Bandit Bluegill.  Both have caught a slug of fish for me.  I am not saying that matching the hatch is always important, but it never hurts.  There are also some backwaters of the Mississippi River in pool 13 that have gin clear water, there are an abundance of ring perch (yellow perch) in those areas.  I do throw perch colored lures there at times and have had good results.  Lots of shad in there too, but some days the perch does better.  Not saying I throw cranks in there often, too choked with weeds most of the time.  Both emergent and submergent.  The good news with crankbaits is that you can paint them.  I often add color via marker to both my hard and soft baits.  The Spike-It markers work well for soft baits but not for the hard ones.

[Guest muddy]

thats true, but i dont think matching the hatch is BS. i think that it is beneficial a lot of the times.

a really good bluegill crankbait is rapala DT-4 in bluegill. it has a good shape of a bluegill and the colors are very realistic.

you might also try mattlures bluegill swimbaits, but they dont fall into your category of cranks and jerkbaits.

Oh good I am going to not pay attention to the fact that Raul is a biologist, with years of experience and a sucessful bass fisherman

[Brad_Coovert]

Some guys go through great lengths trying to match the hatch, others could care less - they all catch fish though.

My retention pond has never had a baitfish in it other than bluegill.  The bass there have never seen a shad, yet most of the time, but not every time.  So, I still try the bluegill ones though.

There are a lot of great baits that imitate bluegills.  If you're water is really clear and you don't mind trying a Lucky Craft, their Ghost Sunfish color or their regular Sunfish colors are good.

Brad

[GitRDoneIke23]

thats true, but i dont think matching the hatch is BS. i think that it is beneficial a lot of the times.

a really good bluegill crankbait is rapala DT-4 in bluegill. it has a good shape of a bluegill and the colors are very realistic.

you might also try mattlures bluegill swimbaits, but they dont fall into your category of cranks and jerkbaits.

What he said!

[farmpond1]

As has already been noted, unless you've exhausted other options and the bass still won't bite, I wouldn't worry too much about "matching the hatch".  Bass are opportunists and will gobble up just about anything that will fit in their mouths.  Just look at plastic worms.  They don't really resemble anything ordinarily found in fresh water and yet they are terrific lures.  Or a buzzbait.  What in the heck do you suppose a buzzbait could look like to a bass?  But they work (sometimes).

[detroit1]

I agree with Raul - most of the time it doesn't matter if one matches the hatch. Look thru your catalogs and notice the majority of cranks look like nothing in nature, but all will catch a fish. With that said, most of my cranks are "natural"- looking, and my fave "bluegill " crank is a Bandit Flat Maxx. But hey- i had no college but i've got experience...

[.dsaavedra.]

Oh good I am going to not pay attention to the fact that Raul is a biologist, with years of experience and a sucessful bass fisherman

what...im not entitled to my own opinion?

anyway, i think we're getting off topic here. bass_akwards asked "what are some good bluegill colored cranks?" he didnt ask "should i match the hatch?" so far, only 5 out of 10 posts have reccomended a bluegill colored crankbait.

[Jake.]

In ponds with no shad, my favorite is the LC Flat Mini SR in Ghost Minnow. I will fish it in shallow water (2-3 ft) where the schools of baby sunfish are during the postspawn. I have noticed that little 'gills are almost clear, and will give off a shine when they jerk to the side. I have alot of sucess with this bait fishing it at a medium speed, with an occasional twitch and then speed it up for a few seconds. Works for me. 8-)

[RoLo]

In the first place, I rarely bother to mimic preexisting creatures (what creature is colored "firetiger", "watermelonseed" or "clown"?).

In the second place, if I were so inclined to mimic some baitfish species, it would not be a bluegill.

Indeed, bass and bluegills share the same environment, but if a bass were given a choice it would likely pass up a "spiny-finned" baitfish

like a bluegill or baby bass. Granted, bass are not always given their choice of baitfish, but the angler is,

so in my opinion it might be better to mimic a soft-finned baitfish like a shiner or shad.

Anyway, if you want a lure that resembles a blugill sunfish, simply do a Google search for "bluegill" then click "images" on top.

Keep that window open while you're looking over the available lure patterns (none look like a bluegill to me)

Roger

[Munkin]

http://www.another site.com/tacklestore/showcase.cfm?PID=2568

This bait in the 0-1' diver has worked great for me in ponds and small lakes.

Allen

[KevO]

I like the rapala DT series bluegill it tears em up around these parts.  As well as the perch color pop-r.

[.dsaavedra.]

ok just had a confusing moment.

we have a "Bass_Akwards" and a "BassAkwards". whats up with that? are you the same person with two different accounts? if not that is a close match of names lol! ;D

and munkin, youre link didnt work. what is the name of that bait?

[island bassin]

RAPALA DT

[T-rig]

We don't have any bluegill around here but I still catch fish on bluegill colors. Forget match the hatch. I also catch fish with tilapia and peacock bass colored lures, none of these around here.

Size and presentation of the lure is far more important.

[Jimzee]

Daniel, point me in the right direction for that Gancraft crank.  I have been looking for those since December.  Thanks!!  

Blaine   8-)

[T-rig]

Daniel, point me in the right direction for that Gancraft crank.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=1&catref=C6&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=gan+craft+bacra&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=6900&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1

[sal669]

Blue gill patterns that work(ed) for me:

>Rapala shad rap, sallow sad rap and DT series

>Bandit flat maxx, foot loose(!) and hundred(s) series

I run out of some of this CBs, and I found that Baby Bass pattern works as well, if not better , than Bluegill battern. It's easy to run out of a pattern/brand/style when pike(s) bite you off a couple times a day. I'm not in a rush to restock. I make sure though, that I have the foot Loose and the Sallow Sad Rap.

[Guest avid]

I'm with Raul on this one.

Bluegill is the #1 forage on my home lake, yet shad patters always produce.

Shad is the #1 forage on most big lakes, yer bg patters often are the best choice.

that being said...My "bluegill" baits are anything with a little chartruese in em.

good luck,,,let us know what you choose and how it works.

avid.

[Guest muddy]

[quote author=7A6D7F7F687B7A6C7

F1E0 link=1202496260/10#10 date=1202512731]

Oh good I am going to not pay attention to the fact that Raul is a biologist, with years of experience and a sucessful bass fisherman

what...im not entitled to my own opinion?

This is not to be insulting to you, this is what I have been seeing lately:There has been a lot of opinions instead of experience with actually having used a product around here lately

Bluegill Patterns I have used sucessfully

1.Rapala Dt's, but where I fish em, I bang em into large submerged rocks, my favorite is a DT10, is very banged up, and the paint is still pretty good,

2. Bandits; Paint sucks

3.Bagleys Little Bram Fry: In Spring /Chartruse: the problem with this is PICKEREL LOVE EM MORE THAN THE BASS, and they kill the Balsa wood

Up North , Matching the hatch , especially on smaller natural ponds and lakes is absolutely essential. While I can catch Bass with lets say a Shad pattern where there are no shad in the body of water I am fishing I catch much larger Bass on a more consistent level( 5 years been at this) by going to bluegill patterns, when not using soft plastics. It absolutely will make your results better in this situation

[.dsaavedra.]

We don't have any bluegill around here but I still catch fish on bluegill colors. Forget match the hatch. I also catch fish with tilapia and peacock bass colored lures, none of these around here.

Size and presentation of the lure is far more important.

t-rig, why do you always have one of each of the sexiest baits ever? how much did that one cost?

[Chad.]

IN the ebay link they're 20bux!