Went out to my local lake yesterday. Most people use live bait at this place. There was a guy catching small Largemouths on minnows pretty consistently. Then more towards the evening 7-7:30 a guy next to me fishing for bluegill kept getting larger bass on the line when he had hooked a bluegill.

So my question is... What would you throw in this situation? Spinnerbait, swim jig, crank? There are weeds about 10 inches below the surface of the water and some floating weeds. Trying to figure out what would be the best bleugill imitator. I had a drop shot on at the time with a z-man finesse worm. The smaller bass would come up to quickly it then turn away.

Shallow crankbait, imitation of bluegill....or a fluke.

Xcalibur and Strikeking both have great imitations for the $.

Lucky Craft BDS 3 is awsume, but man quite $$.

Oh and Livetarget.

I was thinking I might throw my Rapala x-rap shad shallow. I have it in a bluegill pattern.

I'll check out the ones you mentioned as well. Thanks. I get snagged a lot so I think I might have to stay away from the $33 crank =p

The x-rap is awsume too. You mentiond grass and weeds that's why I would go with a plastic swimbait of your choice and fish it weedless.

Mattlures Hard Gill.

Live target gills, and i have luck with the Dt 4 blue gill and the xcaliber sunfish color

A t-rigged worm, and try swimming it. I've had alot of succes on that in ponds where there are mainly bluegills for forage.

Thanks for all the recommendations so far. I really like the way the live target bluegill wakebait looks. That mattlures hard gill is pretty amazing looking too, but out of my price range. Have you had much luck with it?

Have you had much luck with it?

Tons of fish, most over 3#. It's my go to bait in certain circumstances. I noticed that bass were blowing up on a Spro Frog, but missing by a foot or more. Turns out they weren't missing at all, but feeding on the curious and distracted blue gills following my frog. Toss the Hard Gill out there, and bang.

I'm very tempted to spend the $60 on one. Do you use the baby hard gill or the full size? The average bass out of my lake is between 2-3lb. Unfortunately almost everything is sold out.

I use the floating hard gill. I think it's 5". Used is the way to go for that stuff. Keep your eyes peeled.

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Perfect scenario for a square bill crankbait. I have a Koppers Live Target Bluegill crank, it is 1/2oz mat finish and dives 3' to 4' and it is a killer when the bluegills are spawning. I remember when I got that crankbait, I was fishing a lake in mid July and it was calm and every once in awhile you would see a swirl on the surfce well luck would have it that it happen close enough to the boat to see what the disturbance was, bluegills were going to the surface to eat some kind of fly hatch and if it was near a hole in the weed bed a bass would come up and eat it. Well I tied on the Live Targe Bluegill and the very first cast I got 3 or 4 cranks and it got crushed, my buddy was catching them too on a perch colored big-o but the hits were nothing like I was getting on the Koppers.

A t-rigged worm, and try swimming it. I've had alot of succes on that in ponds where there are mainly bluegills for forage.

Same here, lots of ponds with bluegill as the main forage and a T-rigged weightless, just roll it slow throw the weeds seems to produce.

Swim jig, goes throught the weeds perfectly, hooking percentage is higher than any of the baits mentioned, you can do an infinite number of retrieves to get strikes, you can also vary trailers for a variety of different looks, by far the most versatile of all the baits mentioned. And you won't wanna sceam, cry, throw fits and generally act like a 3 yr old if you lose it like you would if you lost the swim bait...lol that is how I would act anyway.

Square bill crank in bluegill pattern. Always works for me.

Blue gill colored swim jig without question.

Blue gill colored swim jig gets my vote too!

Swimjig with a paddletail trailer

I would throw a Sebile Magic Swimmer in bluegill pattern (only color I have as of now). Its usually my go to lure when nothing else will bite and I've thrown everything in the box. My other go to when the bite is slow in a good olde in-line spinner. But if the bluegill bite is on nothing works better than the magic swimmer. In fact I went out yesterday evening for a couple hrs with a buddy and the only lure to boat a fish was this one and we threw the entire box at them, including my friend throwing out bluegill cranks.

For weeds (as long as they haven't grow right to the top of the water) you can swim it just above them all the way to the top of the waterline to the point its a wake bait or let it sink and swim it just above whatever depth the weeds are at.

I would throw a 3.5inch yum money minnow in bluegill.

A wacky-rigged Senko/knock-off in green w/red flake is a great bait in this situation. Add a little split shot weight crimped near the hook eye to vary the fall rate (I use a 2/0 EWG in all but the heaviest of cover). I have caught many nice fish that were feeding on gills using this method. It is a slower technique that some don't like, but if you have the patience for it you will catch fish.

I would throw a live bluegill on a hook

I would throw a live bluegill on a hook

Haha. Best answer yet why use an imitation when you can use the real thing.

Thanks everyone... I'll be trying out all the suggestions for sure!

KVD 2.5 bluegill color