Looking for a cheaper bluegill swimbait that produces, hard bait or soft but looking for something durable that works. On a highschool budget ):

Savage Bluegill has worked for me:

 

https://www.savagegear-usa.com/product/view/lures/bluegill-lures/bluegill-5-small-pre-rigged

Jackall gantarel Jr. 

The Savage Gear 3D bluegill by a landslide. I've owned and still have other baits like the Gantarel and Chibitrel (JDM Gantarel jr), Giron, and Lucky Craft bluegill. The Savage Gear has far outproduced them all. I prefer the 4" and 5" sizes. The 5" floater is my favorite of all of them. It can be fished with a straight retrieve, or like a glide bait. 

I like the yum pulse in summer gill color.  Cheap and very durable.

Flash sale on Dicks website.  Jackall Gantaral jrs are $10 when you buy 2 or more.

57 minutes ago, RichF said:

Flash sale on Dicks website.  Jackall Gantaral jrs are $10 when you buy 2 or more.

Ouch just bought some.  Thanks for the info by the way.  Save myself $40

Mattslure.com U2 bluegill. 18.99. Buy a bottle of mend it and superglue 

For a hardbait the Gantarel (any size) gets a lot of praise. The Black Dog Baits G2 Shellcracker is also a good option. It's light enough to throw on traditional gear and small enough to not be intimidating just starting out. As for soft baits the Savage Gear 3D bluegills are really good and are very durable. The Mattlures ultimate gills are also good, but like @frosty said some mend-it is a must, they tear very easy but have great swimming action and the paint looks awesome. You can also check out Real Prey swimbaits. Joe makes a bluegill in the price range of the other swimbaits mentioned, and he makes his swimbaits out of silicon and they are going to be the most durable you'll find for a soft bait. I haven't tried the bluegill (yet) but I have a couple of his other baits and they are awesome, especially his perch. I guess I'll also throw in the S-Waver 168 even though it's not shaped like a bluegill, but it's a good budget bait. Buy it in a bluegill color, fish it where bluegill (and bass) live, I'm sure you'll still catch them. 

May not be what you're looking for but I always catch fish around the spawn on this bluegill paddle tail I mostly use the sunfish ones, three to a pack for 6 bucks or so and they catch fish.

 

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=738373&type=product&WT.ac=YMAL-738373&WT.z_pg_ref=prd1707124

 

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=1707124&type=product&WT.ac=YMAL-1707124&WT.z_pg_ref=prd738373

Edited May 26, 20179 yr by G-Prime
forgot link

If you can source it, Biovex offers a great looking hard bodied bluegill bait at a pretty good msrp

 

http://biovexusa.com/product/joint-gill-90-ss-3/

I just picked up the 1 oz. savage bluegill and I'm beyond stoked with it. Going to try it out tomorrow night.

48 minutes ago, Senko lover said:

I just picked up the 1 oz. savage bluegill and I'm beyond stoked with it. Going to try it out tomorrow night.

So did I. Caught 7 or 8 with it today. It swims nice. 

1 hour ago, Senko lover said:

I just picked up the 1 oz. savage bluegill and I'm beyond stoked with it. Going to try it out tomorrow night.

 

40 minutes ago, frosty said:

So did I. Caught 7 or 8 with it today. It swims nice. 

That little guy is a sweet little bait. Mine has stood up to a couple dozen fish now and is still going good. The belly hook slot is a little torn, and it looks like a real bluegill that something has tried to eat, but that probably makes it get hit even more. 

34 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

That little guy is a sweet little bait. Mine has stood up to a couple dozen fish now and is still going good. The belly hook slot is a little torn, and it looks like a real bluegill that something has tried to eat, but that probably makes it get hit even more. 

Yeah that belly hook didn't last long, I think mine tore out on the first hit. I did hook most of them with the treble though. 

I own every bait mentioned here, and many more. I think the savage gear is the best at the most affordable price point. They swim great and are durable, and get bit.

I figured the ultimate test would be to take it to my old favorite pond. I hadn't caught anything big out of it for a while, like I thought all the big fish were gone. 

 

I think I have a new favorite bait....solid 4 1/2-5 pounder.

15 minutes ago, Senko lover said:

I figured the ultimate test would be to take it to my old favorite pond. I hadn't caught anything big out of it for a while, like I thought all the big fish were gone. 

 

I think I have a new favorite bait....

 

what size are u using?

float or slow sink?

It's the 1 oz. slow sink. Picked it up from Dick's Sporting Goods for 10 bucks. I played around with twitching it but I didn't really like the gliding action and I'm not very patient for extremely slow swimming. So, I opted to fish it like a wakebait, just bulging the surface and reeling about the speed I would move a lipless. It has some really cool subsurface action. The big girl came up and crushed it like a normal topwater strike.

19 minutes ago, Senko lover said:

It's the 1 oz. slow sink. Picked it up from Dick's Sporting Goods for 10 bucks. I played around with twitching it but I didn't really like the gliding action and I'm not very patient for extremely slow swimming. So, I opted to fish it like a wakebait, just bulging the surface and reeling about the speed I would move a lipless. It has some really cool subsurface action. The big girl came up and crushed it like a normal topwater strike.

I was giving mine a healthy jerk as soon as it hit the water, then reel, then a jerk. They would smash it on the jerk if not as soon as if hit the water. 

12 hours ago, Senko lover said:

I figured the ultimate test would be to take it to my old favorite pond. I hadn't caught anything big out of it for a while, like I thought all the big fish were gone. 

 

I think I have a new favorite bait....solid 4 1/2-5 pounder.

Nice