I live in Wisconsin, so we really don't have shad here, well, except for Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River (gizzard shad).

 

I've never tried an a-rig, but have always been intrigued by it. Would it be worth throwing in lake where the primary bait is bluegill? 

 

I'm sure it'd catch some fish, but is it defeating it's purpose since the a-rig is supposed to mimic a ball of shad/bait fish?

Ever seen a swarm of baby bluegills..? Those are baitfish to a bass. Get whatever your favorite brand of smaller paddletails are in a bluegill pattern, and give it a shot..you'll never know till ya try..

My best producing color in my favorite lake is shad.   Swim jigs, jerkbaits, cranks, etc.  I doubt that any bass in that lake have ever seen a real live shad. 

I have never seen a senko swimming in the waters I fish.

Reason I ask is because I've read a few places that they work much better in lakes that have schooling shad.

 

Was hoping to hear from someone who has first-hand experience/success fishing these rigs in non-shad lakes.  

The lakes I fish have shad in them, unfortunately those same lakes also have sand bass (white bass) in them that apparently love an A-Rig. I have only caught a few LMB using them but can't keep the sandies off them.

13 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

Reason I ask is because I've read a few places that they work much better in lakes that have schooling shad.

 

Was hoping to hear from someone who has first-hand experience/success fishing these rigs in non-shad lakes.  

I've caught bass on Shad colored swimbaits, yet there are no shad in those waters..Bass when in the right mood, are only concerned with getting food, or if aggressive, well strike any color..

I’ve caught bass in little ponds with the 1/2 ounce live target Little umbrella thingy  There are no Shad there. 

I was standing beside my neighborhood pond yesterday, which doesn't have a single shad in it, watching a big school of tiny baby bluegill swim by.  Was just thinking an A rig with sungill colored baits on it would sure do a good job mimicking what I was watching.

Most places that have bass have smaller fish that swim in A Rig formation. Including small bass.

The keitech colors sungill and gold flash minnow are great panfish color imitators 

5 minutes ago, basser27 said:

The keitech colors sungill and gold flash minnow are great panfish color imitators 

Yeah, Sungill and Electric Bluegill are my go-to. It's crazy how similar those two colors are tho. You have to look REALLY close to see any difference. I think the Electric Bluegill has a tad more blue/purple flakes while the Sungill has more gold flakes.