What crankbait brands have good bluegill patterns? So far I love the KVD 1.5s Natural bream and bluegill color. 

 

 

Bandit has a good one 

6th Sense has about a dozen different bluegill colorways. Go crazy.

Realistic bait fish crank baits like Baileys Bait Fry series have been around for decades. They catch anglers better then bass imo.

Tom

I like 6th Sense and Rapala in the bluegill pattern. I just bought some Lucky Craft in bluegill pattern. Haven't had a chance to use them yet but I really like the color pattern.

LC BE Gill is awesome looking. 

 

Allen 

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Realistic bait fish crank baits like Baileys Bait Fry series have been around for decades. They catch anglers better then bass imo.

Tom

 

I disagree.

 

I've caught many bass on realistic bluegill-pattern crankbaits. I've never caught an angler. 

4 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

 

I disagree.

 

I've caught many bass on realistic bluegill-pattern crankbaits. I've never caught an angler. 

The most popular and successful crankbait color is sexy Shad that doesn’t look like any Shad on the planet.

To catch anglers you need to sell lures.

It’s ok to agree to disagree.

Cheers,

Tom

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Realistic bait fish crank baits like Baileys Bait Fry series have been around for decades. They catch anglers better then bass imo.

Tom

Does anyone have an explanation why? 
 

The only thing I could ever come up with is that bass don’t really like to eat bluegills. 

2 minutes ago, CrankFate said:

The only thing I could ever come up with is that bass don’t really like to eat bluegills. 

Could have fooled me - I've caught a number on a Rapala Shad Rap in 'Live Bluegill'.

1 hour ago, WRB said:

The most popular and successful crankbait color is sexy Shad that doesn’t look like any Shad on the planet.

To catch anglers you need to sell lures.

It’s ok to agree to disagree.

Cheers,

Tom

Tom, I think you missed my joke. ?

12 hours ago, CrankFate said:

Does anyone have an explanation why? 
 

The only thing I could ever come up with is that bass don’t really like to eat bluegills. 

I think it's because bass don't rely on sight as heavily as humans do.  A ton of baits out there don't really look like anything that a bass would eat in the wild, but they work because they produce the flash, sounds, water displacement, etc., that bass use to hone in on their prey.  

 

If you think about it, it makes sense.  Humans have two eyes in the front of our head.  Most predators that rely on sight have this configuration as well, because it allow for better depth perception.  Bass have their eyes on the side of their heads, like most prey (which is better for seeing a wider field of view, but worse for judging distance accurately to stage an attack).  So it would make sense that they wouldn't rely as heavily on sight for hunting as we would, because their eyesight just isn't as useful for hunting as ours.  They probably rely more on sight for defense and sensing predators, much like how we use sound for that.  Hence why scary movies love to do that loud bang out of the silence that makes you jump.

11 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

Tom, I think you missed my joke. ?

Went over my head?

Tom

Haven't had a lot of luck on realistic bluegill cranks.  Firetiger does as well as any other pattern I have.

Bagley Small Fry but change the hooks.

3 hours ago, Bankc said:

I think it's because bass don't rely on sight as heavily as humans do.  A ton of baits out there don't really look like anything that a bass would eat in the wild, but they work because they produce the flash, sounds, water displacement, etc., that bass use to hone in on their prey.  

 

If you think about it, it makes sense.  Humans have two eyes in the front of our head.  Most predators that rely on sight have this configuration as well, because it allow for better depth perception.  Bass have their eyes on the side of their heads, like most prey (which is better for seeing a wider field of view, but worse for judging distance accurately to stage an attack).  So it would make sense that they wouldn't rely as heavily on sight for hunting as we would, because their eyesight just isn't as useful for hunting as ours.  They probably rely more on sight for defense and sensing predators, much like how we use sound for that.  Hence why scary movies love to do that loud bang out of the silence that makes you jump.

Sigh, yes, but unfortunately, not where I do most of my fishing. The bass actually have eyes that are set towards the front of their heads and I can literally see them angle their eyes to be side by side in front of their faces. I think one of the thing that makes the fish in my avatar look much smaller than it is is the eyes, because they are positioned differently because the fish have big foreheads that slope downwards towards the mouth. It’s very noticeable when I see them in the water, the eyes look straight ahead because they are positioned on the curve from the side of the body to the front of the face. I wish I was fishing for bass that don’t rely on sight for hunting. I always consider these bass as fish that are literally always looking for something.

20 hours ago, WRB said:

Realistic bait fish crank baits like Baileys Bait Fry series have been around for decades. They catch anglers better then bass imo.

 

Hey hey now some of us are trying to make a living here catching fisherman!  The more realistic and newer the bait is, the more fish you will catch...period.  

When the original Bagley Small Fry (now vintage) came out they were so realistic looking and being Bagley they must be good. I bought 2 of everything in every color like a kid in a candy store. The 2 best bass lures were the baby bass and crappie, the Bluegill look amazing but just didn’t work as well.

Tom

Up north fisherman here

Live Target

Whopper Plopper

Berkley

6th Sense

13 fishing

Rapala

Yo- Zuri

Strike King

Cabelas

 

These are all my main bluegill baits that work consistently.

 

Stike King and 6th Sense are always tied on a rod somewhere in the boat.

Most of my waters are dirty enough that any fish that gets close enough to a moving crankbait to see great detail is likely to get snagged. I like the detailed paint jobs and have caught fish with them, but I personally believe I would have caught the same fish with a similar more generic pattern (all of my experience supports this belief). I'm sure water clarity effects how much detail a bass can see, I just don't personally believe a bass has time to appreciate a great paint job before it has to decide if its going to eat a moving crankbait. Just a few thoughts on my experience in my waters.

 

I like the 6th sense bluegill variations. 

2 hours ago, WRB said:

When the original Bagley Small Fry (now vintage) came out they were so realistic looking and being Bagley they must be good. I bought 2 of everything in every color like a kid in a candy store. The 2 best bass lures were the baby bass and crappie, the Bluegill look amazing but just didn’t work as well.

Tom

I did the exact same with the same results.  I had some luck with the crappie, but not nearly as well as I was already having with the Bagley DB2.  in chart. black back, and the yellow and brown color.  The bluegill was a huge disappointment. I still have a crappie I bought when they first came out.  

21 hours ago, Bankc said:

I think it's because bass don't rely on sight as heavily as humans do.  

 

Bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, are primarily sight feeders and their vision, in their environment, is better than ours.  Sound and vibration will get their attention and in certain circumstances get them to bite without being able to distinguish what they're biting.  If you've ever seen video of a bass eyeballing a bait, or a crawfish, or had a fish charge your bait from 20-30ft. away, you'd rethink that statement.

8 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, are primarily sight feeders and their vision, in their environment, is better than ours.  Sound and vibration will get their attention and in certain circumstances get them to bite without being able to distinguish what they're biting. 

If you've ever seen video of a bass eyeballing a bait, or a crawfish, or had a fish charge your bait from 20-30ft. away, you'd rethink that statement.

 

On 4/29/2021 at 8:26 PM, WRB said:

The most popular and successful crankbait color is sexy Shad that doesn’t look like any Shad on the planet.

To catch anglers you need to sell lures.

It’s ok to agree to disagree.

Cheers,

Tom

It’s the same with hunting camo X100! 

On 4/29/2021 at 8:44 PM, CrankFate said:

Does anyone have an explanation why? 
 

The only thing I could ever come up with is that bass don’t really like to eat bluegills. 

 

Not sure what book I read it in, but someone provided a good explanation based on the fact that the bait is moving and moving ultra-realistic lures do not look like real moving bait. They went on to explain how for stationary crankbaits such as jerkbaits the ultra-realistic finishes may be a good option, but for general crankbaits its better to give the fish a blur they don't recognize than one they recognize is not quite right. 

1 hour ago, garroyo130 said:

 

Not sure what book I read it in, but someone provided a good explanation based on the fact that the bait is moving and moving ultra-realistic lures do not look like real moving bait. They went on to explain how for stationary crankbaits such as jerkbaits the ultra-realistic finishes may be a good option, but for general crankbaits its better to give the fish a blur they don't recognize than one they recognize is not quite right. 

I don’t know, I don’t know if anyone knows, probably both.