So I'm thinking I may take the leap and get a few good swimbaits (and hopefully shut the bait monkey up for a while :-[ ).

I mostly fish smaller water (less than 20 acres), sometimes fish Taylorsville and a few times a year I spend a long weekend at Kentucky Lake.

Problem is, I'm in the same boat as everyone right now and money is tight so I wanna be sure I'm making a good selection. Right now I'm thinking about a Mattlures Ultimate Male Bluegill and a Mattlures Baby Bass, but I have also been looking at the Castaic Catch 22's and really like the looks of their Bluegill.

Has anyone tried the Mattlures AND the Castaic gill's? What do you like/dislike about each? Which do you guys prefer?

James

I'm not a fan of the way the catch22 looks but I have never fished one.  If you fish clear lakes then the Ultimate Bluegill would be a great choice because it is so life like in appearance.  I was fishing a male ultimate bluegill the other day and had smaller bluegills following behind on just about every cast.  I don't think you can go wrong with any of Matt's baits

If you are looking at getting some hard baits I would recommend the Tru-Tungsten Tru-life 4'' baits.  I just recently bought some of the reaction strike REVolution shad and bluegill baits and would advise paying the extra for Tru-Tungsten and Spro baits

The Baby Bass would be a good place to start.

8-)

X2 on the Tru-Tungsten and Spro for good hardbaits.

For soft baits I have been doing very well on a 4.5" Strike King Shadalicious. Size is relevant to size of bass in your waters. I also use the 5.5"

Baby Bass is also good soft choice.

Sounds like the Tru-Tungsten and Matts Baby Bass may be the way to go then...Thanks guys!