Best Baits to Target Bluegill Eaters

We focus a lot on trout and shad imitators out West but we all know that bass love to eat bluegill. When the water begins to warm the bluegill becomes a major forage base for bass and you shouldn't overlook them. This week Matt breaks down his Top 5 Baits to best imitate a bluegill so you can begin to catch those big summer bass. 

The key to successfully imitating bluegill is to find baits that not only get bites but are also slim enough to have a high hookup ratio. There's nothing worse than getting giant bites and not hooking the bass! Below you'll find a breakdown of Matt's favorite bluegill imitating baits and the reasons he chooses them. 

The first category is the Squarebill crankbait. Bluegill eaters spend most of their time shallow and around heavy cover so the squarebill is a great option to coax a bite. Matt's favorite all around bluegill imitating squarebill is the River2Sea biggie. You might remember our squarebill debate from THIS VIDEO. 

The second category is the swim jig. When imitating a bluegill I love to use a keitech fat swing impact as a trailer on my California Swim Jig. This combination creates a wide thumping action that imitates a bluegill's tail really well. Quick tip: a chartreuse/blue keitech paired with a very natural looking jig adds a little chartreuse flash and really looks nice in the water! ...see picture below.

The third category is the soft swimbait. The two most widely available baits that best fit this category are the Mattlures Bluegill and the All American Sunfish. Both baits have a very natural profile and are great around cover. Quick Tip: The All American Sunfish needs to be rigged on a swimbait hook of some kind. My preferred hook for this bait is the 5/0 trokar. 

The fourth category is topwater. My favorite large bluegill topwater is the MS Slammer. Its not perfect, but its good enough to get those monster bites and that's what counts! Another great option is the Jackall Gantarel. If smaller baits are your preference, you can't beat the popper. Personally, I'd throw the yellow magic though there are many other great options out on the market. 

The fifth and final category is the Senko. I hate to say it but the senko works incredibly well on bluegill eaters! They're ambush predators and the slow fall of the senko , especially when wacky rigged, really lures them out. Color comes down to personal preference but something with a bit of a chartreuse tail should get the job done. 

I hope you find these tips helpful! As always, we love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment with your own experiences or even a topic idea for a video you'd like to see us do. Thank you for your continued support of tacticalbassin!

River2Sea Whopper Plopper

The latest craze in bass fishing is the Whopper Plopper by River2Sea. If you fish in the West odds are you know exactly what it is, how to fish it, and how deadly it can be. If you fish East of the rockies, you're probably just hearing about how deadly this "new" topwater bait really is.

To the surprise of many, the Whopper Plopper isn't a new bait. Its been catching giant bass and winning tournaments on trophy bass fisheries like Clearlake and the California Delta for years!

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When the buzzbait, spook, and frog, stop producing the Whopper Plopper just keeps on catching! Like the Basstrix and A-rig's before it, the "plopper"  is taking the industry by storm and changing the way that many anglers think bass can be caught.

Now garnering national attention with recent tournament wins, anglers everywhere are recognizing the fish catching potential of this unique bait.

In this video Tim explains the different sizes that are available, popular colors like "Loon" and "Monkey Butt", and the gear you'll need to fish them. See the bait in the water and how to retrieve it as well!

Whether you're chasing smallmouth and spotted bass with the 90 size or chasing GIANT largemouth in the South with the big 190, the Whopper Plopper is a topwater bait that every angler should add to their arsenal.

Giants Eating Frogs: Full Video

When River2Sea approached us about their new and improved frog called a Bully Wa 2 we weren't sure what to expect. The Spittin' Wa is such an amazing frog how could it possibly get any better? (If you haven't seen the Spittin' Wa Video, see it here) Well much to our surprise, it got better!

The Bully Wa 2 is a fast-walking frog with a tall body that pushes a tremendous amount of water with ease. The hook comes with a unique bend that is ready to fish out of the package resulting in a great hookup ratio. Open the packaging, trim the legs to your desired length, and you're ready to fish!

For us, there were 3 colors that stood out the most. The first is called "Little Allen" and yes that name came from Tim (Little) and Matt (Allen). We were so excited when they decided to include this color scheme in their lineup because day in and day out, its both of our favorite! The other two are "Ghost" and "Yellow Head".

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This frog fishes great in slop but its specialty is open water. Walk it along docks, over cover, or even for suspended fish, and you're going to love the result! You can see by the video that the bass had no problem coming up from the depths to explode in the open. The days of only throwing a frog around cheese or pads are over!

Do yourself a favor and check out the River2Sea Bully Wa 2!

Note: If the video won't play its because you need to watch it from a desktop. Unfortunately its not mobile-friendly.

Back to Back Frog Blow Ups

We spend so much time putting together educational videos that sometimes we forget to put up catches. Once in a while its just fun to see a fish or two getting caught. This week we thought we'd show a quick clip from Clearlake.

On this particular day the bass really weren't cooperating. We'd been throwing a Spittin' Wa 70 all day long without a bite! We were nearing the end of the day when Tim suddenly gets blown up on at the boat. As quick as it happened, the 6+ lber came unbuttoned and was gone.

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Next cast, he hooks its twin and that one makes it to the boat. Another solid 6+ lber! As luck would have it we never got another bite. All day, two bites, one in the boat, sometimes that's just the way it goes.

We'd love to act like every day is a slugfest but sometimes its tough out there. Staying focused when the bite finally comes can be the difference between a great day and a miserable time on the water.