Plastic Baits For Bluegills

Plastic Baits For Bluegills

When it comes to my most preferred bluegill bait, it is undoubtedly soft plastics. They are so versatile and come in so many shapes, colors, action that you can find one to fit any situation. Some are even impregnated with scent. This type of bait fills any niche when it comes to finding what the blues will bite. Vary your hook or jig rigging to give them a different look and action.

Plastics are soft and supple for great action to trigger a good bite. What is even better is that unlike live bait, you can keep these in your bag ready to go at a moments notice without fear of them going bad of smelling up your truck. Load up with a variety of choices and you will have any need covered before you even head out into the world to conquer the water of your choice.

The body types for these plastic baits are almost endless. Here are a few of the choices out there for you to try, but more are always being developed so keep checking your favorite tackle shop.

• The tube is the classic general plastic body that fisherman of all varieties love to use. Simply vary the retrieval to give them the action desired.
• The ribbon or twister tail has been around for a long time as well, and for good reason. The ripple of the tail, whether fast or slow, the action is deadly.
• The double ribbon tail adds more action and can imitate a small frog racing back to shore.
• Small creature baits are great imitators of aquatic insects that comprise that vast majority of the diet of bluegills. With dangly little legs and other appendages, they are simply irresistible for bluegills.
• Beaver tails have been micro sized from the larger bass baits that have been proven to be effective in that arena.
• Exact match baits are also available. Tiny crayfish replicas are dead on in their appearance and have great action when retrieved correctly.
• Tiny minnows have been around for a long time. Before the recent swimbait phenomenon in the bass world these were mostly known as sassy shad and are great on many species of fish.

Perhaps the greatest development in the soft bait industry, in my humble opinion, has been the introduction of baits with scent impregnated into them. I was slowly convinced of this when I added a Crappie Nibblet from Berkely to one of my plastic baits back in the 90's and immediately noticed a difference. Fish that weren't biting suddenly would with this addition and a shy bite became much more aggressive. For a year or two, I experimented with this product until I became convinced of the worthiness. Then I jumped in head first. Berkley started producing smaller Powerbait baits that were good size for bluegills that worked great without having to add more nibblets that can be knocked off simply by casting too much. Berkley has expanded the line and now Gulp and Gulp Alive are taking this idea to the next level. These baits are a little more expensive but you will not believe how much they help your fishing.

Plastics have come light years from their early versions. So if you have never tried them or gave them up long ago, it is time to give them another go around. You will not be disappointed.