Whats your favorite lure to use to catch bluegills

[BluegillslayerfromWi]

Hi Everyone,
Just wondering what everyones favorite lure to use to catch bluegills is. I would have to say my personal favorite is gitzit lil tough guys with a piece of worm or something on it and a float the bluegills and panfish hit pretty good on them.
Let me know what your favorite lure is
Thanks
scott

[steve b]

Thanks Anthony for the sad news on the Rockies ! Wish I had a bunch. We used them in early 70's. Anything close still available ? steve b

[Brian W]

Here in minnesota my favorite open water bluegill lure is a 1/32 jig head, and I tie on some wooly bugger marabou. My favorite colors are the "buggy colors" such as black, brown, and olive. I usually tip it with a wax worm.

Brian W

[Aaron Brown]

I've got to go for the Custom Jigs and Spins Diamond Jig. Almost any size or color produces for me. The kicker is the little piece of flashy crustal on one end. Devastating through the ice when tipped with a waxie or euro.

[blackhawks]

Little Atom Optic Stealth and Fiskas.....use them both during ice and open water seasons. I like Little Atom plastics, especially the Nuggies, Micro Nuggies, Wedgees, and Dupies. Tip with a spike or two or a waxie. These are also very good for Crappies. You can now purchase Little Atom products, along with Fiskas, at yourbobbersdown.com

I also like using spoons during open water....Sweedish Pimple, Little Atom Knacker, and Northland Buckshot Rattle Spoons. Tip with red worms, crawler chunks, waxies, or spikes.

[GLENN MARTIN MILLER]

Do the jigs you mention work all year 'round? What is your "go-to" set up? What colors work best in what time of year?

[GLENN MARTIN MILLER]

Do the jigs you mention work all year 'round? What is your "go-to" set up? What colors work best in what time of year?

[David Rife]

Strike king makes a tiny crank bait called the micro minnow or something along that line. Anyway it is by far the best bluegill bait I own. I make and use my own jigs, bugs, twisters, live bait, etc... But if you ever get the chance to use one of these, do it. they are awesome.

[Copperhead John]

I believe you are referring to the "Bitsy Minnow" which can be bought at Wal Mart in my hometown. I have heard great stories about these but haven't used them yet.

[bluegillonafly]

For the little people I take I set them up with an ultralight rod, 2 lb test , Thill Shy Bite Float the long thin one probably 2 inches long that can be easily moved up and down along the line with a lead 1/64 lead jig head and a chartruse curly tail grub, black yellow and white work well too. Reel slowly about a foot at a time, jigging inbetween reeling. While they are rigged that way, I usually slay them on a flyrod with my favorite fly for bluegill a bead head girdle bug - black chenille with white rubber legs jigged - they love to hit it on the drop slow strip and Montana pump or a blue damsel fly on top skittered from the edges of exposed lilly pads or reeds, any structure or foliage line

[bluegillonafly]

Thanks for all this helpful info - I will pass this on to my brother who is teaching his four year old daughter to fish - The Littlest Cage Fighter is hooked on fishing - mission accomplished!!!

[Copperhead John]

Biggest bluegills I ever caught were on sinking ant flys in Florida. Smallest beetle spin is also great but I hate to admit it - I am beginning to get concerned over the possibility of leaving lead in the water if I lose it and the possibility of killing a fish who gets the plastic in it's digestive system and dies an agonizing death(see the internet for articles on this). I really am not a fanatic regarding the environment although I would create harsh penalties for tossing trash on the ground but as I get older and read the reports, I do not want to add to the problem. I guess I am becoming a true old geezer.

[Ray Danders]

John,

The chances of causing harm to a fish because of them swallowing lead is very slim in my opinion. I used to be President of an sportsmen’s league and when you shot at any bird going left, shot would end up in the river adjacent to the property.

When they built the club it was in the country, but now the property around it is built up. Of course the guy who built across the river doesn’t like to hear all the shooting from the trap and skeet range, so he tries to get the range shut down because the noise bothers him.

Some of the shot from our left trap station actually made it across the river onto his land. We had a meeting with him and agreed not to use that station in the future but we would not shut down the other stations. His next step was to get the environmental guys to shut us down for all the lead shot in the river.

We were very nervous at first but by consulting experts in the field, we found out that lead is very stable and no chemical leaches out of the lead to pollute the river. In our case it was not a threat to ducks and geese, because they did not feed in this area because of the flow and the depth of the water.

Lead is a problem only when ingested and only then because the digestive enzymes act as a catalyst. The same way it effects humans who ingest lead. If you are shooting thousands perhaps millions of lead pellets into an area where water birds feed, it can be a problem. I honestly don’t know how big a problem but a problem.

Some wildlife does get tangled in plastics or are harmed by ingesting plastics, but I have never heard of any fish being harmed by the kind of plastics we use for fishing. If you know of some studies that show otherwise, I would be very interested in reading them.

I think we have to be very careful not to perceive a problem where none exists. As sportsmen and women we need to change once careful scientific research proves something is harmful. It is always good to be concerned and ask questions, but to only support action only after it is apparent that it causes more than incidental harm.

For example millions of fish that we release die but it has very little effect on the fishery overall. For a very small minority that might be a good reason to stop all fishing, but I’m not one of them.