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Mattlures Bluegill during The Spawn
by John Kerr

When fishing for spawning bass there are several techniques that will catch you fish. When you are looking right at the fish you have the opportunity to see how it will react to your offering and then choose the best bait and movement of the bait in order to agitate the fish into striking. During my experiences I have found one bait to be especially great at catching the larger females, and that's mattlures bluegill bait.

I throw the bluegill with a 7'6 light swimbait rod from Graphite USA, but the bait is light enough that a flipping stick or heavy jig rod could also handle it and I'm primarily throwing it on 20lb fluorocarbon. The question most frequently asked about the bait is whether or not a stinger hook is necessary, and for what I've found any fish that I want eating the it will really inhale the lure. Any added hooks are usually only hurting your success with the bait and not intended to be fished that way.

My first impression of the bait was pure astonishment with how life-like it was. If you take a bluegill and hold it up right next to his bait you really can see how well the bait matches a natural pan fish, and the attention to detail is second to none. Swimbait fisherman know realism is key, and a natural looking bait gives you an advantage. The second thing you notice about the bait is how it sits in the water. When the bait is left alone it will sit with its nose on the bottom and the rest of the bait will remain sitting straight up. When the bass are spawning their number one enemy is a bluegill, and the bait simulates bluegill messing with the bass' spawning bed. I tend to find deadsticking the bait to draw the most strikes from the females. With the new ultimate bluegill you will find that the longer you let the bait sit with the fins flared out the more upset the female will get. Even is you are unable to see her, she is absolutely aware that the bed is under attack. Sometimes you may need to place the bait on the bed and move your boat away, and again let it sit. Be very patient with the fish, and let the bait do the work.

When I'm fishing the bait this time of year the obvious use is for sight fishing, but I've found the bait to also be very successful blind casting for beds in deeper water. The longer casts give you an opportunity to place the bait on many beds without spooking the fish. The best way to do this is make a longer cast where you would think a bed would be located then let the bait sit nose down. As you retrieve the bait make sure and let it pause many times in order to optimize the amount of fish seeing the bait. Many times you will be able to put the bait on several beds and increase your shot of catching the big female.

When it comes down to it the mattlures bluegill is such a good bait because it's right at the size where the small males aren't able to get it, but 4-5lb fish are able to easily eat the bait. I've caught fish over 10lbs with the bait, but primarily the reason its one of my go to baits is because of its ability to put tournament winning fish in the boat. Two of my largest tournament limits have come in spring using this bait and I expect to have many more.