Forgive this Midwest angler for chimming in here. I'm just looking for some opinions on swimbaits.

In the past I've used the Castiac baby bass, Castiac Trout (soft body), several different Optimum Swimbaits. Not much success with hooking up good fish, or getting them to hit in the first place.

This year I'm going toward the bluegill swimbait route. Considering it's the main forage for our bass here, I'm hoping to have a little more success. I have some hand poured gills that I'm going to try on a stand up jig head, and have also purchased one of Matt's Bluegill's in the female patter.

What I would like to know what are the most important factors when fishing these swimbaits. What do you think the bass keen in on the most?

Color pattern of the bait....Such as a female gill vs. male gill vs. sunfish...etc..

Shape.......Handpoured gills don't mimic the actual gill that much, but I can see where the size would be beneficial in hook up percentage

Body.......Do you think the size of the gill will trigger more strikes or less strikes...such as a 6" gill vs. a 4" gill?

Thanks for any Replies