PJ ... I haven't gone after Bluegill, specifically, but do catch a few casting jigs or Roadrunners.

In previous years (many years ago) I would switch over to trolling for Hybrids, if the Crappie weren't cooperating or all the shade was off the banks/cover where I was catching Crappie (& they shut down). That was trolling ... using (white) Silver Buddy blade baits or trailing a marabou jig behind a deep diving crank (in my case a large Hot-n-Tot). Nowadays I seem to catch bigger Hybrids just casting the banks for Crappie. Also found out that around 5pm, in a little mud bank pocket just upriver around the corner from Chowning ramp, the Hybrids would have corralled a bunch of Shad in that area ... and we'd get our arms wore out catching them, casting Silver Buddys in the mouth of that pocket and out in the channel in front of it. That's been decades ago, so I don't know if they still do that there, and I haven't fished that end of the lake since back then (or actually targeted Hybrid).

From what I understand, the bigger Bluegill tend to be loners and reside in the deeper waters most of the time ... so your technique is likely spot on for getting into the better quality ones. You might even get some bigger ones by drifting/slow trolling or even spider rigging with some small Popeye jigs & wax worms, just outside of the standing timber in the deeper water.

I just wonder if people are still fishing with Chicken Livers ... for Hybrids I know they found out, decades ago, that the Hybrids would hit them, and they pretty much decimated the population of the bigger ones. I never tried it, myself. I just trolled the crank/jig combo, cast blade baits and slab spoons (Silver Buddy - Kastmaster), and occasionally fished live Shad for them. I did well enough with those, that I never bothered to use Chicken Livers.

Nowadays I only go for the Crappie, and anything else I catch is just "pullage" since they're getting put right back into the lake after I land them.