Seeing this awesome "Redear Wool Gill" , I had to reflect on a small pond, big bass experience from a few years back. My son,Sean, was a chef at a nursing home that had a decent sized, spring fed pond in its back lands. The pond was fairly deep & clear water,had lots of 'gills and a few big bass which we sometimes SAW, but Sean couldn't get the bruisers to hit anything. One mid afternoon, trying out his usual bass jigs during a short break from work to no avail, Sean came up with the bright idea to test out a fairly hefty, soft plastic bluegill swimbait that I'd once given him. Though the big piece of flat rubber had to be gently lobbed (it weighed almost 2 oz) on his light spinning outfit, it came in fairly easy since it was a very slow sinker, and had a gentle wagging fan tail. Surprisingly, a huge bass instantly appeared and looked the slow swimmer over. Admittedly the extremely well painted artificial bluegill looked very realistic, tho it landed in water with a horrendous splat! Second cast, another splashing touchdown, and the ole bass came up again, just watching. Then Sean thought, "I'll fish this like a jig, not a swimbait, and that big gal won't be able to resist!" He was so confidence(as Sean tends to be!) that he had a co-worker FILM him on a cell phone, while he narrated his 3rd retreive, using the Australian voice of the famous,late, crocodile hunter of television fame! When the bass showed up, Sean immediately stopped reeling and let the fake bluegill spiral downward. I saw the video and still laugh as I heard Sean narrate " Crikey, here comes the biggest bass in the pond! Time to trick her with an injured look. Me bloody rubber lure is going down slowly-looks just like me ole pop's feather jig now! Blimey!! She swallowed it whole! Hey mates, here comes the jump; what a splash,big bugger!" And so it went right up to the landing at the dock.(Don't know how Sean stayed so calm, humorous, & precise in his announcing debut!!!) Of course, now with the Redear Woolgill we can REALLY work a prime bluegill replica easily in small waters with our light outfits!! I gotta hunch that 2013 will show our members some wild & "wooly" bass fishin in our areas ponds, streams, and lakes!! Happy New Year, all!
