Mattlures 2 PC Hardgill

[jkarol24]

Swimbait Review: Mattlures 2 PC Hardgill

The new Mattlures 2 PC gill is a new look for an older bait from Mattlures, continuing the Hargill series with a smaller 2 piece gill. Likes its 3 PC brother, the bait can be worked in various ways to imitate a small gill, a forage species that bass chomp across the country. The 2 PC version is of resin construction, and comes in at 5.75 inches are just over an ounce and a half. The version tested today was a slow sink, but they make em anywhere from floating to  medium sink. I personally would classify the "slow sink" as closer to moderate, but that is subjective. 

The straight moderate speed retrieve produces a thumping back and forth swim, with the head turning nearly 90 degrees off center in each direction. The swim is very tight in lateral travel, but the bait really turns and thumps as it moves through the water. While the action is aggressive, it is still relatively fluid and natural. 

Speeding up, the bait has great stability at a fast speed, but doesn't quite like a full on burn. The lateral distance isn't effected much (slightly wider), but the head turns a little less on each side. Again, a solid thump is felt as the bait cruises along. You can also hold the rod tip up to produce a waking action on or near the surface.  

Conversely, the bait accepts a nice slow retrieve nicely as well, becoming a little wider. You also notice a bit more body roll on the corner transitions, as the swim becomes less choppy and more fluid and slalom-like. 

Incorporating more input with the reel turns this bait into more of a glide-type action, somewhere between a twitch bait and a glide. Shorter reel pumps will get the bait turning back and forth, and it straightens out nicely on the ends. Granted, this bait isn't going to shoot out super wide due to its profile, but it will absolutely turn and glide a short distance back and forth. 

If you want to get it a little wider, try utilizing longer and easier reel turns. It does take a bit of practice, but you can get this bait to Glide about a foot in either direction, and I'd expect that the extra slow sink or heavy float version will do this even better. 

Feel free to also get super aggressive with the 2 PC Hardgill, with either short reel chops or firm downward twitches. The reel inputs will be slightly wider (and more tiring), but the rod twitches will get the bait to fast walk just under the surface and cause quite a commotion. 

I fished the 2 PC Gill on a Dobyns 795, Curado 300E, and 20 lb copoly. You might be able to get away with 15 or 17 lb test, but i like the extra wiggle room when fishing the bait around shallow cover. Braid would be a fine choice, although the longer slow pulls may be a little tougher. Mono or fluro would be just fine as well, and will also help if you're trying to tweak the sink rate a bit. 

Happy Sunday, hope you enjoyed Today's Review. Catch ya next week for another one