Fish The Overlooked Glide Bait

“Black panther” photographed in Texas?
May 11, 2017
COAST Knives
May 11, 2017

Every few years we have a “hot bait” phenomenon to come on the bass scene.  It was a zoom brush hog, then a reactions innovations sweet beaver, then West Coast swimbaits, then chatterbaits and now it is the Glide Bait.

A glide bait is usually a two or three segmented section hard plastic bait that slowly glides and swims in a hunting motion.  Most baits will “glide” when they are retrieved slowly and have a slow rate of fall.  Glide baits are best when fished softly and methodic.  They are not like Jigs or other power fishing baits.  You will need to learn to kill um softly with a glide bait.

I will go over my personal favorite glide baits and the tackle I throw them on.  I will also give you some tips to catch more fish on them so you will have the confidence to throw them more.

I essentially throw 3 glide baits.

  1. 6th Sense Flo Glider 140. It is a 6” bait that weighs 2 ounces and is a slow sinking bait and costs around $55. My favorite color is green gizzard, as this is what I feel most of the big bass here in Texas feed on.
  2. River to Sea S Waiver 168. It is a 6 ¾” bait that weighs 1 5/8 ounces and is also a slow sinking bait and cost around $20. My favorite colors are bone and Lt trout.
  3. Megabass Slide 185. It is a 7 ¼” bait that weigh 2 ounces and is a slow sinking bait and costs around $59. My favorite color is silver salmon.

Ok, now let’s talk tackle for these gliding swimbaits.

I personally like a fairly heavy action rod with a long handle.  For all of the above mentioned glide baits I throw an IROD Genesis II 7’8” Jr. Swimbait Rod.  It will accommodate baits up to 4 ounces and has enough backbone to make the long casts you need to throw these baits.

Now, when it comes to line there are many schools of thought. You can throw braid with a leader, straight braid, straight floro or even straight mono.  I feel as though you should throw what YOU have the most confidence in.  I personally throw 20lb floro 90% of the time.  I feel as though it gives my bait plenty of action and the line is still virtually invisible.  However, a good friend of mine Matt Newman who owns IROD, throws straight braid in California’s crystal clear waters and catches some absolute water donkeys on braid.  So, you need fish what you feel the most comfortable with and stick with it.

Here are a few tips in general for first time glide bait fisherman.

  1. Don’t start with HUGE baits. Too many people watch YouTube with guys throwing 10-12” swimbaits and feel as though they should too. Start off with any of the three that I have listed that are from 6”-7 ½” and will put yourself in position to catch absolute monsters as well as four pounders.
  2. Keep your eyes peeled. Glide baits will draw up curious fish that will follow your bait. Keep your eyes peeled to see if you have a 10-pounder stalking your bait.  Even if the bass doesn’t bite, you know it is there, and it will also let you know to try and change up your retrieve or cadence.
  3. Your retrieve, keep it simple. The absolute best retrieve is to reel these baits as slow as possible and they still retain the side to side hunting action. If you reel them too slow, they just come straight back to you with no action at all.  If you have a follower, try a sharp twitch or two, this motion should make the bait almost do a 180 and face the fish.  This will generate a strike in most occasions.
  4. Be patient. This is not typically a bait to throw if you are targeting fish under four pounds.This is a bait when you are looking for a kicker fish or if you are trophy hunting.  You will gain confidence when you are throwing the 5”-7” baits and as you do, then buy you an 8”-10” bait and throw it some.  You just need to know, your bites will be fewer on the larger baits, but you may also catch your PB largemouth as well.

Well, there you have it.  The next time you are wanting to catch the biggest bass in a school or your new PB, tie on a glide bait and be patient.  This is not a 20 bites a day bait, but rather 0-5 a day.  However they are usually the bites that win tournaments and put those monster bug-eyed bass on the deck.

Shane Smith

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