For starters, getting accustomed to glide baits might be confusing or new. This is because using these does not guarantee you to gain a lot of bait. However, these are useful for anglers who are interested in getting big bites for a monster fish catch. If you are committed to catching a big fish, then having glide bait must have caught your attention.
Although many still do not know the exact use and importance of these baits, they are massively gaining popularity in recent years. Keep browsing this article to learn more about glide baits, their importance, proper usage, and some tips for applying these baits on your next fishing adventure.
What Really is A Glide Bait?
For a type of bait that’s been around for a long time, glide baits do not get the attention or the recognition they deserve. Glide baits are basically lures that mimic an injured small fish. When these lures are thrown, it catches the attention of big fish since they seem to be an easy meal for them to consume. They mimic by moving side-to-side even through a steady reeling and retrieving. Due to their s-movement that lures big fish, these baits are commonly known as “slide swimmers.” So if ever you encounter this name, do not be confused with it.
To define them in a more detailed way, the glide baits feature a rigid body and a vibrating tungsten ball in the throat that is mounted on a spring. When the bait rests or slowly sinks during a pause, it produces small pressure waves that a predator may detect.
When To Use A Glide Bait?
If you want to draw a big fish during your catch, then using glide baits must help you achieve this. Typically, these baits mimic bream, herring, gizzard shad, and perch type of fish. So if you are used to handling these fish as lures, then you might want to consider using a glide bait.
Fishing using glide baits is a brand-new, fascinating method that is remarkably neglected. You should try glide baiting if you enjoy swim baiting, stick baiting, or both, whether you fish in streams, dams, or reef flats- this technique won’t disappoint you.
Best Time To Use A Glide Bait
It’s a good idea to think of a gliding bait as a spinner bait if you’ve never fished with large baits. Actually, they are both imitating similar actions. Simply said, a glide bait first seems far more confusing. But in the water, it resembles a half-ounce spinnerbait in terms of size and appearance. Therefore, search for areas where you would toss a spinner bait, such as places around docks, over aquatic vegetation, through laydowns, and down wind-blown riprap.
Although they seem to function the same as any other lures, it is still important to differentiate their purpose from the others. Therefore, to maximize their usage, it is necessary to choose the right size and color of your glide bait. Simply make sure that the color you choose is one that the fish can still see. Even in those hazy conditions, choose a color that will still glide with a great flash. Whereas in situations with clearer water, colors that closely resemble the natural feed would function well.
Proper Techniques in Using a Glide Bait
Step 1: Cast your glide bait on your desired fishing location multiple times.
During casting, it is important that you know the best swimming movement of your glide bait. To attain this, cast your bait towards the location, then retrieve it. Continue casting and retrieving your bait multiple times until you get the hang of your bait’s swimming.
Step 2: Reeling
The best way to reel it is to alternate between reeling, stopping, and retrieving. This results in making your lure do an S-turn as it glides through the water. Make sure that your speed of reeling is slow enough that you can feel the movement of your bait. This should swim naturally in order to catch big fish.
Step 3: Observe for S-like movements on the surface of the water.
In order to know that your glide bait is at its best swimming, an S-like movement on the surface of the water is observed. These movements signify that your bait successfully lured a lot of fish. If you happen to get a bite, then be ready for retrieval. Be excited as you might highly get a monster fish!
The action on a glide bait comes more from the angler’s use of rod movement or fast, sharp reel spins than it does from the steady retrieve. As always, combining and matching will give you the greatest coverage until you figure out what works, but it’s vital to keep in mind that fishing a glide bait involves more snapping than it is about twitching.
Four Useful Retrieves for Glide Baits
- Slow Crawl
This is achieved by slow and steady reeling. Make sure that you do not lose the bait action or movement to ensure that your catch cannot escape. - Pull and Glide
This also applies a slow retrieve but with 6 slow handle turns. This allows the bait to move at a slow crawl movement, followed by a sudden fast retrieving. Then, sweep the rod on the left and right and turn upon retrieval. - Crawl and Twitch
This is a combination of 4-12 slow handle rotations followed by performing 2 sudden snaps of the rod. This retrieval will make the catch startle or caught-on-act upon biting the bait. - Walk
It can be performed in a slow or fast retrieval using the rod tip and reel handle. This is best applied to catches that are aggressive and actively moving the bait.
It is best that you perform each type of retrieval to know which one works best in catching your targets. Each of them is utilized for a particular scenario and also depends on your retrieval capability and fishing experience.
Types of Glide Baits
Swimming Glide Bait
These plugs are outlined to be cast out into the surf and reeled specifically back in at a consistent pace, with minimal jerks and twitches. Numerous hand-made glide baits accessible from custom builders are in this category. When recovered, this type of bait coasts back and forward within the water with a slight side-to-side roll. A few are superior at reacting to jerks and twitches than others, but for the foremost portion, they are outlined, to begin with and better at essentially swimming on a straight recovery. Moreover, this type of glide bait is exceptionally compact and overwhelming for the most part. Because of their overwhelming weight, they permit the usage of this bait in deep waters. Also, they are prevalent for fishermen in areas like the Cape Cod Canal for this reason.
Jerk Glide Bait
The other type of glide bait is called jerk. This bait regularly does not have as great swimming activity as the other type of glide bait. When recovered straightforwardly back to the fisherman on a straight recovery, they regularly have a really wide, fine, and slow S-curve swimming activity. That is to say, retrieving them at varying speeds from moderate to fast, they perform almost minimal to no action. They are outlined to be utilized with twitches and jerks present on the rod’s tip along with breaks and increasing velocities in your recovery. With this type of glide bait, the fisherman is basically capable of making the fish retrieval more active and controlled.
Glide Bait Gear
Due to the glide bait’s constant movement, it is important that you take into account your overall fishing gears. Your fish usually bite the bait while moving; therefore, losing your catch might be an issue. To cater to this, you need to have a bit of heavy gear that can fight with your catch as it moves, flees, or jumps off upon biting.
A smaller glide bait measures approximately 7.2 to 2.6 inches with a range from 150 to 200 casting reel size. On the other hand, for the bigger glide classification, it measures from 7.6 to 8 inches with a 300-size casting reel.
Fishermen can have glide baits on conventional medium-heavy to heavier weights. If you already have experience with this kind of bait, then choosing a heavier one is a better option for you. As a starter, you might want to look for glide baits that measure from 6 to 8 inches and weigh up to a handful of ounces. It is also optional to obtain a heavier glide, but this might be useful for your fishing adventure.
Advantages in Using Glide Baits
- Cast Well
Depending on your fishing intentions, these baits generally cast well because of their varying weight and thickness. They are best utilized for casting large-fish catches because of their ability to mimic their feed movements. Moreover, they also work well in different environmental conditions, such as the presence of strong wind, waves, and aquatic vegetation. They still keep their stability and function despite these environmental conflicts.
- Lure a large number of catch
Due to their ability to mimic large-fish feeds, they catch the attention of fish more than any type of baits. They can draw the attention of fish of all sizes and types, which is an important factor for an angler’s fishing tool.
- Highly versatile
They are profoundly flexible with respect to how they can be utilized in all types of fishing. They are effective for varying fishing sites such as surf, freshwater, saltwater, etc. This ability is exceptional since a single bait can provide you with a thousand live baits that cover the whole water environment.
Disadvantages in Using Glide Baits
- It requires practice
Many starters might find using glide baits confusing because of their swimming ability. Depending on how you reel and control it, the movement of the bait is affected. Therefore, this affects the efficiency of your bait to mimic fish movement.
- Your Fishing Gear Must Coincide with Your Glide Bait
In order to maximize the potential of your glide bait, you also need to take into account your fishing gears. Choose a rod and reel that best compliment your chosen glide bait.
Tips in Using Glide Baits
- Your Casting Distance is Critical
It is necessary to cast your glide bait farther. This is to make your catch travel towards the bait in a longer time, allowing you to track them and ensure the efficiency of your bait easily.
- Your fishing environment matter
It is important to know the conditions of your fishing location, such as the type of water, types of fish, presence of vegetation, and occurrence of strong winds. Although glide baits can withstand these conditions, it is still necessary to account for them to know what color and size of bait you will be needing.
- Best Time of the Day
Most experienced anglers prefer the middle of the day or noon time. This is because the water is more clearer which lets you see the condition and movement of your bait at a distance.
- The Right Mentality
Learning a new method might be frustrating if you keep on failing to improve. However, these struggles are part of your journey to be an effective glide-bait angler. In most cases, the number of your failures and success is not the basis for the improvement of your technique, but it is your mentality to keep on casting and practicing.
Conclusion
Glide baits are the proper draws for catching bigger fish. All you’ve got to do is grant it an attempt, hone it for many days, and finally, do not ever lose your desire to continue practicing. If ever one technique seems not working for you, then look for another and change it. Your experience is your best teacher during this fishing venture.
Practicing a new technique will never be not worth trying. Although at times it seems difficult to learn, consulting with some experts and reading informational articles will greatly help you fish the way you want. We hope that you learned a few things about glide baits in this article. Following these guides, steps, and tips, we hope you can experience your dream fishing journey with us.