The Wired Angler - Bass Fishing Blog, Tackle Tips and Bait Making Advice

Gliders: What Is All The Hype About?

Bass fishing trends change as fast as the weather - it seems like yesterday all you heard people talking about was the A-Rig.

With the web people's attention span seems to be a lot less than before, and there is always some new shiny thing a google or YouTube search away. This may not be blowing up as big as some trends but recently a lot of people have been talking about gliders. These baits are not new by any stretch of the imagination: muskie guys have been using them for years, their grandads were using them.

Though a lot of these lures are one piece the focus recently has been on the single joint gliders.

                                                  A glimpse at some of my favorites

Years ago River2Sea released the S-Waver. This bait did not exactly create much of a roar among the bass fishing world. Most guys did not or still do not understand the lure or how to fish it. However, this bait has contributed to countless tourney wins and big fish catches over the years. To people more in the know the Gann Craft Claw has been a secret weapon for a long time as well. Recently Butch Brown has brought much attention to the swimbait word with the Depps Slide Swimmer. This bait started its life as the Silent Killer and people modified them into lipless gliders.

The Mechanics

At first cast these baits do not appear to do much they just kind of lumber slowly back and forth. Some whip back and forth quickly. More often than one would want in a lure their are a lot of duds straight out of the package. Not all gliders are created equal. You could have two of the same brand straight out of the package and chances are they will swim differently side by side. This is just the nature of these baits because of their simplicity.

                                                     Some recent glider victims

Fishing the Gliders

Like a lot of swimbaits, these baits require a bit of attention to be paid during fishing. Retrieves can vary from a mind numbingly slow crank and pause to more of of an erratic jerk and crank style. Like most baits you have to see what the fish are responding to. These baits will pull a lot of fish to the boat before and even after you find the cadence the bass want on that particular day or time period. I prefer to impart most of my action into my gliders with just my reel handle for slow sinkers. I use the faster sinking baits to fish faster if the fish are unresponsive to the slow retrieve.

                                                     Shapes and sizes vary a lot

Like most treble hook baits you want fish these baits with a moderate rod. Some of these baits are quite big and your first thought would be to fish it on a heavy set up. A lot of the bites on these baits are very subtle and are reminiscent of crank bait bites. Some are gonna rip the rod away from you, it's just going to vary most of the time. You're going to want the forgiveness of that flexible rod.

Choosing the right glider

The glider market is a relatively small one in the bass fishing world, and some of my favorites are not even available. The River2Sea is the obvious answer to introducing yourself to them. This bait can be fished on a heavier crankbait or topwater rod. A step up from there are baits like the Rago Glidiator the Smith X Hitch or the Roman Made Negotiator.

Its hard to say whether or not these baits will stay mildly quiet or will become mainstream. My guess and hopes are that they don't catch on too big. Either way, I'll be catching big bass on these baits for years to come.

The "IT" Factor

After years of fishing  we all have our favorite lures that we gravitate towards. These are lures that we may enjoy because they just happen to fit our fishing style. These may be baits that are known to catch quality  fish day in and day out. Generally these baits have years under their belts. Every once in a while a new bait will hit the market and prove itself. Above and beyond that sometimes one out of ten lures of the same type just have "IT".

I first heard this phrase a few days after a met a good friend of mine Matt Allen. I was up at Clear Lake for one of the HBC (heavyweight Bass Classic) Tournaments. I had sold Matt one of my Snack Size Trout Floaters in chartreuse shad. Matt went out and threw the bait and thought it was a piece of shit. I saw Matt later that day on the water. We were fishing right next to each other, I caught a few fish right in front of his boat using that same piece of shit bait. Matt did not say anything at the time but apparently had put the Snack Size away about 10 minutes into fishing it. I talked to Matt a day later.He told me the next morning he went out and absolutely destroyed the bass on it. After watching me fish the bait he said had been going about it all wrong. This is when I first heard the phrase, that bait has "IT". Since then the phrase has been a regular part of my regular vocabulary. Better yet the Snack Size has become a regular part of Matt's arsenal.

As a bait designer and builder I realized even if they had no word for it before."IT" is what every bait builder is looking for. It does not matter if your a guy in the garage with a box full of jig parts or a multi million dollar company. Ultimately the goal is to build a lure that has "IT"

There are many lures in history that have proved to have "IT". Take the spinner bait for example. Ive been throwing these since I was a kid and ill probably will die with a box of them in my boat. The jig is one of these baits.You would be hard pressed not to find a box or two full of them in just about every bass boat. Every once in a while a new bait will come out and just have "IT". Some examples of this, the Senko, the Sweet Beaver, 6" Basstrix, just to name a few. Why is it that every once in a while we get a bait that out performs the other ten we own just like it? What gives that one bait "IT"? Could it be the thickness of the paint, the density of the plastic? Could it be the way we worked it back to the boat that particular day? Or could that ten pounder just not resist the factor of "IT"?

There are no magic bullets in bass fishing. I do believe there is a scientific approach to the factor of "IT. I have spent a lot of time thinking about this factor. I have worked it into my bait design and prototyping and really feel there is something to "IT"

How can we use the Factor of "IT" to make ourselves better anglers? I will do some follow ups on the Factor of "IT" and hopefully help you do just that. Till then tight lines and don't forget to think about "IT".

Does the bait you have tied on have "IT"?

 

 

Send Me Your Videos And Pictures!

Nothing gets me more excited to keep making swimbaits than seeing pictures and videos of big bass being caught on my baits. Sometimes I get so excited that mysterious packages may show up at your door.

These packages may include new things, like prototype baits that no one has even seen before! So unless you're really slow and don't get the idea - get on it folks! Here are a couple great examples,enjoy.

You can send any pictures,videos or links to me at [email protected]

How to Quickly Add a Red Gill to a Swimbait

There are many small things you can modify at home on your lures. A lot of these things are huge confidence boosters for me.

Most of these modifications just take to much time to try and do on the water, but there are a few ways to make them quick and efficient on the water.

Quick Bloody Gills

One of these small mods I like to do is add a red gill on my soft plastic swimbaits. I use soft plastic paint from LureCraft.

This paint comes in big containers that are frankly a pain in the ass to keep on my boat. So what I like to do is get an old nail polish bottle, rinse it out with acetone, then fill it up with the soft plastic paint. The containers have an application brush for quick easy on the water mods.

This works on all soft plastics including frogs and other topwater lures made of PVC.

Shown here on a Little Creeper prototype 8" Trash Fish (Link to smaller version)

There are many colors available and I like to keep some green and black on the boat as well to add spots to trout baits or other details to frogs, etc.

Here's a link to the red I like to use: Colortech Red from LureCraft

Previously on the Wired Angler:

How to Make Soft Plastic Swimbait Eyes - Part One | Part Two

Custom Jigs Made Easy

How To Protect Your Cork Handles

Soft Swimbait Top Hook Maintenance

A lot of soft swimbaits use a single jig hook molded into the bait weight system. In the event of a run in with a rock or other hard cover the hooks do occasionally become damaged. A great thing to do is keep a high quality metal file in your boat or tackle bag. In the inevitable run in with your swimbait you can do a quick easy re-sharpening of your hook. The reason for the file over a sharpening stone is that you can get a much quicker sharper point back on your hook. To sharpen, hit each side first and then the top all with a forward motion.

Shown here on a Matt Lures Catfish swimbait. This method will get a very sharp edge back on your swimbait.

In the event of a hook bending or loosing its point completely here's what to do:

Cut off the jig hook and run either a piece of 80 Pound braid or wire back to a fresh treble hook. I do this on a lot of my new swimbaits as well - I feel that at times it can increase your hook up and landing ratio. The reason for this is that the hook is will become detached from the bait. This will give the fish less weight to throw the bait.

This Swimbait has the jig hook cut off and a size 1 3X Mustad Ultra Point has been added. I choose these hooks on my softbaits because of the strength and the straight points to increase hook up ratio.

More How To posts from the Wired Angler here

How To Make Soft Plastic Eyes For Swimbaits - Part Two

This is Part 2 of this post - Click here to read Part 1

Silicon Molds:

I left off the last post after pouring the silicon mold. Pulling the mold apart is super easy and will leave you with this.

Now for the tricky part: pouring them. Heat up some clear soft plastic in a Pyrex container. These are  availible at most grocery stores. Using a microwave is the easiest cleanest way to work with this small of an amount of material. Make sure and heat it up slow so you don't burn it.

Pouring them is a very delicate process and I guarantee you will mess up a lot. However, it does not take too long to get the hang of it. Remember: you are pouring the eyes lens up, so the top of your pour is the finish. A good pour will end up looking like this with a good covex edge across it.

It only takes a minute before they are ready to pull out of the mold and paint. Soft plastic paint is availible at Lure Craft on-line and is super easy to use. First paint the pupil of the eye with a small detail brush. I used black here.

Let the paint set for a few minutes then paint over the whole back side of the eye with the color of your choice, I used a silver pearl mix for these.

After letting them sit for 10 minutes or so they are ready to glue into your favorite bait.

Here is an eye before glue in the socket of a 3:16 Rising Sun. You will need to glue them in with Mend It Soft Bait Glue available at most fishing stores.

 

Cover the whole eye with Mend it and it will seap in beween the eye and the bait creating a very real look.

That wraps it up! The eyes are now permanently part of your soft plastic bait. They also have a soft, more natural feel to them.

FInd more great bait tips and tricks in the Wired Angler How-To Category