Skip to main content

Glide Baits Coming On Fast

Another West Coast lure trend moving East among pros

Glide Baits Coming On Fast
Glide baits more than a foot long can help find big fish. (Steve Wright photo)

ORLANDO, Fla. — From a distance, Chris Zaldain appeared to be casting a chunk of plywood. He retrieved it in slow motion near a boat dock on Texas' Toledo Bend Reservoir during the first week of May. His rod tip barely moved from the 10 o'clock position.

"It's a glide bait," Zaldain said later. "Please don't write anything about it. These are the new thing in California."

The secret is definitely out. Glide baits are now part of the long list entitled: Last Secret Bait of the Pros. A casual stroll through the ICAST showroom would convince you. Gan Craft, for instance, featured a wall of glide baits in its booth. And plenty more lure manufacturers have added glide bait models to their catalogue.

Some people call them glide swimbaits or jointed swimbaits. They come in both natural wood and hard plastic. The key feature of these lipless lures is the joint that holds the fore and aft sections together. That's what allows a glide bait to glide. It makes a wide, walking-the-dog action upon retrieve that seems to hypnotize big fish of all species.

Another key: Glide baits have the unique characteristic of being both a fish catcher and a fish locator.

Zaldain's experience in May at Toledo Bend is the perfect example. Bass were in all three stages of the spawn. Zaldain watched as game-changer-size bass followed behind his glide bait, but didn't bite. Knowing where the fish was allowed Zaldain to follow up with a soft plastic lure on 6-pound-test line. Much to his amazement, he was able to land the bass from a maze of aquatic vegetation. It weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces.

"If a fish sees it from 20 feet away, it's going to come up to it because they've never seen anything like that before," Zaldain sasid. "It's got anywhere from a 12- to 14-inch stride under the water. It's almost like walking-the-dog, but it's real slow and subtle. You don't jerk your rod tip."

Gan Craft was among the companies displaying a huge selection of glide baits. (Steve Wright photo)
Gan Craft was among the companies displaying a huge selection of glide baits. (Steve Wright photo)

Glide baits come in all sizes – from giant 12- and 14-inch models to the more subtle 6- and 8-inch lures, and they feature different rates of fall in the water column.

Zaldain is keeping it secret about who he thinks makes the best glide baits, but he doesn't mind offering some clues on to how to pick out a good one.

"I think the custom wooden ones out of California have the most drawing power," said Zaldain, who lives in San Jose, Calif. "But what's most important is the balance. That's difficult to get right. When you kill it (stop the retrieve), if it falls over to the side, they won't hit it. But if it falls vertically, that's what makes it most appealing."

The reel, not the rod, is the crucial part of fishing a glide bait effectively. You want something in the mid-range of speed, like 6.4:1. Not too fast; not too slow. Zaldain calls the action he puts on a glide bait "the stuck reel retrieve."

Recommended


It's as if you have to break through a reel that has seized. A half-crank, stop. The glide bait swims to the left. Another half-crank, stop. The glide bait moves to the right. The lure makes a wide-path, slow-motion, walking-the-dog pattern familiar to anyone who has thrown a Zara Spook, only it does it at various depths beneath the surface.

"You want to retrieve it nice and slow," Zaldain said. "There's no rod action at all. Because it has one joint, as the line pulls the nose forward, it goes to one side, then it breaks and goes to the other side. It just keeps doing that, back and forth."

Zaldain thinks a glide bait will be effective anytime fish are hitting a jerkbait, especially spring and fall. But this lure is so new, he's not ready to put any limitations on it yet. There's lots of experimentation left to do with glide baits.

For pro bass fishermen like Zaldain, a glide bait's ability to call up fish has an obvious appeal: Bend the barbs on this two-treble hooked lure and you can determine the size of the bass holding in a particular area during pre-tournament practice. Little bass don't win big money on the B.A.S.S. circuit. If a glide bait can put bass in a show-and-tell mode, you're going to fish more efficiently during the tournament, even if they aren't chomping a glide bait.

And if you're still not convinced about the effectiveness of glide baits, just ask Zaldain about the 8-12 he caught at Toledo Bend last May.




GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Gear

Cashion Icon Bait Finesse Rod

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Gear

Dryshod Evalusion Hunt Boots Keep Whitetail Hunters on Top of Their Game

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Gear

Tackle Junkie: Lew's Custom Pro Gen 3

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Other

Light up the Salt

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Fishing

Caring for the Catch

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Fishing

Snook on the Hook

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Guns

TriStar Cobra III Field Pump Super Compact .410

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Gear

Federal Premium Freight Train Copper Sabot Slug

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Fishing

Saltwater Setup

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Fishing

Jacks to the Max

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Gear

Beilue's Best from ICAST 2024: Baits & Tackle

Rod builders continue to gravitate toward accommodating lighter finesse techniques. Here's a small sampling of the best ...
Gear

Beilue's Best from ICAST 2024: Rods

Game & Fish Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Get the Game & Fish App apple store google play store

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Game & Fish stories delivered right to your inbox every week.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All Game & Fish subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now

Never Miss a Thing.

Get the Newsletter

Get the top Game & Fish stories delivered right to your inbox every week.

By signing up, I acknowledge that my email address is valid, and have read and accept the Terms of Use