WUMFL Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 Hey builders! Working on some glides and I have 2 completed, but one is pretty stable on the glide and the other one isn’t. My question is, what makes a stable glide? Is it tuning, weight distribution, shape, size? I mean stability as in the bait wobbles on the end of a glide, or it also wants to “cut” downward on a chopping glide. The bait basically doesn’t glide stably, you get what I mean! Let me know if you guys have any tips on that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 On 3/7/2023 at 7:06 AM, WUMFL said: My question is, what makes a stable glide? Is it tuning, weight distribution, shape, size? All of the above…and more. Do you have any photos that you can show us? WUMFL and flaswimbaiter 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 8, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 22 minutes ago, danthefisherman said: All of the above…and more. Do you have any photos that you can show us? Sure thing! The smaller, trout glide in the first imagine is pretty unstable but the shad-ish glide is relatively stable in comparison. Can use a little improvement though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flaswimbaiter Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 If that is a stiff plastic tail that could be causing some of your problems. Post a pic of the baits from above. Glides can be very fickle and difficult to work with. I have one small glide that looks horrible. The joint is too far forward, but it glides amazing. Then I have another shad glide that is shaped perfectly, it’s symmetrical it’s well balanced and it will not even glide one little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 5 hours ago, flaswimbaiter said: If that is a stiff plastic tail that could be causing some of your problems. Post a pic of the baits from above. Glides can be very fickle and difficult to work with. I have one small glide that looks horrible. The joint is too far forward, but it glides amazing. Then I have another shad glide that is shaped perfectly, it’s symmetrical it’s well balanced and it will not even glide one little bit. Gotcha. The tails are polycarb since its the only thing I have, no plastisol or anything to melt with. Will post pictures up close in a bit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 1 hour ago, WUMFL said: Gotcha. The tails are polycarb since its the only thing I have, no plastisol or anything to melt with. Will post pictures up close in a bit! Hard tails work but will not absorb directional change and “smooth out” the swimming action like a soft tail will. That said, a tail that is too soft will not provide good tracking and will hurt the swim instead of helping it. There are pros and cons to both, and most opt for the happy medium of a semi-soft rubber tail. A bait nosing down typically can be corrected with an adjustment of line tie or ballast location, or at least that’s where I start. A joint that is too tight/restricted also tends to worsen the handling of a bait that is not well balanced. Your setup and fishing style also can play a big role on a glide’s performance. Line choice, reel ipt, rod action, and user inputs can all help or hurt the swim. This is all assuming that you are stuck with whatever master form you have. Typically stage one of making a good glide is shaping a profile that is appropriate for the action that you want. Not all profiles will give you that nice wide and stable swim. Of course you want a bait to look good, but realistically having a full set of protruding fins and intricate detail does nothing to make a bait swim better. You’ll have to figure out what is important to you and how to make that work with your builds. Good luck! WUMFL and flaswimbaiter 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooksets_arefree Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 1 hour ago, danthefisherman said: Hard tails work but will not absorb directional change and “smooth out” the swimming action like a soft tail will. That said, a tail that is too soft will not provide good tracking and will hurt the swim instead of helping it. There are pros and cons to both, and most opt for the happy medium of a semi-soft rubber tail. A bait nosing down typically can be corrected with an adjustment of line tie or ballast location, or at least that’s where I start. A joint that is too tight/restricted also tends to worsen the handling of a bait that is not well balanced. Your setup and fishing style also can play a big role on a glide’s performance. Line choice, reel ipt, rod action, and user inputs can all help or hurt the swim. This is all assuming that you are stuck with whatever master form you have. Typically stage one of making a good glide is shaping a profile that is appropriate for the action that you want. Not all profiles will give you that nice wide and stable swim. Of course you want a bait to look good, but realistically having a full set of protruding fins and intricate detail does nothing to make a bait swim better. You’ll have to figure out what is important to you and how to make that work with your builds. Good luck! All great info, thought I may add that a different material choice could effect the swim as well, if your bait is rolling, having a less dense material and adding more weight should give more stability as the weight of the lead pulling down on the belly and the more buoyant material pulling the top up towards the surface can help keep your bait upright. Think of it as having a two strings on your bait, one on top and one on bottom, the harder you pull on them the more difficult it would be for the bait to turn over WUMFL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 1 hour ago, Hooksets_arefree said: All great info, thought I may add that a different material choice could effect the swim as well, if your bait is rolling, having a less dense material and adding more weight should give more stability as the weight of the lead pulling down on the belly and the more buoyant material pulling the top up towards the surface can help keep your bait upright. Think of it as having a two strings on your bait, one on top and one on bottom, the harder you pull on them the more difficult it would be for the bait to turn over Good point! I’ve been using poplar since its the only thing I really have immediate access to. Not sure which woods are less dense or if Resin is even an option since that opens a whole can of worms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 3 hours ago, danthefisherman said: Hard tails work but will not absorb directional change and “smooth out” the swimming action like a soft tail will. That said, a tail that is too soft will not provide good tracking and will hurt the swim instead of helping it. There are pros and cons to both, and most opt for the happy medium of a semi-soft rubber tail. A bait nosing down typically can be corrected with an adjustment of line tie or ballast location, or at least that’s where I start. A joint that is too tight/restricted also tends to worsen the handling of a bait that is not well balanced. Your setup and fishing style also can play a big role on a glide’s performance. Line choice, reel ipt, rod action, and user inputs can all help or hurt the swim. This is all assuming that you are stuck with whatever master form you have. Typically stage one of making a good glide is shaping a profile that is appropriate for the action that you want. Not all profiles will give you that nice wide and stable swim. Of course you want a bait to look good, but realistically having a full set of protruding fins and intricate detail does nothing to make a bait swim better. You’ll have to figure out what is important to you and how to make that work with your builds. Good luck! Thank you! Some good information here. Not sure I really can make any semi-soft tails but it seems like it would help! I did make a gill wake where the tail was solid and rigid but was pinned and lose in the tail slot so it could move with the bait, almost like a shellcracker g2. Maybe that would work with the directional movement for a glide? Definitely something I should try I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flaswimbaiter Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 Poplar is more dense than basswood or Tupelo, I know because I use it sometime when I want a bait that needs less weight. It’s a good wood to work with, just a pain to carve across the grain. WUMFL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Process77 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 I prefer weighting each piece ( body tail ) separately accounting for the hardware. In my experience if both pieces are ballasted individually to sink level and at a steady rate when combined they form a pretty stable swim. I also try and place the tie eye through the center of mass across the bait nose to tail. Hope it helps. WUMFL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Epp Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 Another thing that can impact lure stability is how close to the centerline the ballast weight is. The farther into the lure the more likely the bait is to roll, the closer to the belly the more stable. Both baits have noses that slope down pretty steeply, could that be why the dive hard sometimes? Great thread; lots of good info! flaswimbaiter and WUMFL 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 2 hours ago, Big Epp said: Another thing that can impact lure stability is how close to the centerline the ballast weight is. The farther into the lure the more likely the bait is to roll, the closer to the belly the more stable. Both baits have noses that slope down pretty steeply, could that be why the dive hard sometimes? Great thread; lots of good info! Might be! Working on some baits that are less sharp too! Most of my lead is fairly shallow but obviously I need a lot so it has to be pretty deep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 17 hours ago, flaswimbaiter said: Poplar is more dense than basswood or Tupelo, I know because I use it sometime when I want a bait that needs less weight. It’s a good wood to work with, just a pain to carve across the grain. Would you recommend Tupelo? I just bought more poplar but it is definitely a pain with the grain for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WUMFL Posted March 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 16 hours ago, Process77 said: I prefer weighting each piece ( body tail ) separately accounting for the hardware. In my experience if both pieces are ballasted individually to sink level and at a steady rate when combined they form a pretty stable swim. I also try and place the tie eye through the center of mass across the bait nose to tail. Hope it helps. Thats pretty interesting, didn’t think to do it that way. Definitely will give that a shot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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