Glide Baiting

[Eufaulahammer]

What are you guys doing to make your glides deeper? I have been studying some of Millikens videos and seems that like he had a weighed front treble hook. Was curious if someone here has done the same?

[bassbass]

I use storm lead strips. I wrap them around the hook shanks.

[BoatSquirrel]

This winter I fished a clear body of water. It really showed me how much deeper baits on fluoro run compared with braid to leader. I am talking several feet deeper on a bomb cast. 20 lb Invizx to be exact. 

[BreadTooShred]

Lead strips, 20-25 lb floro (I use FC Sniper), heavier splits and heavier hooks all help. SU makes splits and hooks that show comparison of weights in the shop.

[G3bassin]

Don’t remember where I read it and have never tried it but saw an article where the guy was talking about s-wavers. He would put a bobber stop on his line then a weight then another bobber stop and slide it about a foot or so up the line. He said it allowed him to fish it deeper and when he would stop it the bait would swim down instead of sinking horizontally. Seems like it could work but like I said I have never attempted just throwing it out there. 

[DEPS_250]

I just got into glide baits this year. Even though I am still a newbie to glide baits, I have already started to tinker with my glide baits and modding them in order to get the sink rate that I need in order to fish them deeper. 

I was initially going to start with lead wire wrapped around the hook shank just like what I saw on Ben Milliken's glide baits. But I started doing a lot of critical thinking about how I like to fish, where I like to fish and which glide baits I wanted to fish and ultimately I decided that I would ditch the lead wire around the hook shank and instead go with the suspenstrips from Storm. As others have said already, you can also upgrade to heavier/larger hooks, split rings, snaps and swivels too besides just using suspenstrips or lead wire. I have started to tinker with heavier/larger split rings, snaps and swivels on the nose of my glide baits. I might give the lead wire around the hook shank a try though just to see what it does to my baits and if it affects how they swim. 

No matter which mod you end up using, remember to bring the lead strips or lead wire with you so you can adjust the weight on the water. I will test my baits at home with lead strips and hardware just to see how fast they sink in a bucket of water but ultimately, its more important to test the weights while out on the water so you can better gauge how much weight you actually need while fishing.  

Hope these pics help you get an idea as to what I am doing to my baits with the lead strips in order to get them to fish deeper.  

[DEPS_250]

I have even heard of some guys painting the suspenstrips in order to disguise them better so they don't spook the fish or interfere with the fish committing.

I haven't tried this but I don't think it really matters. The waters I fish are pretty dirty and murky and any depth I fish at where the fish are going to be, is already going to be pretty dark where the light penetration is poor. I don't think the fish are going to see the lead strips let alone all of the other stuff that is on the bait. They are mainly going to see a big silhouette with some color and that is it. 

The suspenstrips really shouldn't hinder your ability to get bites, especially if you know how to work your glide baits to the best of their ability. Also, its such a big bait with a whole lot of hardware hanging from it already, that I think the suspenstrips are marginal at best and are really no more a deterrent to getting bites than the hooks and split rings themselves that are already on the bait. Plus, I think painting them would be such a waste of time and energy that could be spent fishing instead.  

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by DEPS_250

[Eufaulahammer]

Thanks for the tips guys I will definately be doing some of these mods to see how they work.