Glide Stability

[iboothroyd94]

Any advice on achieving stability at high speeds with a glide? I’ve dabbled with a couple glides here and there which I’ve been somewhat happy with - I can get good action at slow speeds which is how I normally fish, but most of the time they blow out at faster speeds. 
 

I made a new glide and guessed on the resin/weighting formula for a starting point and it came out absolutely perfect - barely floats/almost suspends, goes down 2-2.5ft when working it, can be worked slow or burned and stays stable (video attached). 
 

Since then I’ve poured 5 more out of the same mold with the exact same formula and some with a slightly tweaked formula, all of which either swim like complete dogshit or are okay on a slow retrieve but blow out on a moderate/fast retrieve! 
 

Is there something I’m missing here with glides when it comes to achieving stability ? I’ve tried bigger/smaller/no tail. Should I be adding alot more microballoons then countering it with alot more weight to get back to the same float/sink rate, or do the opposite and use less weight and less microballoons? 
 

Any tips of weight placement? (Closer to middle, closer to nose & tail, or just evenly distributed)
 

Is there any aspects of the shape of the bait that contribute to better/worse stability? 

 

Any/all help appreciated!

[flaswimbaiter]

Is that a lexan tail? If so, you might want to go with a soft tail, that would help some.  Weight should be evenly distributed, you want it to sit level. It actually doesn’t look that bad when you retrieve it fast. 

[iboothroyd94]

21 hours ago, flaswimbaiter said:

Is that a lexan tail? If so, you might want to go with a soft tail, that would help some.  Weight should be evenly distributed, you want it to sit level. It actually doesn’t look that bad when you retrieve it fast. 

Yup lexan, I’ll give something softer a shot. This was the one that I was actually pretty happy with the stability, but all the pours afterwards blow out on a medium retrieve! Drives me crazy haha

[Big Epp]

Where does the weight sit from a y-axis perspective? How close is it to the mid-line of the bait vs the belly of the bait?

[flaswimbaiter]

15 hours ago, iboothroyd94 said:

Yup lexan, I’ll give something softer a shot. This was the one that I was actually pretty happy with the stability, but all the pours afterwards blow out on a medium retrieve! Drives me crazy haha

I had a bait someone else made that came with a stiff plastic tail, it glided well, but on the faster retrieve it would wobble and roll. I changed it out to a softer silicone tail and it stabilized on faster retrieves. The tightness or looseness of the joint can also cause issues.  Glides are a pain. 

Edited November 18, 2023 by flaswimbaiter

[iboothroyd94]

On 11/17/2023 at 10:01 PM, Big Epp said:

Where does the weight sit from a y-axis perspective? How close is it to the mid-line of the bait vs the belly of the bait?

I used a resin ballast so that the bottom ~1/3 of the bait is pure resin with no microballoons (pure resin sinks like a brick), and the top 2/3 is the buoyant resin/microballoon mix

That formula had it floating too heavy, so I drilled a hole and added lead to the belly in the front half of the bait, with the weight as close to the bottom of the belly without it being exposed  
 

So essentially part of the ballast is evenly distributed across the whole X axis and goes 1/3 up the Y axis, and the  additional weight/ballast was added as low on the Y axis as it could go in the middle of the X axis 

[Abobass]

In my experience to make a glide be able to burn it needs to be weighted on the heavier side and the tail/joint has to be open enough that the tail section can flop over to almost 90 degrees 

[Abobass]

On 11/19/2023 at 2:52 PM, iboothroyd94 said:

I used a resin ballast so that the bottom ~1/3 of the bait is pure resin with no microballoons (pure resin sinks like a brick), and the top 2/3 is the buoyant resin/microballoon mix

That formula had it floating too heavy, so I drilled a hole and added lead to the belly in the front half of the bait, with the weight as close to the bottom of the belly without it being exposed  
 

So essentially part of the ballast is evenly distributed across the whole X axis and goes 1/3 up the Y axis, and the  additional weight/ballast was added as low on the Y axis as it could go in the middle of the X axis 

Some baits to study that are great burners is the poppa pete, sneaky pete, and JSJ siren slide 

[bassturds]

Ds glide is very stable