For anyone who fishes a multi-species lake, what are your thoughts on using glide baits to target the largest fish in the lake? 

 

Looking for some absolutely honest feedback before possibly jumping into this. So what I'm looking at is a fishery with:

1) a very solid population of 26"+ walleyes. I caught a 30" on a jerkbait last year post-spawn and I'm aware of multiple high 20s and a 31 being caught this year. 

2) 30" to 45" catfish, mostly Channels and Flatheads 

3) A population of wipers in the 27"-32" range. They've been stocked every year for the last 6-7 years so I expect there to be more and bigger wipers each subsequent year to come. 

 

I'm sort of primarily targeting the walleyes but I catch a LOT of short eyes with standard jerkbaits in the 4-5" range. I'd be hoping to eliminate the majority of smaller bites and hopefully draw the attention of more larger fish.

 

As I've accidentally caught smaller flatheads while jerkbaiting for walleyes at night, I don't have any reason to believe they wouldn't be attracted to a glide bait type presentation, though I'd be curious to know if anyone has any experience or information with glide baits and catfish specifically.

 

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated.

You may want to consult the guys at swimbait underground as there are definitely guys from your state who do well on the big baits.

 

I fish a river that has a decent population of walleye/schoolie striper and a very healthy population of blues, flatheads and channels. I got into the swimbait game this year so I am not nearly as experienced as some but I will share my experiences so far. The only fish I catch on the river with regularity on swimbaits are the catfish. I catch them on big topwaters and jointed swimmers during prime low light conditions. Other times dragging big soft baits is also effective but the bait needs to be right in their face.

 

Pay attention to the forage in your body of water. The stripers I catch on conventional lures are mostly keyed on small 3-4" minnows. I have thrown 7-9" baits around when I knew there was a bite happening with minimal success. I still believe there is a swimbait bite to be had, I just haven't cracked the code yet.

 

Fish high percentage spots during high percentage times and you should get bit. Just temper your expectations and realize you probably won't catch as many fish as you could with a jerkbait.

 

 

I've caught several wipers on glide baits, as well as white bass. I haven't caught any catfish on one, but I know they'll eat them. Walleyes will absolutely eat them, I just rarely fish anywhere that there is any kind of walleye population with a glide bait.

I've had a bit of success with two big walleyes over 29 inches in the shenango river on glides. One that choked a subwalk postspawn and the other in the tailwaters on the 8 inch bone glideswimmer.