Looking to get some general advice on casting and retrieving big glides and swimbaits. I’m currently casting into open water, around structure, and atop grass beds with little success. Not sure if I’m not hitting the spots hard enough, but it’s hard to feel like you’re not spooking all the bass in the area when your 2-3oz bait splashes. Im mainly throwing the 6 in bullshad and 7 in (?)S waver. Which areas are you mainly targeting with these baits and what is your casting approach as far as distance from targets, types of targets/cover, and number of times you’ll cast in same general area. 

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by Bassboi88

Also curious if people use different Or the same rods for Huddlestons with single hooks (fast action) and big glides with treble hooks (some like moderate). 

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by Bassboi88

You might have more responses in the general forums rather than the regional ones but I'll give my 0.02. 

 

I wouldn't really worry about spooking fish unless you're fishing specific pieces of cover and the bite is tough. I've heard it said that the splash can actually attract curious big bass, I don't know if there's any truth to it but guys do well fishing 3/4lb lures and those sound like cannonballs hitting the water. 

 

Best thing to do is switch it up. You mentioned you're fishing the bullshad. That is a very versatile bait. Try burning it, slow retrieves, twitches etc. The S-waver is what some call a "cover" glide. That is the glide isn't super wide which means it doesn't have the "drawing power" of say a Deps 250, but you can fish it tighter to cover. 

 

The rod issue is somewhat preferential. Ideally you'd want a bit stiffer rod for the jig hook baits but some guys still like a parabolic rod to keep fish pinned, you'll just ave to adjust your hookset a bit (more bend in the rod means you'd have to reel down more to load it before cracking them). Now if you're talking weedless baits like 8in weedless hudd or Rago Alphas you're gonna need a pretty stiff rod to set the hook through all that plastic. 

Rod power and action on a swim bait rod is about setting the hook.  Your not playing these fish.  Give a good hook set and get them in the boat.  The hooks on a glide bait are not like the small hooks on a crankbait.  

If you can , utilize a side arm roll cast to minimize a loud splash and utilize a rod suited for your Glide Bait if that is a concern. Different glide baits behave differently , it's best to experiment and observe how your bait behaves in the water when reacting to manipulations of your rod or reel. Here are different things I do with Glide baits depending on the model and mood of the fish. The most basic approach is a slow steady retrieve, you will see your line move back and forth and feel them turn if using an appropriate speed for the lure. Every so often about 2-3 times per retrieve pause the bait, with most of them it will cause your lure to shoot off to the side. 

 

Now with some baits especially the Evergreen ES Flat which is a favorite of mine I will often utilize quick chops of the reel, meaning that I will quickly use 1/2 to 3/4 quick turns and stops of the reel. This will cause the bait to behave a little more aggressively , I will often throw a little slack in the line after a pause or a couple of light twitches. With certain  reactive lures like the Storm Arashi Glide ( excellent lure by the way ) you can often get the bait to turn around and look back at a potential following Bass which might provoke a strike.

 

Another thing I do with certain baits are utilize quick burst, which would be 2-3 fast turns of the reel handle. This will sometimes cause a Bass that was following your bait to strike, again the Arashi Glide along with the G Ratt Sneaky Pete work well when I do this and tend not to blow out which will happen with a lot of other Glide baits. Certain Glide baits are slow and lazy glides ( which can also be effective ) , some others tend to be more reactive which means you can manipulate it more by fishing it more aggressively to try to trigger bites. 

 

Lastly , with the Arashi Glide , ES Flat and a couple of others  I will often twitch the bait like you would a jerkbait though you generally can't jerk too hard as it will cause the hooks to foul.

 

Fisherman that have experience fishing jerkbaits will quickly adapt to the more reactive Glides. Always assume a fish is following your glide and whether it's a pause, quick burst of the reel or a  twitch do something during the retrieve to try to get your fish to react especially when approaching cover such as the corner of a dock, weed edge etc. I've had a very good spring so far using these baits and look forward to learning even more about how best to utilize these lures . I will conclude by saying to fish these lures with confidence, if you take the time to learn them you will get bit . 

Unless I'm casting to a very specific target, I don't mind the big splashes. If I'm targeting a specific spot I usually cast past it anyway. I've been hit the moment a 2 oz bait hit the water without doing a subtle landing. 

Don't be too concerned about the splashes. There's times those splashes will actually attract fish. I've had plenty of times a fish will hit a big bait immediately on the splash down or shortly after the start of the retrieve.

I wanted to add one more thing regarding Glide baits. The River to Sea S Wavers are a proven bait but are very inconsistent especially with the buoyancy of their baits. I've had some float up and others sink out of the package . Don't be afraid to make adjustments by changing out the hooks to a heavier wire or slightly larger hook to help a bait sink more if you have one that rises too fast. I have one in the 200 size that has a beautiful custom paint job but unfortunately unless I fish it ultra slow it it pretty much runs on the surface. With this particular bait I added a second split ring to each hook and replace the treble hook with Decoy quad. Now this bait looks and swims great. I also did this with a Baitsanity Antidote that I recently purchased .  There have also been a couple of baits where I have taken a knife and lightly shaved the joint for a wider swing, that said be careful not to overdue it .