I recently picked up 2 of these from academy when they opened a store near me. With a 20% off coupon for opening and came across a 10$ glide bait I couldn't pass it up. 

 

But has anyone thrown these? These are gonna be my first glide baits and I'm not really down to spend 30+ $ on a glide bait that I could lose bc I fish from shore so I figured these would be a good starting point 

It is more of a wake bait to me with a wider wobble. It doesn't glide like a traditional glide bait. That being said, it is a great bait when they are feeding on top. Make sure to pause every 4 or so cranks. They will kill it when it starts back up.

I've had good luck with them just doing a straight, fast retrieve with them. They're a much better smallmouth/spotted bass bait than they are for largemouth (unless they're really schooling), imo.