Hey everyone,
I’m new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself. My name’s Caleb, and I’m a bass fisherman from California. I’ve always loved tinkering with lures and trying to figure out what makes those big bass bite, so I’m starting a small glide lure business. The plan is to focus on glide baits to start—6.2 inch, slow-gliding swimbaits that seem to get the giants interested.

I’m in the early stages, just waiting on some samples to test out, and I figured this would be a great place to get some advice from experienced fishermen who know their stuff. I know glide baits are one thing that has the potential of getting big bass, but I also know they can be tricky to get right. I’m curious—what do you all look for in a good glide bait? What sizes, colors, or actions work best for you? Any glide baits from certain brands that really stand above the others? I've done quite a bit of fishing with the 6th sense glide and caught quite a few on it, but want to make my version higher quality, and not stick to one side like I've noticed that one do regularly.

I’m aiming to make mine a bit different with some unique colors and a focus on durability, since I know that’s a pain point for some anglers. Anyway, I’d really appreciate any advice or feedback you’ve got. Looking forward to learning from this community and hopefully sharing some of my own catches with my samples down the road!

Thanks,

The best way is to make one and catch Donkeys with them and show pics on the FB swimbait groups and on IG.  Swim videos, and videos of you catching fish on the will help too. 

Welcome Caleb to BR.

Glides are not the popular lure outside of California. As you already know most larger size swimbaits/Glides/wakes started in California migrating east across the country, lots of competition today.

It comes down to what baitfish makes the majority of LMB prey regionally and offer glides to replicate those

fish.

Size and weight depends on the bait fish the glide is replicating; bluegill, Crappie, Perch and Shad 5” to 5 1/2” 1 1/2” oz. Herring, Bass and trout 6 1/2 to 7” 2 oz. This helps to use std H mod fast rods or Medium swimbait rods.
Good luck👍 

Tom

I've never fished a glide bait and have only ever seen one fished once, by somebody who I think was a tourist, here in North Carolina. I guess they've not really made it out here yet. It's really just a thing I see on the Internet currently.

 

So I can't offer you feedback on glide preferences, but I have built a company before. My unsolicited advice there is focus on REALLY understanding your ownership tax implications and structure, particularly if you're going to bring partners in. I got badly burned on taxes a couple years. LLCs seem simple until they're not. Look up phantom income and how to avoid it.

 

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you. America needs more small business owners, so thanks for doing your part!

On 4/10/2025 at 7:02 AM, ooga0341 said:

The best way is to make one and catch Donkeys with them and show pics on the FB swimbait groups and on IG.  Swim videos, and videos of you catching fish on the will help too. 

I agree I think people mainly want to see fish on them.  I bought a GoPro so I can get some underwater footage of the lures.  Thanks for the feedback!

On 4/10/2025 at 2:42 PM, WRB said:

Welcome Caleb to BR.

Glides are not the popular lure outside of California. As you already know most larger size swimbaits/Glides/wakes started in California migrating east across the country, lots of competition today.

It comes down to what baitfish makes the majority of LMB prey regionally and offer glides to replicate those

fish.

Size and weight depends on the bait fish the glide is replicating; bluegill, Crappie, Perch and Shad 5” to 5 1/2” 1 1/2” oz. Herring, Bass and trout 6 1/2 to 7” 2 oz. This helps to use std H mod fast rods or Medium swimbait rods.
Good luck👍 

Tom

Thank you for the feedback Tom.  The reason I chose glide baits is because they are more of a recent lure and not popular in most states.  Im hoping that because it is unsaturated I can make a dent myself through a unique design, especially if i can show they catch fish in other states.  I'm going to start off with a baby bluegill and a gizzard shad like you mentioned because they are popular baitfish.

On 4/11/2025 at 7:26 PM, Rucksack said:

I've never fished a glide bait and have only ever seen one fished once, by somebody who I think was a tourist, here in North Carolina. I guess they've not really made it out here yet. It's really just a thing I see on the Internet currently.

 

So I can't offer you feedback on glide preferences, but I have built a company before. My unsolicited advice there is focus on REALLY understanding your ownership tax implications and structure, particularly if you're going to bring partners in. I got badly burned on taxes a couple years. LLCs seem simple until they're not. Look up phantom income and how to avoid it.

 

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you. America needs more small business owners, so thanks for doing your part!

Thank you for the business suggestions!  I've done quite a bit of research & now that you've mentioned phantom income specifically i'll do more on that.  I appreciate any advice I can get as I have minimal prior experience with running a business.

Here is a prototype of my design!  I will likely go with a different color scheme since this doesn't look like a super common baitfish.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I would focus on a couple different versions.  Floating/sinking and a tight glide vs a choppy wide glide.  Water temps and time of year play a huge part on choosing a glide with minimal movement vs erratic action.

 

Soft tails are important.  Read that again.

 

Hard fins (dorsal) on baits that are taller top to bottom such as the bigger blue gill glides can make it much harder for the fish to effectively eat and get their mouth around.  IMHO all protruding fins should be made of a soft material.

 

Sinking glides need to sink evenly.  Not nose up or nose down.  If an angler wants to change that, it can be accomplished with lead wire or stickers.  That is unless you are specifically marketing that action and you will need to show consumers how and why that works better.

 

Rotating hook hangers!  Helps keep the fish pinned and helps eliminate them from gaining leverage on the hook.

 

You need the wow factor as baits catch anglers much more than they do fish.  Give them some crazy awesome killer paintjobs for them to really catch the eye of the consumer.

 

You are going to need to come up with something new and different, or all you will be doing is just trying to sell your part of the market share competing with everyone else selling pretty much the same thing.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, but you stated you wanted to be different in the approach.  Point blank...I do not see anything special about the prototype above that jumps out at me and would make me want to buy it over something else.  Unless the price comes in as something much more affordable.  This does not include the consideration of small business vs bigger companies.  I am speaking in generalities of comparing a bait to a bait.  I most always choose to support the little guy.

 

BUT, all that said, there is only so much you can do with a glide.  Make it durable, give it quality hardware, and enter the market at an affordable price.

 

A Spro KGB Chad Shad is a good bait to try to mimic and make better.  A chad shad with a tail that doesn't distort in a normal tackle box would be where I would start.  The paint brush tails are great, but they can be cumbersome to store.  Maybe some sort of easily removable tail for storage?

52 minutes ago, Rockhopper said:

I would focus on a couple different versions.  Floating/sinking and a tight glide vs a choppy wide glide.  Water temps and time of year play a huge part on choosing a glide with minimal movement vs erratic action.

 

Soft tails are important.  Read that again.

 

Hard fins (dorsal) on baits that are taller top to bottom such as the bigger blue gill glides can make it much harder for the fish to effectively eat and get their mouth around.  IMHO all protruding fins should be made of a soft material.

 

Sinking glides need to sink evenly.  Not nose up or nose down.  If an angler wants to change that, it can be accomplished with lead wire or stickers.  That is unless you are specifically marketing that action and you will need to show consumers how and why that works better.

 

Rotating hook hangers!  Helps keep the fish pinned and helps eliminate them from gaining leverage on the hook.

 

You need the wow factor as baits catch anglers much more than they do fish.  Give them some crazy awesome killer paintjobs for them to really catch the eye of the consumer.

 

You are going to need to come up with something new and different, or all you will be doing is just trying to sell your part of the market share competing with everyone else selling pretty much the same thing.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, but you stated you wanted to be different in the approach.  Point blank...I do not see anything special about the prototype above that jumps out at me and would make me want to buy it over something else.  Unless the price comes in as something much more affordable.  This does not include the consideration of small business vs bigger companies.  I am speaking in generalities of comparing a bait to a bait.  I most always choose to support the little guy.

 

BUT, all that said, there is only so much you can do with a glide.  Make it durable, give it quality hardware, and enter the market at an affordable price.

 

A Spro KGB Chad Shad is a good bait to try to mimic and make better.  A chad shad with a tail that doesn't distort in a normal tackle box would be where I would start.  The paint brush tails are great, but they can be cumbersome to store.  Maybe some sort of easily removable tail for storage?

I really appreciate the feedback thank you.  I also really like your idea of rotating fish hangers.  I just did some research and theres not many companies that offer that with there product.  I also wanted to ask what a affordable price would be to enter compared to some of the bigger brands?  I was thinking $20-$30 would give it a cheaper price point for a quality lure.  The tails are removable and each lure would come with an extra tale.

Are these going to be wooden or ABS baits?