So I read an article on the new Berkley glide bait. ( not sure if I can say the name im always confused what will get me in trouble here). They say it’s slow sinking and make a 6 inch version. Anyone ever try fishing glide baits in smaller ponds and such? I considered maybe trying the 6 inch this year. 

@Joedodge: I wouldn’t call any of the lakes I fish “ponds”; however, a couple of them are very small. I’ve used 6-inch hard and soft baits successfully.  From my experience it isn’t the size of the body of water - it’s the size of the bass.  And, to be more accurate, it’s how big the bass thinks it is. I’ve caught dinks on 6– inch glide and swim baits. I’d give it a shot.

I have caught a lot of fish on glide baits at small ponds - not my first choice at a spot that gets choked out with weeds - but they can work in deeper spots or over grass that isn’t topped out and they can work fished very fast around shallow cover and structure for sure.

 

They catch dinks more than they catch big fish and they also tend to get lost and it’s like an Alabama rig - 30$ down the toilet.

 

try a magnum fluke rigged weightless or a magnum speed worm rigged weightless to see how fish respond to bigger profiles without breaking the bank and then go from there.

 

Usually - bigger baits seem to work best for me when the water is super stained.

 

Another fun thing that might be worth trying that will result in way less baits being lost would be a large wake bait.

 

They make jointed ones that float just under the surface now and I figure something that doesn’t sink on the pause would be much better in a small pond choked with grass that tends to be shallow.

 

Glide baits tend to be limited in that you can’t stop them for very long or really at all in some cases- without losing them.  Makes fishing them effectively kinda difficult from the bank in my experience.

 

Another option to try would be a full sized Zara Spook - the originals definitely glide on the surface and it’s a nice big profile that could give you a hint as to whether big baits will work without as many headaches - and a spook is always a useful lure to have in your arsenal anyway.

 

I think basically if you’re sight fishing clean banks or using forward facing sonar bigger baits can be the good - but if you’re covering water with uncertain depth and cover from the bank - i only throw them when it feels right.  
 

To me “right” is any event that makes the water super dirty and simultaneously warmer etc - things that tend to activate fish a lot and make them super aggressive - usually they’ll bite a big profile better for me.  When it’s calm or clear water and cold etc - I do much better going subtler and smaller.

 

My biggest bass on a glide bait was an 8 lb 9 oz bass caught at a spillway in the fall on a super windy day with murky water and giant gizzards were literally visible along every bank and huge schools of small ones were loaded in big drains and guts.  I was burning it across the surface and she nearly ripped the rod out of my hands.

 

Caught a lot of 4-6 lbers at small ponds on glide baits around beds in the spring but they sour to that profile SO fast it’s amazing.

@Joedodge @Pat Brown

All good advice from Pat.  I bought Berkeley Nessie last year.  Never used a glide before.  The Nessie has one hook and I missed a few fish because I think they grabbed the tail (tooth marks on the rear end) and coulda been small bass.  I gotta lot to learn about them but I think I will get some with 2 hooks next time.

Yes. Do it.

Thank you everyone!!! @Pat Brown holy cow thank you for the detailed info!!! 

I fish a lot of glide baits.  Once you go down that rabbit hole its hard to stop.  I have not tried the Berkley example mentioned, but was just gifted a Nessie for Christmas.  I like the idea of the Nessie, but man does it absolutely STANK like chemicals.  I doubt I will throw it.

 

You can tune hard glides with float board if you want to keep them on the surface or just subsurface, practically eliminating everything Pat just said about the chance of loosing them from the bank in unknown structure.  I would not let that detour you from throwing one.  It will make them float like a wake bait, but they will swim better like a true glide does.  They are extremely effective.  You can also look into the line through top hook soft glide models if you would like to get some depth and not stress as much about snagging.  Savage Gear bluegill is a great place to start for something along those lines.

 

The great thing about glides is you will catch all the average size fish as everything will try to eat it, but it gives you a great opportunity to also catch the biggest fish in that particular body of water.

That’s cool @Rockhopper - wasn’t aware of float board.

8 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

That’s cool @Rockhopper - wasn’t aware of float board.

They come in strips just like the weight boards you can also stick on to tune to the depth you want.  They are really effective when trying to tune a bait to a certain water temp to maintain a depth that you want to target for that particular bait.  I will have two or three of the exact same bait that are all tuned differently for water temp.  For example a 40 to 55 water degree bait, a 55 to 70 degree bait, and a 70 degree plus bait.  And they will all run the same depth and sink at the same rate.

I've caught them on a Deps Slide Swimmer 175 and Gan Craft Jointed Claw 178 but only a few. I have better luck in ponds with the Megabass Magdraft 6in and 5in swimbaits. I have yet to catch one on a Chad Shad or Osakana Slide 170. 

A raid osakana slide 170 will work in shallow water with no adjustment needed.  Fished it a lot this past spring in water 2-4' with weeds about a foot below the surface.

Definitely look at floating baits as well.  They are about all i buy now because I can tune them more.

2 hours ago, Rockhopper said:

They come in strips just like the weight boards you can also stick on to tune to the depth you want.  They are really effective when trying to tune a bait to a certain water temp to maintain a depth that you want to target for that particular bait.  I will have two or three of the exact same bait that are all tuned differently for water temp.  For example a 40 to 55 water degree bait, a 55 to 70 degree bait, and a 70 degree plus bait.  And they will all run the same depth and sink at the same rate.

 

thats awesome - totally get it like a suspend strip but inverted - just wasn’t aware they existed - I’ll have to give them a try for 7 bucks!

 

I’ll get many uses out of them between cranks and jerkbaits and glide baits etc.

 

i have mostly just used baits that are intended to float and then weight them down to control depth and found that useful but I have plenty of sinking glide baits that would be much more useful if they suspended etc.