While attracting giant fish from a broad area is a great
advantage, the real magic behind the glide is its ability to
trigger a feeding response. It stands in contrast to most
big swimbaits, which have the inherent downside of
attracting followers without getting a bite. Seeing giant
bass loses its appeal when they fail to bite time and time
again. The glide solves this with its ability to get reactive.
Choosing Glide Baits
Glides should be broken into two very separate cate-
gories: “cover glides” and “open-water glides.”
Understanding which style fits your fishing is going to
save you a lot of time and money.
cover. Begin a slow, steady retrieve until you reach the
cover. When the bait is at the closest point to the cover,
give it two short snaps with the reel handle. On the
business end of the line, that bait is going to break its
methodical cadence and make a quick left and right
dart. If there is a bass waiting for the opportunity to
ambush, you’re about to experience the power of a
cover glide.
Because cover glides have tight actions, they tend to
make very erratic movements when twitched. It’s very
easy to “overwork” these baits and cause them to roll or
blow out. To avoid overworking, there are a variety of
retrieves to employ when you can’t see the sweet spots
along the shore.
If I could only choose one retrieve when I’m not tar-
geting specific cover it would be the slow-roll and twitch.
Begin by casting out the bait and starting a slow to mod-
erate retrieve. Make four to eight turns of the handle.
Use four in shallow water and eight in deeper water.
This allows the fish time to approach the bait. Next, give
two quick twitches with the rod tip as if walking a top-
water. There is no need to pause after the twitches; sim-
ply make another four to eight handle turns and repeat.
The idea is to mesmerize the bass with the slow
methodical swim, then trigger them with the quick
twitches.
The bite will almost always come as soon as the sec-
ond twitch is completed. My belief is that the first
Cover glides (right) have a tighter action and
can be made to react with sharper movements.
Open-water glides swing out with big, lazy arcs.
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1. Cover Glides
Cover glides are marked by tight actions and aggres-
sive movements. The River2Sea S-Waver 168 dominates
this category with the Gan Craft 178 and a handful of
custom brands working as well. Cover glides follow an S-
motion when swam slowly and steadily, but may only
move 6 to 18 inches from side to side on a slow retrieve.
This results in a very reactive bait that stays in the strike
zone longer than open-water glides. What makes this
style so special is that you can pitch it around cover.
Put an S-Waver 168 on your favorite jig rod (I prefer a
Shimano Expride 7-foot, 2-inch, heavy rod paired with a
Shimano Tranx 200HG reel, 65-pound-test braided line
and 8 feet of 20-pound-test mono for the leader) and
pitch it along a dock piling or other piece of shallow
A cover glide should be fished near targets
and made to react in high-percentage places.
FLWFISHING.COM I SPRING 2019