Glide Bait Testing / Questions

[Yake Bait]

It was a nice day yesterday so I went to the river and tested the two glide baits that I made this winter...

http://www.tackleunderground.com/photos/index.php?n=2083

This lure worked well. The blade was very active and flashy and I could hear the metalic noise on the figure 8 when I kept it near the surface. The mass of the blade prevents wide swings when it glides, but there is good side to side actoin and it also will swing back and forth on a straight retrieve.

http://www.tackleunderground.com/photos/index.php?n=2198

This lure had good bouyancy but seemed to have an exageratted belly roll. Belly roll is good, but I think it is too much in the case of this lure. This gets worse when pulling the lure on a straight retrieve, the faster you go the more unstable it becomes. In comparison to other glide baits that I have made (that work better) one problem I think is the lack symetry around the tow eye. I was using a carp photo to stencil the profile of this lure and placed the line tow at the most forward point of the lure. The nose of a carp is quite low. I think that the tow eye needs to be higher on this lure to allow the lead weight to provide more stability when in motion. The lure is plenty stable at rest, the problem seems to be more around the dynamics of when it is in motion.

Questions...

1) Any other observations that would contribute to excess belly roll?

2) To correct symmetry, could the line tie be raised, or should the nose of the lure be redesigned to be more centered along the lure. I like the carp shape but it may not lend itself to making a good glide bait design. It would be pretty easy to add screw eye in the proper location to make this lure more fishable. If I make a lure like this again, I would bring the wire tunnel up to match the desired location.

[mark poulson]

Assuming the lower part of the bait is heavier than the upper part due to ballast and hardware, I think the line tie might be too high. If the center of gravity of the bait is lower, I'd want the line tie to be lower so I would be pulling the heavier part of the bait with each stroke, not the upper, lighter part. I'd think that pulling higher would lead to roll over, due to inertia. The heavier lower part would lag behind the lighter upper part, instead of moving at the same time.

[Yake Bait]

Thanks Mark.

Out of water, if I hold the lure at the line tow and tail eye, the top is heavier - in other words the bait wants to sit upside down indicating that the center of gravity is above the line tow. In the water, the bouyancy of the lure keeps it in proper orientation and is quite stable.

When I do the out of water test on my other glide lures that work, they are belly heavy and sit in the correct orientation. I think that this supports the idea that the line tow is too low right?

[mark poulson]

Yake,

If the lure floats top side up, it's not top heavy. Otherwise it would capsize.

If I were you, I'd put in two new eyes, one high and one low, and try them both. Save a trip to the water.

[IamSpartacus]

I can't offer any help with your question, but I love the paintjob on the carp glider... Just thought you should know

[Yake Bait]

Thanks,

Unfortunately the action is not what I wanted. I tried the higher line tie and it has a nice side to side actoin on a straight retrieve now and is stable. When jerking it, it acts more like a chop bait and was built too heavy for that kind of action.

I considered trying a low line tie Mark but did not have a lot of room to work below the original. When you see the photo of the two lures, you will see how it can be bouyant right side up, but also be top heavy out of water. There is a lot of arch to the back to get the carp profile and that is why the center of gravity is high.

I started a new one that has more of a traditional glide bait profile but will get another carp paint job. This one will get a river test after the 1st coat of epoxy before it gets painted to make sure it has the correct action. The new lure is in the photo for comparison.

[stripercrazy]

great post, very interesting:)

[RiverMan]

After running hundreds of tests (I'm not exagerating) over the last several years I have come to the conclusion that there is a reason why gliders generally fall into a few common shapes. Some shapes run great, most do not.

Like you, I tried at one time using more realistic shapes for my gliders and altho they worked "ok" they didn't work "great". If in your hand the lure wants to turn on its back that's not a good thing. It sounds to me like you need have more weight along the belly. None of my gliders will even begin to turn toward their back in or out of the water. I will add that altho some anglers claim to like belly roll in a glider I prefer one with no roll at all. Why? Because a glider with no roll is far more stable than one with and can therefore be worked more quickly and erratically without it blowing out. Belly roll indicates "instability" and alot of roll means you won't be working the bait very fast.

Jed V.

[mark poulson]

Yake,

I can see by your photo the lower line tie is already low.

Riverman's post reminded me that when I made my first batch of gliders, I made them tall, like your carp. They were really hard to fish, and didn't glide like the original Lunker Punker I was trying to imitate.

Fortunately, they were rattle can finished, so I just reshaped them, lowering their profiles, and rounding their belly cross sections.

The reshaped lures worked great.

It may be that your taller lure has too much height to glide easily. I think it's a matter of water resistance.