weighting a glide bait

[coreynov902]

It was rainy out last night and there wasn't anything on TV worth watching, so I sat down and worked on cutting, carving, and sanding a glide bait body. I still have a lot of work to do with cutting the joint, adding the line tie and hook hangers, making the tail, etc..., but I was trying to think of where the weight needs to be placed. I know it needs to be as low as possible and I know you want both sections of the bait to sink horizontally and at an even pace, but does anyone know if it's better to place the majority of the weight close to the joint or position it more towards the very front and very rear of the bait? Or spread it evenly?

[Mr.Bass]

I have made about a dozen homemade glides. I use lead spread out over the bottom of the bait in both sections. Assuming a 2 pc. glide. Depending on the size/length you will need to about 4 locations to add weight maybe more.

I have a pool so I add weight till it does what I want it to do. Float, sink, sink faster etc.... It is strictly a test as you go with each bait. Make sure you have the bait ready to fish before you add the weights. Hooks , hardware and even paint can change the action of the bait. Seal up the weights with epoxy and paint once you get it right.

[krindgen]

Around 7:00 he shows weighting over the length of the bait. I'd guess each bait is different as to where to add the weight. For your homemade I'm thinking you might need to do what Fritts used to do, drill a hole and add lead. An expert will be along, glide baiting for me is right there with FFS, sitting on the floor still in the box.

[coreynov902]

Thanks for the info. I've made a handful of glide baits (2-piece) over the last year or so, but they are always one-off's and I just tend to make one when I'm bored. I've only made one or two that swam very well at all and I'm pretty sure I weighted them in multiple places along the bottom. I tried doing some research and came across guys saying to put the majority of the weight near the joint and others saying to try and place the weight close (within an inch or so) to the ends of the bait. I wasn't sure if there was a preferred or a right way of weighting them.

[okiemoman]

6 in bait from red cedar. This is where I typically place the lead. Drill holes, pour lead, tank test. If sink rate is too fast I use a drill bit to remove small amount till sink rate is what I want. Epoxy to fill holes.
Tank test with all hardware. I estimate the rate of fall to account for paint and clear coat.
20240502_082901.jpg

[coreynov902]

Thanks for the picture, that helps a lot. I cut the joint, drilled the holes for the line tie, hook hangers, and joint, and put 2-part epoxy on it last night and let it rotate on the lure turner until this morning. I decided not to paint it since the poplar I used is almost like a dark bone color (got a little darker after adding the epoxy, but I still don't mind the color). When you tank test the bait, do you do the head and tail sections separately or do you have the joint connected and test the bait as a whole?

[okiemoman]

Test as a whole. I did this one with a wire harness, so the pieces are already connected.

[coreynov902]

Figured I'd give an update. Wound up weighting as a whole and was shocked at how it only took me two test runs to get the weight just right (did a glide bait a while back and I think it took me a dozen or more test runs to get it right). Drilled my holes and got my weight put in. Wound up having to drill two holes on each section, one on each side of the hook hanger. However, after doing that I wound up deciding that I did need to paint the bait. So, I painted it, did a top coat with 2-part epoxy and put it on the lure turner until the following afternoon. I added the split rings and hooks and decided to take it to a local pond that has pretty clear water just to see how it worked. First off, the bait wound up being much bigger than anything I've done before. Overall length is 11 inches (including the tail) and the weight is 4.7 ounces! I don't generally fish anything bigger than about 1.5 - 1.8 ounces, so I don't even have a rod capable of really tossing this bait around. I used a rod rated for 1 1/4 oz and then just did very easy lob casts. Overall I was a bit disappointed in the action of the bait. The one area I did really like was the sink rate. I would say it sinks about a foot every 3-4 seconds, so it's a slow sink. With a moderate steady retrieve the bait has a decent "S" motion, but it does want to rise to the surface instead of staying at the depth I start the retrieve at. I decided to try chopping it a bit with the reel handle and although it does chop some, it's not great at it. And because it wants to rise, a fast retrieve just doesn't work. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong, but I'd guess I don't have weight far enough forward at the head of the bait to keep the head down. Anyway, it was fun to build a big bait and although it doesn't perform as well as I had hoped, it was still not a complete disaster (I've had plenty of those when trying to build baits).

[Mr.Bass]

Go with easy first. Add weight to the front hook and if that doesn’t do it use Storm suspend strips to the front underbelly. That should keep the bait from rising to the top

[coreynov902]

Thanks, I'll try that.