Glidebaits: Hardbait Magic for Big Pike

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This feature is from the pages of the June 2024 edition of In-Fisherman magazine.

There’s something magical about glidebaits for tempting big pike. They may not be the most productive category of baits. Nor are they the most versatile across a broad range of conditions. However, if you don’t have them in your pike arsenal, you’re missing out on a big-fish producer that succeeds when other baits fail.

Some might read the above and question the breadth of its meaning. It’s not as nonsensical as when Yogi Berra was asked to explain jazz music and replied, “I can’t, but I will. Ninety percent of all jazz is half improvisation.” There’s a measure of truth and sensibility to these statements. The art of fishing glidebaits is akin to jazz music. Both require a good deal of technique, discipline, and practice, but the mastery comes from the improvisation. Ask me to explain it. I can’t, but I will.

Switchin’ to Glide

On the retrieve, most lures come back generally on an overall straight path, and with less deviation on the horizontal axis other than tight wiggle or wobble. They may sink, dive, or rise on the vertical axis or suspend, but most lures aren’t designed to be worked from side to side, left and right, on the horizontal plane. Of course, some crankbaits have a slight “hunting” action, and certain baits can be “walked” with the nose of the bait sauntering from side to side on the surface. No bait category, however, has horizontal action like glidebaits, and big pike just love them.

In the right hands, a well-worked glidebait slides under the surface several feet from left to right in a rhythmic motion. The lure can be made to stop at the end of its glide and change directions on a dime. Then, the pace can be increased between pulls and the length of its horizontal glide decreased. The bait can be sent into a frenzy, prior to stopping the retrieve and allowing it to hover in place or shimmy seductively on a slow fall. Just as quickly, a snap of the rod tip can get the lure to swing 180 degrees straight into the face of a following pike. Instinctively, pike are left with one response—eat the lure. Such is the power of glides.

What Are They?

Here I refer to glidebaits as a category of hardbaits that have no action-producing lip and have a line-tie eyelet at the nose of the bait. Accordingly, they generally don’t have a significant “built-in” action. Unlike crankbaits, jerkbaits, or lipless rattlebaits, the angler has to give a glidebait its action.

Glides come in floating, suspending, slow-sinking, and fast-sinking models. They’re available in a wide range of sizes, with baits in the 3.5- to 7.5-inch range being most productive for pike. Their body profiles vary from compact and kite-shaped to elongated and cylinder-shaped and are available in both rattle and non-rattle models.

Some have a plastic grub tail, others have tail blades, and still others have feather-dressed rear treble hooks. Most traditional glides have a one-piece construction. Others ride the line of being swimbaits with a two-piece, single joint design. This gives the bait a more dramatic S-curve swimming action but still allows for extended horizontal glides between pulls. Baits that are multi-jointed are better classified as swimbaits and are not covered here as glides.

Glidebaits are popular among pike anglers overseas. As such, lure makers with a larger presence in Europe have more offerings than most lure companies focused solely on the U.S. market. Crossover companies that market in both arenas include Savage Gear, Salmo, Westin, and Rapala. A handful of other overseas lure manufacturers and dozens of custom muskie lure makers offer high-quality glides that do double duty for trophy pike.

How to Use Glides

Understanding how to work glidebaits is very much tied to each lure’s design and model. The basic mechanics of working glides are straightforward, but the craft is in the details. They can have action imparted on them with quick cranks of the reel handle, twitches of the rod tip, or both. Some models benefit more from rod-tip action, but most can be worked with either approach. In almost all instances, baitcasting reels perform the function better than spinning reels. This is due to the mechanics of casting reels and less line they take up per crank of the handle than spinning reels.

Manipulating the action of glidebaits is a deliberate and mechanical process. Most glides can be worked effectively by making quick, abrupt half or two-third turns of the reel handle, stopping abruptly for half a second or more on each crank. With a crank and slight pause, the bait glides off in one direction. With the next quick turn of the reel handle, the bait reverses direction. The process continues in a rhythmic, back-and-forth dance. With a 3-inch twitch of the rod back-and-forth during the retrieve, the bait’s action is enhanced. A fuller crank of the reel handle and a longer pause between cranks gives the lure greater opportunity to glide farther out to the side. Longer pauses also mean more time for the bait to suspend or shimmy on the fall before the next change of direction. Keep pauses shorter in warm water, when pike are more aggressive, and longer in cold water, when pike are more lethargic.

When working glidebaits with the rod, the initial impulse may be to work them like a walk-the-dog topwater or in an aggressive jerkbait fashion. Instead, rod action should be more akin to working a pull-pause muskie lure but slower and in a more deliberate manner. Most glidebaits only require a 6- to 12-inch movement of the rod tip to get them working correctly. The ideal pause requires practice and experimentation on a lure-by-lure basis. It pays to spend time practicing in clear water with several different bait styles and retrieve cadences. Once you know how best to work each bait in a classic left to right glide, you can improvise and get the most out of your glidebaits.

Whether working baits with the rod, reel, or both, select a rod-and-reel combination that feels comfortable in your hand. The mechanics of working glides can be taxing, and a comfortable combination helps your technique. Since the size of glidebaits generally varies from 3 inches to 10 inches, match your equipment to the size of baits you’re using and pike you’re pursuing. A medium-power rod with a 200-size reel and 30-pound-test braided line may be sufficient for pike averaging 5 to 10 pounds. However, if you’re after pike topping 20 pounds, a heavy-power rod with a 300-size reel and 50- to 65-pound-test line is more in order. Use a rod in the 7- to 8-foot range with a slightly slower tip action to get the most action out of baits. In all cases, use the lightest leader possible to get better lure action. Heavy leaders with bulky snaps and swivels drag down the bait’s nose and impedes its appealing action.

Some Glidebait Options

To better understand the how, when, and where of glidebaits, let’s examine some of the available options. Savage Gear’s Deviator Swim embodies the quintessential pike glidebait. As a compact lure, this bait has flat sides, a defined flat top, and narrowing body profile. The compact body adds versatility to its action, capable of being worked both fast and slow. As with all compact glides, be mindful that these baits can swing all the way around and foul on the line if worked too aggressively.

Flat sides mean more flash with each pivot of the lure. Plus, its wide, flat top imparts a nice swimming action on a straight retrieve, so this one does have a slight built-in action. The internal rattle gives a knocking sound with each movement of the bait and a small plastic tail on the rear treble serves as an added attractant. If you’re accustomed to adding a grub trailer to all your pike lures, glidebaits can be a bit temperamental. An oversized trailer affects the action of glides. The Deviator Swim is available in three sizes of 10.5, 12.5, and 14 cm. Each size fits the billing for pike in various settings and makes it a great introductory lure for pike anglers getting started in glidebait fishing.

Similar options in this category include the Salmo Slider and the Westin Swim. The Slider is available in the U.S. in slightly smaller 5-, 7-, and 10-cm sizes, with the largest being best suited for pike. It has a less distinctive swimming action on the retrieve as the flat topside of the lure is not as wide. The Slider is silent, and its slightly quicker fall rate assists when probing deeper water.

The Westin Swim is crafted in the same mold as the Savage Gear Deviator Swim. It has an appealing swimming action on a straight retrieve and an even louder rattle chamber. The Swim is another great choice for learning the glidebait craft and is perfect for advancing your skills as the bait is available in six sizes, ranging from 6.5 to 15 cm. The Swim comes in low floating, suspending, and sinking versions. Unfortunately, Westin is not marketing heavily in the U.S., but the baits can still be obtained online.

In this same genre and available online from Canada or overseas, the Rapala X-Rap Haku 14 has a crisp side-to-side action and a more pronounced rolling action on the pause. Equipped with a quick-release hook harness system, this proven design is highly regarded in Europe for keeping big fish pinned. For beginners, the Haku is among the easiest glides to work both on the rod and reel. As a bonus, it has less of a tendency to foul on itself than more compact glides. Fished slowly, it has an attractive, wide sweeping glide.

For a Rapala glidebait readily available stateside, the more cylindrical-shaped X-Rap Subwalk possesses a subtle swimming action on a straight retrieve. It has a distinctive side-to-side action. It shifts left and right of the center line in a fashion akin to a vehicle changing lanes on a three-lane highway—traveling from the center lane to the left lane, to the far right lane, and then back again. The 15-cm size travels greater distances left and right, while the 9-cm model operates in keeping with a subsurface walk-the-dog lure.

These baits cast incredibly well and are available in bonus saltwater colors that are equally appealing to pike.

To cover more horizontal distance, the longer body profile of Savage Gear’s Freestyler V2 gets the job done. It’s available in three sizes and has a faint rattle. This fits with its more deliberate personality. Its turns are slower than the Deviator and should be worked more patiently with the rod tip. The bait falls slowly and has a stable presence in the water, making it a great cold-water bait.

The Wicked Deadly Outdoors Flash Gordon Glider serves as the perfect muskie-pike crossover bait and has unmatched gliding action. For those in search of trophy pike, the Wicked Deadly Glider has tremendous stability in the water, with tail fins at the back of the lure. This allows it to cover maximum territory with each pull, while keeping a natural upright posture. As a bonus, the bait is available with two small sickle-shaped blades on a ball-bearing swivel at the rear of the lure. These blades not only spin with each pull of the bait but also flutter and reflect light as the lure falls slowly on the pause.

For baits that can be presented more aggressively with twitches of the rod, instead of short cranks of the reel handle, the Savage Gear Twitch Reaper 115S and Dranckrazy Supremo in 10.5-cm and 13-cm sizes are tough to beat. These narrow-bodied deviations of the classic glide are great warm-water baits. The wobble on the Supremo is something to behold. Its hunting action on a quick retrieve also places it in a different category of must-haves. To work these lures, point the rod tip toward the water and make sharp 6-inch downward snaps of the rod while reeling up slack line.

Finally, single-jointed glides such as the Savage Gear Shine Glide and Storm Arashi Glide fill a valuable niche in any pike angler’s glidebait collection. Both have an attractive S-curve swimming action on a straight retrieve. By repeating the process of slowly sweeping the rod forward 2 feet and then reeling up slack line, these baits dance from side to side just feet below the surface. They can also be made to spin completely around with a quick rod snap. For these reasons, the Shine Glide and Arashi Glide appeal to trophy pike in a more aggressive mood.

When and Where?

Glidebaits are sometimes labeled as coldwater baits, relegated to spring and late fall. While they shine during these periods, they work equally well throughout the warm-water seasons, especially when cold fronts or high-pressure systems put pike in a negative mood. These lures tempt fish into biting even when they’re in neutral or negative feeding moods.

As an all-season bait, glides are best suited for clear water and when working depths of 15 feet or less. There are exceptions such as in ultra-clear water with vegetation growing higher in deeper water or when pods of baitfish are suspended around midlake humps, ledges, or wind-blown points. In most cases, glidebaits produce best when fished in 5 to 15 feet of water. They excel when fished over submerged weedflats because they tend to run a few feet beneath the surface. Even sinking models worked slowly rarely fish deeper than about 7 feet for an extended period of the retrieve.

The allure of glidebaits is that they don’t profess or need to be the most productive or versatile lure in your tackle box. They simply act and perform like nothing else. Plus, they’re most appealing when they totally go off script. Even more reason to jazz up your pike arsenal with glides.

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