One of the most exciting and increasingly popular ways to target big bass, the glide bait has taken the bass fishing world by storm. Here, Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Patrick Walters, gives his tips on the proper setup for fishing glide baits. When Patrick is throwing bigger baits, such as the Storm Arashi Glide, he first will swap the factory-assembled trebles with Decoy brand Quad trebles to gain maximum hooking power and decrease the odds of fish tossing the bait. Traditionally he will leave the snap on the front of the glide bait and this bait is ready to go. For long casts and slow winding over great distances, Patrick uses straight 20lb Sufix fluorocarbon. When around cover, such as grass or laydowns, and fishing the bait with quarter turns to get it to dart side to side, he will use 65lb Sufix 832 braid to a 10-foot 25lb Sufix fluorocarbon leader. As for the rod, he reaches for the Daiwa Tatula Elite 8'0" swimbait rod, which has a heavy action and his line is spooled on the brute Daiwa Tatula Elite 300. When throwing around cover and making quarter turns, Patrick likes a high speed 8.1:1 gear ratio to allow that bait to really kick and turn, while not moving it very far on those quarter handle turns. Once the fish is hooked, Patrick suggest really powering that bass back to the boat to prevent the fish from gaining any momentum, leverage, or slack line to toss the glide bait.
Glide Bait Setup (Rod/Reel/Line) - Patrick Walters
Thu, May 19, 2022
