Well as a glider nut, I really have tried many gliders in my 30 years of chasing the mighty Musky.  It’s something about them that I think is a needed part of any musky hunter’s arsenal.  They  are a bait  that can trigger muskies into biters instead of follower’s.   Out of all my baits, glider’s represent 70 percent of my arsenal.  I have tried all of them.   As a guide I get  true satisfaction on teaching a lot of new prospective musky hunter’s  on how to use these lures  to the best of the lure’s  ability . I can say that one of the very best gliders that I run out of my boat is the Drifter Tackle Hellhound.  These baits are so easy to use.  There is not that much that you have to do to make them work right.  They are made of the right plastic and have the right weight to make long cast’s and because of them being plastic, they will slide in the fish’s mouth for better hook-up’s.  That’s one of the main reasons that I do prefer plastic hard body   bait’s over wood ones. Because the muskies teeth dig into wood bait’s, and not the plastic’s.  

Now  this is how I run my glider set-up.  I have used  all my gliders on a Tackle industries mag 9ft rod that I can make quick downward snaps of the rod, making the lure jump into action and darting and diving all over the shallows . which  I use it to find active fish  , this is a really good search  lure for doing just that.  But once you do find them , you want to go back and work the area again and this time  work the  gliders slower , with a rhythmic  downward snaps of the rod and  a fast on the topside of the reel and  slower on the downside of the reel, Can make this lure do wonders.  If done properly  the bait should be  going side to side ,doing  a walk the dog under the water.  Also  while working the bait back to the boat , doing a short stop of the bait, every once in a while is a good thing.  By doing so  the bait will fall with a shimmy  to the body and if a fish is following , this can also cause the fish to strike the bait.  Remember all this is done with  the slow working  of the bait.

One thing I can mention is  about the figure 8 . I have seen  that most of the time when a fish follows , and  they are doing the same  action as the bait. I have seen them doing a walk the dog too, that they  are hypnotized  and  it is really hard to get them to convert into striking the bait and into the figure 8. Now if they are just doing a straight follow behind the bait, then when you go into your figure 8 make the first turn into the 8 while keeping the rod straight like normal on your figure 8.  And if the fish  is doing the  walk the dog the same as the bait. Then the only thing that you can do is  this, when you are going into the figure 8 with a following fish .you need  to keep the bait doing the side to side action while in the figure 8, and this can be done by keeping the rod tip in the water, and the  leader about 3 inches from your rod tip, by doing this you will have better control of the bait while in the figure 8. And  with your rod make the bait do the  same side to side action that the fish was following ,so that it wont be spooked and bust off the bait. With a hypnotized fish ,the sudden changes in the bait will make that fish  become awake and bust off the bait. So by keeping the bait doing the same , it should  follow into the figure 8 and eat. And most of the time they will do that in the first outer turn of your figure 8.

I  hope that you will give  the gliders  a good try in the following season. They  will put fish in your boat. They are well  built to take that challenge on .  so good luck and remember to Let’m  go & Let’m grow

 

                William Bennett

Hoosier Heartland Guide Service

“Musky Fishing In The Heart Of Indiana”

www.hoosierheartlandguideservice.4t.com