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RayburnGuy

Glider Action

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Tried building my first glider and have a question. It is 3 1/2" long, 3/4" wide and is shaped like a perch or freshwater sunfish. It was weighted to be a slow sinker with the weight divided into three locations. Half the weight went right behind the middle hook hanger with the remaining weight split between the front and rear. It sets perfectly upright and level in the water and the slightest twitch on the line gets a very pronounced walk the dog action. When given a sharp twitch it will turn 180 degrees. When pulled through the water on a slow, steady retrieve it has a slow, side to side swimming action. It does not have a lip of any kind. Is this swimming action normal for a glider when retrieved with a slow, steady pull or did I just get lucky?

thanks guys,

Ben

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I would like to say there was some luck involved, considering all the time I spent trying to make my first glider. It's kinda neat how different the behaviors are between baits, all with the same shape and all weighted to sit or sink horizontally, can be when their ballasts are distributed differently. I did a lot of reading before trying it, and I got the impression from all the articles that each bait formula should be slightly over weighted, so you can drill out and adjust to get the action you want, especially if you are trying to have a suspending bait. Good job on your first attempt!

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After building another bait with the same dimensions except for the thickness (this one was 1/2" thick) I can tell you I got lucky with the first one. The second bait was weighted in the same locations as the first one. With less weight of course because of the thinner size. It sits level and upright in the water just like the first one, but this one has almost no action. When twitched it just wants to move straight forward. The first bait would start the walk the dog action with the slightest tug while the second one is extremely hard to get it started walking. If at all. Is it the wider surface area on the first bait that makes it so easy to walk? Are the forces of the water loading and unloading on the wider head making it act like a lip of sorts? I've tried moving ballast, in small increments, from the front to the back of the bait with no noticeable improvement. If the back of the lure sat lower than the head would that make it easier to get the walking action started? Could this may be why it was recommended to make the lure 3/4" thick to start with?

If I can't figure this thing out the next step will be adding a small lip and I really didn't want to do that. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Ben

Edited by RayburnGuy
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Hey Ben,

The reason the second one didn't work is because of the 1/2" wood, change it to 3/4" and it will work. You need a certain amount of width pushing on the wood in the front to get it to turn. If it's too thin, the wood just cuts through the water and keeps going forward. I have a couple 1/2" gliders that work but they seldom work as well as those with 3/4" in wider.

As for the action, yes it's normal for a glider to swing back and forth on the retrieve if it's built correctly. Here is a video of one of my gliders.

Jed Edited by RiverMan
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Thanks Jed. I had a feeling it had to do with the width of the bait and the forces of the water acting on the wider surface. (things that only Dave can explain) The 3/4" bait that was built first just really surprised me as to how easy it was to make it work. The slightest twitch of the rod tip and it would swing widely from side to side. Twitch it just right and it would turn completely around. That should surprise any largemouth that happens to be following it.

Looks like the 1/2" bait will be getting a lip to see what kind of action I can get out of it.

The bait in the vid sure has great movement. Experimenting with more of a minnow shaped lure is still in my future.

Thanks again for the help.

Ben

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Ben, Congrats on the 1st lure... Forget about the lip on the second, got a better idea for ya...

1. Drill a 3/16" from the tail 9/10th's of the way to the nose.

2. Now from side to side, drill a 1/8" hole laterally across the base of the 1st hole.

3. In the first hole thread a 3" Elastic band past the second hole holding the end of the band outside the tail.

4. Using a 3/16" dowel, peg the elastic band in place through the 1/8" hole.

5. Now thread a preformed wood blade through the elastic band and attach to the tail of your bait.

6. Twist the blade counterclockwise till elastic band is taut.

7. Toss lure high out over the water, and you now have the new improved " Flying lure" or "Helicopter Lure"...

8. If you paint a saddle on it I'll send you a picture of my wife to shelac on the side and you will have a.... "Flying Devil's Horse Lure"

9. :halo::lolhuh: Had ya going for a second huh?

Tight Lines, bb

Edited by bassnbrad
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Ben, Congrats on the 1st lure... Forget about the lip on the second, got a better idea for ya...

1. Drill a 3/16" from the tail 9/10th's of the way to the nose.

2. Now from side to side, drill a 1/8" hole laterally across the base of the 1st hole.

3. In the first hole thread a 3" Elastic band past the second hole holding the end of the band outside the tail.

4. Using a 3/16" dowel, peg the elastic band in place through the 1/8" hole.

5. Now thread a preformed wood blade through the elastic band and attach to the tail of your bait.

6. Twist the blade counterclockwise till elastic band is taut.

7. Toss lure high out over the water, and you now have the new improved " Flying lure" or "Helicopter Lure"...

8. If you paint a saddle on it I'll send you a picture of my wife to shelac on the side and you will have a.... "Flying Devil's Horse Lure"

9. :halo::lolhuh: Had ya going for a second huh?

Tight Lines, bb

LMAO..........yep, you definitely had me going. I was trying to envision all those holes and rubber bands. Was scratchin' my head wondering what the heck. :?

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Thanks Jed. I had a feeling it had to do with the width of the bait and the forces of the water acting on the wider surface. (things that only Dave can explain) The 3/4" bait that was built first just really surprised me as to how easy it was to make it work. The slightest twitch of the rod tip and it would swing widely from side to side. Twitch it just right and it would turn completely around. That should surprise any largemouth that happens to be following it.

Looks like the 1/2" bait will be getting a lip to see what kind of action I can get out of it.

The bait in the vid sure has great movement. Experimenting with more of a minnow shaped lure is still in my future.

Thanks again for the help.

Ben

Jed nailed it.

Dave

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It's not the late nights Ben.........it's the clearcoat! Don't ask me how I know. I think every lure I clearcoat takes another hour off my life.

It's like the joke about the guy that goes into see the doctor and the doctor says "I have bad news, you have alzheimers and cancer". The guy looks at the doctor and says, "well I'm glad I don't have cancer".

Jed

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It's not the late nights Ben.........it's the clearcoat! Don't ask me how I know. I think every lure I clearcoat takes another hour off my life.

It's like the joke about the guy that goes into see the doctor and the doctor says "I have bad news, you have alzheimers and cancer". The guy looks at the doctor and says, "well I'm glad I don't have cancer".

Jed

lol Pretty funny. Hadn't heard that one.

Not sure what it is, but I sure get aggravated at myself sometimes. I used to be able to go take a dozen measurements and not write a thing down. Go back to my work area, build whatever it was and it would all fit together perfectly. Now I walk into a room, stop, look around and wonder why I walked in there. Pretty sure I would have some good stories to tell of when I was younger if I could just remember them. :?

Ben

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Ben,

You might try filing or sanding a shallow, concave groove into the forehead of the bait, like for a rattle trap.

That would trap more water, and might exaggerate the amount of resistance the thinner lure's head would have.

I've found that the reason baits "walk" is that the rear is slightly heavier than the front, and so the water resistance on the front causes it to slow more quickly, letting the rear catch up, like a jack knifed truck.

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@ Rayburn Guy

Sorry for having found this thread a bit late , Ben , .......just mean to tell you to check out this Dutch site(english version) , a few design sketches and construction plans of gliders(in Europe we call them jerkbaits) to be found in there :

http://www.lurebuild...l/indexeng.html

My favourites there are "Roach" aka "Heiddy" and the lathe-turned "Divani Zig-Zag" , both are easy to build .

One thing to consider about adapting the pike lure sizes to smaller bass sizes is to use more buoyant wood to be able to place sufficient ballast for proper glide performance , .....I'm just making two 2 1/4" "Heiddy" versions of PVC decking ,...... wonder whether they'd perform in the end .

greetz , Dieter :yay:

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Thanks Dieter. I bookmarked the link. Let us know when you get the smaller gliders working. I'd like to see them.

Ben

Took a few pictures this evening showing that little PVC glider prototype , ......actually it is 63mm(2 1/2") in length , not 2 1/4" as I've said before .

The width scratches 10mm .

I've used 1mm thick roofing leadsheet for ballast , ....with these leadpieces it sinks real slow and level in a waterbucket , ......but would surely sink faster after having them glued in and having finally painted the lure .

The big question is , whether it would perform well in the end , .......usually the ballast of gliders is concentrated in weightholes fore and aft or just inside of only one belly hole , .........in this case the ballast passes along almost the entire length of the lure , so I wonder , which effect this would have on the swimming action later ?

It is just very fast and convinient making and trimming these little PVC blanks , just cutting the lead sheet to approbiate sizes and test the fall rate and position in a water bucket until satisfied ,..... no need for finding out about lead slug sizes and locations and where to drill the holes , .....just placing the lead sheet into the slot of the wire form , it's so simple , ........BUT WOULD IT WORK OUT ???

Glued in the harness and ballast by now , gonna trim the excess glue on Monday and in case of success I'm gonna make a little video of that blank in action somewhen during next week , ...really eager to know , whether it would perform this way .

greetz , Dieter :yay:

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Edited by diemai
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