Glide bait prices

[Bdnoble84]

First, this is not a post to bash any luremaker for their prices. I‘ve been seeing a lot of baits that go for a couple hundred dollars. What is it about these baits that draws this type of desirability. I’ve never really gotten into swims/glides but have made a couple i throw just to try it out. They definitely do take some work and ive had more fail than actually work. Its just hard for me to imagine paying that much for something i might lose. I know there are alot of production pieces in the 30-60$ range. Is the price due to a unique action, color scheme, or something else. 
from the outside looking in it feels like almost a status thing. Again not bashing, just want to understand.

[Cbump]

Why do people want a Ferrari when they could have a corvette, Camaro, or 1991 Camry? 
People like to collect nice things. 

[Bdnoble84]

15 minutes ago, Cbump said:

Why do people want a Ferrari when they could have a corvette, Camaro, or 1991 Camry? 
People like to collect nice things. 

I guess i am wondering if its more a collector thing or if there is some legit reason for the price

[Cbump]

3 minutes ago, Bdnoble84 said:

I guess i am wondering if its more a collector thing or if there is some legit reason for the price

Oh bass don’t care. Definitely a collector thing. But they do catch fish! 

[Pogues2300]

I’m no expert but my intuition says it’s more collector. Ben Milliken just won a Bassmaster open and one of his main baits was a 6th sense glide bait much cheaper than the custom. I’ve done decent using River 2 sea S waver 168 and that’s under 20$. My Buddy bought a beautiful custom glide 200$ used it opening day and a pike bit him off…. Yeah I can’t spend that much on a bait lol

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Is the price due to a unique action, color scheme, or something else. 

Low production mostly hand-made anything takes more time and costs more to make, so you'll pay more. When it's from a famous or hot-right-now maker you'll pay even more if you want it while the buzz is high. If things like that don't appeal to you, that's OK. There's an entire subculture of swimbaiters that only want to catch fish on big baits. The big bait bite can be pretty intense, and doing anything that juices one's anticipation is sort of addictive.

[Bdnoble84]

8 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Low production mostly hand-made anything takes more time and costs more to make, so you'll pay more. When it's from a famous or hot-right-now maker you'll pay even more if you want it while the buzz is high. If things like that don't appeal to you, that's OK. There's an entire subculture of swimbaiters that only want to catch fish on big baits. The big bait bite can be pretty intense, and doing anything that juices one's anticipation is sort of addictive.

I get that its ok. Was just more curious about the why. Its hard for me to beleive a 200$ bait is going to boat x # of 15lb bass more than a 60$ bait to make it worth the cost if its just about catching fish. Thats why it would make more sense for it to be a collector/ status thing (which i pass 0 judgement on)

[PhishLI]

3 minutes ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Was just more curious about the why.

Some of it comes down to people in that culture simply wanting to be seen catching a big fish on a collector class big bait. I have swimbaits galore, but I never post catches on the big FB swimbait pages, but many guys there live for it. That's cool for them, it's their club. Whatever makes them happy.

[JediAmoeba]

49 minutes ago, Cbump said:

Oh bass don’t care. Definitely a collector thing. But they do catch fish! 

It's not a collector thing for a lot of us. Custom glides fish way better than production models. 

[Dwight Hottle]

54 minutes ago, Bdnoble84 said:

I guess i am wondering if its more a collector thing or if there is some legit reason for the price

 

I think it mostly a cult following/collector thing but the limited availability of certain baits fuels the high demand. It's a supply/demand situation fueled by an army of aficionados. It's not much different than the JDM enthusiasts who collect high priced tackle. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

18 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

The big bait bite can be pretty intense, and doing anything that juices one's anticipation is sort of addictive.

That's what it all boils down to for me.   There is nothing like big swimbait fishing, not even topwater or a red hot jerkbait bite to me.  

 

Everybody who goes does the rabbit hole says the same thing, the addiction factor is off the charts.    I'll know I can catch a dozen fish on other stuff, yet stubbornly keep fishing a big bait.   

 

 To answer OP's question:

 

I first started with $20-35 baits......S-Wavers, Sneaky Petes, Traces, BD Shads, Arashi 18/19, even Gantarels, none of them gave me the "eureka" moment, although I caught a few fish over 5lbs on them, along with a handful of other fish.    

 

Then I spent $42 on the Shimano 190SF, and boom everything changed in terms of addiction and understanding what it was all about in terms of followers, and ridiculous boat side blowups, etc.    Biggest fish thus far is a 7lb, but have prob. caught close to 50 fish on the bait in only a few months.  

 

Then I spent $60 on a SPRO KGB Chad Shad a week ago, already caught half dozen fish, but had so, so many followers including one giant.   Time will tell, but it's just that much better of a bait than the other big baits I own beside the Shimano.  Lot of this comes down to the sink rate.    All the other slow sinks from the baits I listed above sink way too fast.   

 

This led me to be the guy you likely started the thread about......yesterday morning I managed to score a KGB TSG for $175.   I've been trying for a month or two to score a real deal high end Shad glide from either Phoney Frog, KGB, or the Bucca Bull Glide or Trick Shad.    These baits sell out without a minute.   

 

Resin baits have a slower sink rate, and according to the owner of KGB a resin Chad Shad burns a little better vs SPRO Chad Shad, but the ABS SPRO version has a wider glide.    Other than that he says they are within 95% of each other.  

 

When I witnessed a potential DD sized submarine barely nip the SPRO Chad Shad the other day, and then slowly turn away and swim back down to 20-30ft........I was still left with an experience I can't get using any other bait.   

 

In summary, you get what you pay for with these baits.    Ben Milliken owns a piece of 6th Sense, is shilling Draws all the time, yet when it was time for him to actually win a professional derby, he was catching them on a $500+ Hinkle Shad, and even caught a weighed fish on a Tiny Klash ($100+).    He was throwing a Moby as well, which is another really expensive HUGE 15" bait.    To me, Milliken is the best big bait fisherman currently.   

12 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

It's not a collector thing for a lot of us. Custom glides fish way better than production models. 

I had to pay the stupid tax of about $200 to learn this.    You can still catch fish on the cheap ones, but if you're serious about big baits, this is the only conclusion.  

 

4 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

I think it mostly a cult following/collector thing but the limited availability of certain baits fuels the high demand. It's a supply/demand situation fueled by an army of aficionados. It's not much different than the JDM enthusiasts who collect high priced tackle. 

This is the real problem as I've talked with Phishli privately about.......some of us just want a handful of these high-end baits to actually fish with, but a big segment of the swimbait community are beanie baby collectors, or worse straight up flippers and make it really hard for folks to get them.   

 

I missed a drop for KGB TSGs last week, this week just out of curiosity I checked EBay, half a dozen out of 100 baits were on there with a markup of anywhere from 50-100 bucks. 

[Cbump]

22 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

This led me to be the guy you likely started the thread about......yesterday morning I managed to score a KGB TSG for $175. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

27 minutes ago, Cbump said:

 

Nice, think there were only 120 or less.     Tried last week, and now I'm real thankful I didn't get it, and instead got this colorway.   

 

There is a Trick Shad drop tonight, but I just can't do it lol.  

[Pogues2300]

1 hour ago, JediAmoeba said:

It's not a collector thing for a lot of us. Custom glides fish way better than production models. 

Based on what? Just curious why you think that. I am not sure but one thing I’m sure about no big pro event was won on some 200$+ bait

[JediAmoeba]

1 hour ago, Pogues2300 said:

Based on what? Just curious why you think that. I am not sure but one thing I’m sure about no big pro event was won on some 200$+ bait

Milliken just won using $300+ Hinkle glides. He is sponsored by 6th sense, who makes glides with his name on it. 

[Pogues2300]

8 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

Milliken just won using $300+ Hinkle glides. He is sponsored by 6th sense, who makes glides with his name on it. 

Oh OK my bad didn’t know he used 300$ glides still wouldn’t ever think in a million years the difference in the creation of a glide bait would be worth that much but again I’d have zero issues with those wanting to pay that

[JediAmoeba]

32 minutes ago, Pogues2300 said:

Oh OK my bad didn’t know he used 300$ glides still wouldn’t ever think in a million years the difference in the creation of a glide bait would be worth that much but again I’d have zero issues with those wanting to pay that

The difference between a resin glider and a ABS plastic one is night and day. I have many of each and I usually throw the custom made ones...

 

The price is in the handcrafted bait - the amount of time the builder put into r&d to get it like it is. The cost is worth it and warranted IMO.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Hinkles are a lot more than $300, and Milliken only in part won the Toledo Bend Bassmaster Open because of it, he credits the C-Rig as doing the majority of the heavy lifting.

 

That said, lots of Elite/BPT guys have used these high dollar glides to weigh in fish in major finishes......cheap ones like the Arashi have even in part won events for Brandon Palaniuk, however as recently as the Elite series stop at Lay Lake a few weeks back, he was using some high end custom glide I couldn't ID.   

 

A Trick Shad that I mentioned above helped take 3rd this year at Redcrest by Evers.  

 

Jacob Wall used a Chad Shad IIrc heavily in Guntersville BPT last event to take 3rd again IIrc.   

 

They have always been used, before these it was other big baits like when Steve Kennedy boated mega bags and won at Clear Lake in the early 2000s

 

[Bdnoble84]

4 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

It's not a collector thing for a lot of us. Custom glides fish way better than production models. 

This is what I wanted to know. I can honestly see the value if the difference is catching or atleast seeing tbat once in a lifetime fish or not.

 

i guess what I want to know is why. What is it about the action? Wider “S”?, subtle wobble? The custom paint scheme. Are their any tangible differences that stand out?

[GreenPig]

Alot of big bait fisherman only throw big baits and many only fish a handfull of baits. If you take 5 $300 baits that are proven big fish producers that wouldn't come close to the money many of us have in crankbaits, that'll likely never produce equal numbers of big fish.

[DINK WHISPERER]

I started out like many throwing the cheapest swimbaits I could find like savage gear. Then I gradually wanted more realism and better action than the mass produced baits could offer. That led me down the rabbit hole that I'm still in today! There's no comparing a massed produced plastic bait to hand crafted resin or even wooden swimbaits.

I've pretty much sold off all my conventional gear except for the obvious stuff I need here in FL. in exchange for big bait combos. I have a Hinkle myself along with other high end swimbaits and every single one of them has seen plenty of time on the water. No collecting here....

There's absolutely no substitution for the way a monster bass hits a big glide or a big soft plastic battleshad. It's truly unexplainable. 

[Dwight Hottle]

You know I have read over this tread & suddenly it dawned on me that the swimbait group mirrors the musky group that developed the same passion for big baits several decades earlier. Really the only differences are the substitution of bass for the musky as the pursued prey. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

You know I have read over this tread & suddenly it dawned on me that the swimbait group mirrors the musky group that developed the same passion for big baits several decades earlier. Really the only differences are the substitution of bass for the musky as the pursued prey. 

I make the Musky connection in my head most days out that are dedicated to chunking a big bait.....the whole remember this is a "fish of a thousand casts" deal.  

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that when you drop $60 on a single lure, you're going to fish that thing much harder until you put it down than a $5 jig you just bought.   

 

It's not hard to keep fishing these expensive baits when you go through all the trouble and spend all the money on one of them.   

 

Big Swimbaiting and Fly Fishing are quite similar in my eyes, most days there will perhaps be a better, easier way to catch them, but nothing will bring the level of excitement and anticipation as a big bait.    Both are just so different than traditional forms of fishing.    Both have developed their own sub communities.  

[Dwight Hottle]

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I make the Musky connection in my head most days out that are dedicated to chunking a big bait.....the whole remember this is a "fish of a thousand casts" deal.  

 

  

I can remember as a kid reading a story from Outdoor Life or Field & Stream about musky fishing & the famous statement "fish of a thousands casts". That statement held true for a lot of years before I caught my first ski. Then I found the fallacy of that statement when I experienced my first trolling trip on St Clair catching a dozen muskies in one day. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

10 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I can remember as a kid reading a story from Outdoor Life or Field & Stream about musky fishing & the famous statement "fish of a thousands casts". That statement held true for a lot of years before I caught my first ski. Then I found the fallacy of that statement when I experienced my first trolling trip on St Clair catching a dozen muskies in one day. 

 @T-Billy proved to me this was just something rednecks in the South believe ?

 

I'd be Muskie guy if I lived up north, wanted to catch one of those dinosaurs my whole life.   I used to read North American Fisherman as a kid, and they loved to do segments on Muskies.