As the son of a professional bass angler, Jackson Roumbanis has been immersed in bass fishing since he was born, and he's become a successful angler himself. Like his father, Fred, he's also a huge fan of throwing big baits, and fishing with a glide bait is one of his favorite ways to catch them.
During the fall, he will always have a glide bait ready to go, and he adjusts his approach based on the situation, paying close attention to bait color and mixing in several different retrieves.
Ready for the Temps to Drop
After a long summer, fall is welcomed by bass anglers everywhere, who all know that the cooler temperatures will get the bass moving. For Roumbanis, who lives in Arkansas and now fishes for Murray State College in Oklahoma, it also signals a perfect time to throw glide baits more.
"The temperatures are finally dropping in some of the hotter states, and many of the lakes are already starting to have winter drawdowns," he said. "The other thing is the fish get more targeted on baitfish, and you start to have big schools of bass floating around. I've found that throwing a glide bait around these schools will get those bigger ones to come up and commit instead of catching smaller fish that are popping around on the surface for shad."
When fishing around schooling shad, he also sometimes bucks the trend of trying to imitate the shad color perfectly and goes with darker colors.
"I like to fish darker glide baits this time of year, so the bait makes a silhouette when the sun hits it," he said. "I designed a color for G-Ratt, which is a dark black and blue and comes in the original Sneaky Pete and new 2.0 version of those baits."
Picking the Right Glide
As a glide bait fanatic, Roumbanis has a pile of different baits, from highly sought-after and expensive baits made in garages to more readily available baits from G-Ratt. He'd used them all, but says the G-Ratt baits are excellent for the money.
"A couple of reasons that I like their baits are the cost, they are not a luxury bait that you are afraid to fish in a tournament and throw into the sketchiest stuff where the fish live," he said. "I'm not as scared to throw around brush piles and things like that. The other thing is that they are all made the same and have a consistent action, which you don't get with some handmade baits, where every bait has a different action. With G-Ratt, you know what the baits will do and how to get the action you want."
Roumbanis is a fan of the original version and new Sneaky Pete 2.0, but also appreciates the new Steve Kennedy version that is a suspending bait.
"Instead of a fast-sinking bait, it's more of a mid-sinking bait made for fishing around boat docks and structure, not so much in open water and on points," he said. "I like the original and 2.0 on deeper points, casting it out and letting it go deeper since it's a heavier bait. Now, there are options for more situations."
Gear and Retrieves
When fishing a large glide bait weighing a few ounces, having the right rod, reel, and line can be crucial to getting the most out of a bait. Roumbanis has experimented with several combinations and settled on what works best for him.
"I like to throw my glide baits on a Phenix Recon Elite 805 and a larger reel with a 7.2:1 ratio, but go with a slower retrieve with the new suspending glide bait," he said. "That rod handles both baits perfectly and casts them well. I can whip that bait out there and get really long casts. It still has plenty of power, so I can lean into them and get a good hookset if a big one flushes it and that rod buries those hooks."
For line, he is strictly fluorocarbon for his glides. "I like 16-pound Gamma personally, it's a thicker line, but it's very strong and has amazing castability," he said. "I've experimented with braid before, but had a bad problem of ripping it free from fish, and the trebles tend to dig into the braid at times, so it's now always fluorocarbon for me."
This time of year, Roumbanis likes to fish his glide baits quickly. "It's a lot of burning it and killing it, and the Sneaky Pete will work really well with those quick actions and won't roll on you," he said. "I'll fish it a lot with a 'burn, burn, kill' retrieve to get those fish to react to it on the move. It's great for fishing like this over points this time of year."
Fishing with a glide bait is always a good way to trigger bigger-than-average fish, and right now is a good time to do it. Instead of focusing on smaller schooling bass, fishing these baits can attract the bigger fish in an area that want something moving fast, but are looking for a bigger meal.
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