According to my scale, the Flow Glide ranks high in the GlideBait category. It's Shad shape offers a different look that is a welcome addition to the trout shapes of our Glide collections.
It swims well but also "feels" good. The resistance it has on the retrieve constantly reminds me of the lures action and that a "reaction move" is only a rip or two away. It's a livelier swimmer than other glide baits, and its increased surface resistance turns out a lower rate of stall. This action sells the Shad theme.
I felt the tail looked a bit cheesy for a bait at this price point, so I tried one of the many spare S-Waver 168 tails that are lying around. After a few cuts, shaves and drilling a hole, it's got a smooth, more refined look that matches the rest of the bait. Now the tail doesn't take away from the clean, transparent, fine detail of paint and finish. Fish on!
Since I wrote the above blog, I had an un-usual defect happen to this bait.
It apparently built up pressure inside the bait and caused it to "inflate", splitting the back. A fine hard plastic membrane still keeps water out but if it keeps building up pressure, it will eventually pop. Now I've never had anything like this happen to a bait before and wouldn't have believed a hard bait could even do this.
I happen to have a background in gas and chemical delivery systems and suspect that a chemical used in the plastic is off-gassing to its own vapor pressure, which is high enough cause the hard plastic to "inflate".
I contacted 6th Sense and was surprised that Casey Sobczak himself fielded the email. I figured that something of this nature would be a glitch in the manufacturing process and this wouldn't be an isolated incident. After sending pictures of the lure, he was "standoffish" and suggested that I subjected the lure to high temperatures via car, sun, or both. Knowing that nothing other than normal circumstances were subjected to this lure as well as the rest of my tackle, I got on the defensive and started to write back that I was an adult and didn't appreciate the accusation of wrongdoing etc.
Before I replied he wrote back saying he would replace the lure immediately and sent a new one. He didn't even ask for the lure to be sent back to investigate what had happened.
Anyway, I was relieved that a replacement was on the way. At $60 I felt I had to contact the company with my concern.
Later that week I was telling a fishing friend how pleased I was with 6th Sense customer service when he had an puzzled look on his face. "I just had the same thing happen one of their crank baits". He showed me the brand new deep diver with the split back and told me he had just bought it.
So I suspect there may be some bugs to be worked out at 6th Sense manufacturing.
I think their lineup is very promising and cutting edge in the finish department. I think they want all their customers to be satisfied and they are in this for the long haul. I hope they get this figured out soon because 6th Sense is poised to become a major force in lure manufacturing.
So I had the bait sitting around a while. It's holding the pressure so I take it out again to see the floating action. It twitches good on the surface, darting from side to side and when you reel steadily the slope of the back causes it to diver under just below the surface. It can glide off to a side and then slowly rise back to the surface.
It looks pretty good when I see a fish materialize beneath the lure and hit it. A good 3 1/2 lber tells me the lure still works and can be used differently. And I may have the only one.....
So I brush on a little clear 5 min. epoxy over the split and now I have the only floating Flowglide I know of. I like it. Time will tell if the fish do.......
