Ease of Actuation: The key with any of these baits, really, is what happens once in the water. A lot of this can be affected by how you choose to connect your bait to the end of your line. Do you tie direct? Is there a split ring? Do you prefer snaps? High Powered Swimbait's Gizzard Glide does not come with a split ring and has a horizontal line tie. My feeling is, with glide baits or any bait with a horizontal line tie, more freedom of movement can be afforded to the bait if you use a split ring or snap to attach to the end of your line rather than tying direct.

The bait's two pieces are connected with a pin and screw eye joint

Note that I have tested this theory in the past and seldom have I seen evidence that this theory actually holds true. However, I also don't like tying direct to that line tie because I do not trust all the micro burrs or other imperfections have been buffed out of the inside of that screw eye. If any do exist, they can slowly abrade your connection knot and result in a lost lure. With a lure this precious and difficult to source, I'm not taking any chances. Additionally, I don't like split rings because of the end points of the wires, so I play it safe and use a snap. Not to say these can't fail as well, but fortunately, in all my years fishing, I've not had that happen. For the Gizzard Glide, I was trying out some new-to-me snaps by Nishine Lure Works - the #2 size rated at 55lbs. They're a little narrow for my liking, but held up well and felt pretty secure.

The soft, brush fiber tail is glued in place

Paranoid line to lure connection thoughts aside, once the Gizzard Glide touches down, it sits in a very neutral position perfectly parallel to the surface of the water. My bait is a slow sink and falls at a very slow rate of maybe one foot per two to three seconds. This bait is also available as a floater and fast sink. Given time to marinate and sink into the water column a bit, the slow sink will stay down once you begin your retrieve - not common with all big baits. This is an easy bait to work.

Detailing right down to the pectoral fins spot on

Quality of Movement: If you employ a steady retrieve, the Gizzard Glide kind of jumps from side to side rather than glides. It's obvious right away this bait is really built for an erratic retrieve mixing in pauses with your reel, twitches with your rod tip, a few quick cranks, and so on. When you do this, the Gizzard Glide slides from one side to the other, darts up, darts back down, will occasionally sit head down, flash to the other side, and more. It's quite surprising how erratic you can make this bait swim. It really looks like an injured or dying fish. At times it reminds me of a big bodied Vision OneTen or soft plastic fluke.

Bait Detail : A feature and dimension breakdown of High Powered Swimbaits's Gizzard Glide as detailed by our Swimbait SkunkWerx division

This three piece bait is HPS's latest herring profile swimmer

Conclusion: The Gizzard Glide by High Powered Swimbaits is very well deserving of the reverence for which it receives. It's unfortunate the masses mistakenly refer to this bait and Randall Kirkpatrick's company by the name of a bait that has since been discontinued. Then again bad information, mistaken labels, and improper terms are kind of part and parcel of the game that is fishing. For his part, Kirkpatrick prefers to keep a low profile, which allows him to keep his company, High Powered Swimbaits, small, intimate, and within the family. He's perfectly content building to his wait list. This allows him to put his personal touch on each and every bait that leaves the door.

High Powered Swimbaits prefers to keep a low profile. We say, after close to 10 years in the bait making business, it's about time we caught up to their phenomenal product

Think about it. His Gizzard Glide remains coveted despite lackluster images online, almost zero social media presence and limited product availability only through direct messaging. Were he interested in ramping up the visibility of his company and baits, with the effectiveness of the product and the true, high quality of workmanship exhibited in each bait, demand could be through the roof. Further, imagine the affect a full blown review might have from a website that often writes about hard to find, difficult to source, expensive, yet entirely effective product like High Powered Swimbait's Gizzard Glide. Especially if that review were positive. I guess it's a good thing for Kirkpatrick something like that isn't in the works. He just might need a longer list.