Skipping Baits

[papajoe222]

Prior to this season, the only bait I've ever skipped with casting gear is a tube. I should say; successfully skipped.  I'm looking to add something like a beaver style, or creature bait  this year and was looking at the Pit Boss and Z-Hog as they both have smooth undersides.  I'm just wondering what baits you guys find the easiest to skip with and which of these you'd recommend?

[benthinkin]

rage craws...

[Ozark_Basser]

Both of those baits will skip fine. Pretty much every soft plastic skips okay. Some better than others. Your rod and the weight of your bait are bigger factors.

[speed craw]

Practice , practice , practice , the more time you have  on the water the  better you will become . Tubes , senkos , trick worms , flukes are the preferred choice as they are easy to skip and the most efficient at getting the job done  . However craws , lizards , creature baits can also work but not as easily as added friction with the appendages . You can also split the skirt on a jig and push it off to the side and up top which will allow the bottom of the jig to have a smooth under body with a zoom speed craw or rage craw trailer . However I believe there is a video on you tube of Brandon Palunik  talking about or using a zoom horny toad on a buzzbait and skipping under docks .  But with enough force you can skip anything . Rod choices will also come into play I prefer a 6'6 - 6'8 inch medium fast action because I am short but Longer rods can also work just you have to adjust your angle of plane . 

[Senko lover]

I have taught myself to skip. It's pretty painful to watch me, and I still end up with "professional overruns," but it's a small price to pay to get into the places where you couldn't without skipping. Point in case: I was fishing a pond with my boss. The water was full of large limbs and docks. I caught several nice bass skipping a senko under the dock, while he was forced to watch because he couldn't skip. 

 

Just practice, and you'll get better. 

[Don't Tell The Wife]

You can skip lots of things. I learned with a jig and pit boss trailer.....now I try to skip anything. Even my spooks. Be creative and lots of practice.

[iceintheveins]

Pit bosses and most creatures skip really well, as do hollow bodied frogs. I am still in the process of learning to skip and it's been hard for me, I need to practice more. It's an essential skill though.

[primetime]

I like to skip any soft bait as long as it is on the hook well. I often use super glue on keeper style hooks and that keeps them from moving and causing frustration....If the tube is catching fish, I would stick with the tube, I find Tubes and Stick baits are the easiest to skip and I always glue anything from ZMAN....

 

The Rage Bug and Rodent skip well for me, so do most craws, but I like to skip tubes, flukes, swimbaits, and baits that imitate a baitfish being chased since that is what fires them up, with that said, skipping a creature is necessary to get to the fish on shorelines but I would think the tube is still the best bet imo.

 

Check out the Power Team Food Chain Tubes, they are designed for using on a weighted hook, and if they are not, then they should market them as such since I catch more fish on those tubes with a worm hook than I do with any other brand tube...Hooksets are tough with many tubes and they slide, one thing that helps is those rattles with the opening on top that you can lock your hook through. I have no affiliation with Power Team baits but I am a big fan as they flat out work and give fish a new look....Good luck, Skipping baits is a skill that pays off and a short rod also helps...I like to skip with a 6' spinning rod or 6'3" casting rod that has some bend at the tip so it loads well even with lighter baits...

 

I prefer Rage baits like the Caffiene Shad or Beavers since they are heavy without any added weight, I like a nice compact profile when skipping, I don't even like my weight to be sliding at all, but a bead in between a worm weight often triggers more strikes because of the noise....

[primetime]

I have taught myself to skip. It's pretty painful to watch me, and I still end up with "professional overruns," but it's a small price to pay to get into the places where you couldn't without skipping. Point in case: I was fishing a pond with my boss. The water was full of large limbs and docks. I caught several nice bass skipping a senko under the dock, while he was forced to watch because he couldn't skip. 

 

Just practice, and you'll get better. 

I learned how to become better at skipping by watching a video by Denny Brauer I think it was....He uses a really short rod, and I find if I have a 6' and maybe even shorter if from the bank, allows you way more control until you get more confident and you don't need an expensive rod, spinning rods make it much easier.....The old school short handle casting rods used to be like 5'6" for skipping baits. I now use a 6'6" at largest if skipping baits, put my tension knob tighter than I ever would, up the magnets, and as you probably know already, accuracy is key and after a while you can put a bait 4 feet back behind an overhang and skip the bait like a stone so it attracts fish from much further away, many times skipping the bait makes a Bass think that a baitfish is being chased so even though you are trying to get under a dock, you may be getting bit from a Bass that swam from 10 feet away in open water where the bait first hit...Tubes skip best imo, glue really really helps as I like keeper style hooks.

[Avalonjohn44]

I gave up on skipping with casting gear. I just can't get it down. Since I can skip all day long with a spinning rod, I just use that and avoid my precious time out picking out backlashes or getting frustrated.

[papajoe222]

I've tried baits other than tubes, but jigs and weighted worms just don't seem to skip as easily. That's why I thought a fat, flat plastic bait would be an easy transition for me.  I don't side arm when skipping, at least the majority of the time. I use a motion similar to a roll cast with about a rod's length of line out, I'll arc the bait in a circular motion and release as it passes around the 7 o'clock position. I, too, set my tension control knob on the heavy side, but turn the magnets off.

[uncustered]

My favorite is a whacky rigged senko. I use a MHX sj783. It's 6'6", a stradic 2500, 10' fireline crystal with flouro leader.

Skipping 60'+ to the back of docks is no problem.

I will use this rig with 1/4oz jigs and can skip 30'+ easily...

[everythingthatswims]

Senkos on spinning gear is super easy, the only other baits I can skip well (talking casting gear now) are jigs 3/8 and under. 15lb test and up for skipping, anything smaller than that gets messy IMO. For t-rigs, I "peg it" if I want it to skip, otherwise the weight just stops when it hits the water.