Skipping Baits

[Ghostshad]

Learning to skip docks with a BaitCast Reel, would it be easier to learn with a rod made just for Skipping baits ? GodBless & Thanks

[Choporoz]

12 minutes ago, Ghostshad said:

Learning to skip docks with a BaitCast Reel, would it be easier to learn with a rod made just for Skipping baits ? GodBless & Thanks

I had no idea there was such a thing.  Though, I'm not surprised.

I learned much from watching Andy Montgomery videos.  There's a number of them, but this one has most of what he teaches -

 

 

[Dirtyeggroll]

I think it is easier by using the same rod consistently. I have the 6’9 skipping rod he mentions in that video and it’s a good rod. The tip is pretty soft which allows some flex to help load up the rod to swing the bait parralell to the water. I can skip a bait to a about anywhere I want if I’m on the front of the boat. However, I learned to skip with a 7’ really stiff Berkley Pro Signature rod for about a year.

 

Honestly, those skipping rods are not the best jig/single hook rods. They are good for skipping and extremely sensitive but the tip is a little too soft and you really have to slam them to get a good hookset. I have lost fish I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have lost otherwise because I didn’t have a hard enough hookset to get through the tip and to the backbone of the rod.

 

I still love the rod and have learned to really hammer my hookset when using it (so much so that I frequently get bruises on my ribs). If I were to do it again, I would probably spend the money on a different rod.