Skipping

[12poundbass]

I’ve tried a few times to no avail. Today on my lunch I watched a Zona video, then I fell into a rabbit hole, and watched an Andy Montgomery video (that guy is crazy good), then I finished with a B-Lat video, all on skipping. 
 

I came home and spent some time in the back yard like I do most nights fishing with 6poundbass. The fish weren’t biting like last night so I decided I was going to give it a go again, this is a big plus to living on a lake, you can practice, practice, practice. Well I stuck with it and I’m getting the hang of it. Accuracy is poor but I’m not quite worried about that yet. 6poundbass saw me skipping so he decided to give it a go and now my 10 year old is getting the hang of skipping too! I know I have a long ways to go, but it’s quite a bit of fun skipping! 
 

The tip that finally clicked with me and got me over the hump was from B-Lat. He said when casting start low and end high. Once I started raising my rod tip on the follow through my blades jig really started skipping. 
 

Fun stuff! 

[Mr Swim Jig]

Good tip, I will try that. I have been learning to skip baits this year also.

[Hammer 4]

Love skipping. Whats cool is when you get good enough that you can skip a lure 20+ feet under a dock that's about 1 to 1 1/2 ' off the water. 

Even better is watching guys toss baits at the pillars, they get frustrated and leave, I then go to the same spot skip a bait way under the dock, only to catch some nice fish, and they can't figure out why they didn't get any fish..

 

Get good at, it's a ton of fun..

[12poundbass]

My best skip was probably 8-10’, accuracy was non existent, but I’ll work on that later. 
 

Zona said similar to what you said @Hammer 4, when he was fishing 3 hour tournaments when he was younger, he’d go and skip docks and getting fish others weren’t, and winning money doing that. 

[Way north bass guy]

When I used to fish tournaments, my partner and I used to skip docks quite a bit. We didn’t use baitcasters though, but a fairly short (6’), heavier spinning rod with braid and often a tube jig. We’d go behind guys flipping big jigs and catch fish that didn’t want that jig ( probably seen a hundred of them off the same dock by the end of the summer). 

[N Florida Mike]

I can skip real well with spinning but not baitcasters. I especially enjoy skipping under docks. As I said on the last thread about this - the motion is similar to skipping a rock or side-arming a baseball.

[Fishin Dad]

What helped me was learning to use a roll cast and more wrist action than throwing my whole arm into it.  I would rather skip a bait caster even though it brings the potential for an over run when something is a little off. I like the power of the casting rod to get them out of the docks before they wrap me up.  I do still skip weightless stick baits on spinning rods for finesse.  

 

[12poundbass]

9 minutes ago, Fishin Dad said:

What helped me was learning to use a roll cast and more wrist action than throwing my whole arm into it.  I would rather skip a bait caster even though it brings the potential for an over run when something is a little off. I like the power of the casting rod to get them out of the docks before they wrap me up.  I do still skip weightless stick baits on spinning rods for finesse.  

 

The roll cast is what they all recommended to do, and what I’m using. The backlash is getting less frequent and when I do it’s minimal. I’m using a Tatula and I have the brakes set on 16, I started on 20 and I’m slowly backing off on the brakes. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Way north bass guy said:

We didn’t use baitcasters though, but a fairly short (6’), heavier spinning rod with braid and often a tube jig.

I have been using a 6.5 foot MH spinning rod, 2500 capacity reel, and 30 pound braided line the past month with a weightless stick bait with great success skipping under docks. I would like to use a bait caster simply because it has the raw winching power to pull a big bass from under a dock quicker than a spinning setup does, but I can’t do it regularly without back lashing. A chartreuse with black speck Senko has been my best color in stained water.

[Cgolf]

2 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Love skipping. Whats cool is when you get good enough that you can skip a lure 20+ feet under a dock that's about 1 to 1 1/2 ' off the water. 

Even better is watching guys toss baits at the pillars, they get frustrated and leave, I then go to the same spot skip a bait way under the dock, only to catch some nice fish, and they can't figure out why they didn't get any fish..

 

Get good at, it's a ton of fun..

Maybe I am not hardcore enough, I am one of those that tosses around the edges and that is as close as I will ever get. My fear with skipping is whacking a boat or dock. Not a lake owner yet, but am hoping my wife will let us get the forever home on the lake 10-15 years before we retire so I can enjoy it. Just don't get the casting under boats etc. Might just me being too cautious I guess, but there are some of us that are happy picking around the edges and accept that we miss some fish.

[TnRiver46]

13 minutes ago, cgolf said:

Maybe I am not hardcore enough, I am one of those that tosses around the edges and that is as close as I will ever get. My fear with skipping is whacking a boat or dock. Not a lake owner yet, but am hoping my wife will let us get the forever home on the lake 10-15 years before we retire so I can enjoy it. Just don't get the casting under boats etc. Might just me being too cautious I guess, but there are some of us that are happy picking around the edges and accept that we miss some fish.

I’ve got a forever home on the lake (Although I don’t live there yet) and I will gladly invite anyone to skip away and hit the dock or boat. It’s never been a problem and it’s a very highly pressured lake. the dock has been there since the early 90s and wake boats are the enemy, not skipping fishermen. Zero damage in 20 years from fishermen, crazy boat slamming and erosion from big boat waves. All the neighbors have had to buy rip rap to curb erosion problems, I may have to do the same one day 

 

[Hammer 4]

2 hours ago, cgolf said:

Maybe I am not hardcore enough, I am one of those that tosses around the edges and that is as close as I will ever get. My fear with skipping is whacking a boat or dock. Not a lake owner yet, but am hoping my wife will let us get the forever home on the lake 10-15 years before we retire so I can enjoy it. Just don't get the casting under boats etc. Might just me being too cautious I guess, but there are some of us that are happy picking around the edges and accept that we miss some fish.

I don't cast under boats, I do cast along side of them. Been doin it for years, early on, I did hit 1 boat, I went over to see if there was any damage, luckily there wasn't any. Practice and practice, plus Confidence and staying Relaxed is the key. You can do it, just takes time..

[12poundbass]

It’ll be a long time before I launch any of my lures towards aluminum docks or any type of boat. Woods docks, sure, they don’t make much noise when a lure goes crashing into them. 

[Spankey]

Great post. I’m a long time skipper but admittedly I’m not a guru at it. Skipping a 3”-4” grub under docks on the river or along or under suspended boats has always been productive for Smallies. Could never really get it together with a baitcasting setup. I use a shorter rod setup for it. Works well for low overhanging tree branches also. I’m not that tall and I use a St. Croix Avid Spin 5’9” medium X-Fast. The shorter rod length seem to help. 
 

My practice comes while fishing. At least you practice and basically do your homework. Good luck, good fishing and great post. 

[zell_pop1]

X2 @Spankey I have a 5"6" Premier spinning rod, much easier to use spinning IMO. 

[N Florida Mike]

10 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

What helped me was learning to use a roll cast and more wrist action than throwing my whole arm into it.  I would rather skip a bait caster even though it brings the potential for an over run when something is a little off. I like the power of the casting rod to get them out of the docks before they wrap me up.  I do still skip weightless stick baits on spinning rods for finesse.  

 

When I skip under docks with spinning, I rarely have a fish wrap me up. I tend to keep more tension on the line because the fish will nearly always hit the bait as it intially falls. I immediately set the hook at the first twitch , and pull back hard while reeling fast. I also have a couple spinning reels that have a fairly high gear ratio so that helps too.

My home lake docks dont have a lot of obstructions under them though.   

[813basstard]

Your on the right track.

2 things that helped me:

 

1. don’t throw so hard

2. stop ‘just’ practicing skipping. Skip while your actually fishing. Blow up a couple reels. Don’t be afraid to fail

[the reel ess]

3 hours ago, zell_pop1 said:

X2 @Spankey I have a 5"6" Premier spinning rod, much easier to use spinning IMO. 

It is much easier to skip with a spinning rod. But when you have to yank a big bass out of heavy cover, heavy BC gear is the ticket. When you hook a real bruiser in some gnarly stuff you had to skip a jig to get to a MH spinning combo might not get her out. Also, when you're trying to skip a jig, thumbing  the spool and lifting the rod at the end is part of the motion that creates the skip. I don't know anyone who can skip a jig with a spinning combo like some people can with BC.

1 hour ago, 813basstard said:

Your on the right track.

2 things that helped me:

 

1. don’t throw so hard

2. stop ‘just’ practicing skipping. Skip while your actually fishing. Blow up a couple reels. Don’t be afraid to fail

B Lattimer's advice was good. Use some cheap mono when you start. Big Game is fine for this application. 15 LB is plenty heavy enough and dirt cheap. In fact, I use BG as a leader when I want one as well as backing on reels with braid. It used to be my go-to for pitching/flipping.

[the reel ess]

3 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

It’ll be a long time before I launch any of my lures towards aluminum docks or any type of boat. Woods docks, sure, they don’t make much noise when a lure goes crashing into them. 

It's better to make noise and present a lure than it is to not present the lure. Now I'm not suggesting you throw your jig up against the side of someone's $40K boat. But I've made noise and still caught even a big bass. When you put that bait right in their face their tiny brain will often say "KILL IT!!!". But if you don't get it near them, sometimes they won't swim over to get it.

 

I saw Ike hit the end of a pontoon once trying to skip under it. He caught a big one on the very next cast, same dock.

[scarter162]

8 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

plus Confidence and staying Relaxed is the key.

This. I've been skipping for a while, but when my confidence is low I just blow up my reel left and right. Which only adds to my frustration and low confidence!

[gim]

11 hours ago, cgolf said:

Maybe I am not hardcore enough, I am one of those that tosses around the edges and that is as close as I will ever get. My fear with skipping is whacking a boat or dock. Not a lake owner yet, but am hoping my wife will let us get the forever home on the lake 10-15 years before we retire so I can enjoy it. Just don't get the casting under boats etc. Might just me being too cautious I guess, but there are some of us that are happy picking around the edges and accept that we miss some fish.

 

There's no doubt a fine line between damaging someone's property and trying to maximize your chances of getting bit around docks/lifts/boats.  Shade is the key.  Depending on the sun angle, there may be shade directly underneath, out in front, or to one side.  Sometimes I throw a fast moving lure like a spinnerbait or buzzbait right along the side of a dock and a fish will dart out to grab it too.

 

I don't own lakefront property, but if I did and I saw people banging lures on my dock, boat, cover, or lift, it would anger me.  So I try to be considerate of this when fishing.  You are inevitably going to get hooked on something when skipping but hopefully being cautious and removing the snag without causing damage can be done.  When I take others with me who are not proficient at it, I constantly remind them that is it more important to be respectful of people's property than to catch fish.

 

Another item I'd like to add, I NEVER fish around a dock when there's someone on it or they are present in their yard, or on their deck, etc.  I simply move on to the next dock.  Its just better to avoid that kind of potential confrontation in my opinion, even if the dock looks really productive.

[NHBull]

I too really need to work on this....

 

I have also notice more land owners putting up barriers under their docks....planks, fence, Support’s.....all because of the amount of hooks that get left behind?

[FryDog62]

Looking thru the comments above, I think skipping provides a lot of opportunity to expand fish-catching and there are 2 general schools of thought in technique.  
 

One is the side-arming, skipping a stone method and the other is more of a stand up method with roll cast. As mentioned above, key is the lift at the end.  

 

Personally I gravitated more to the roll cast method as this kept the tip moving up and the lure in the right direction best for me. Especially when using a baitcaster.  
 

Swindle has some YouTubes about this method and specifically not crouching like a baseball player and side-arming it.  

 

Gotta pick what works best for you but it takes practice and time on the water.  

11 hours ago, cgolf said:

Maybe I am not hardcore enough, I am one of those that tosses around the edges and that is as close as I will ever get. My fear with skipping is whacking a boat or dock. Not a lake owner yet, but am hoping my wife will let us get the forever home on the lake 10-15 years before we retire so I can enjoy it. Just don't get the casting under boats etc. Might just me being too cautious I guess, but there are some of us that are happy picking around the edges and accept that we miss some fish.

I started out skipping 3/8 oz jigs and klang’d off a few docks or worse yet pontoons over the years.  Never really had a homeowner get mad but close. 
 

I have gradually switched over to skipping weightless Senkos either T-rig or wacky style.  So now if I hit the uprights it’s more of a thud since there isn’t any lead to ring the gong so to speak...

 

I also feel that I’m catching more fish now.  That subtle, slow sinking worm in the strike zone seems to get more bites vs. the fast-reaction jig that is a quick hit or miss.  
 

YRMV

[gim]

12 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

All the neighbors have had to buy rip rap to curb erosion problems, I may have to do the same one day 

There is legislation in the works here in Minnesota on these.  Currently the law states that they can only operate in wake mode if they are at least 200 feet from a shoreline.  The new proposal ups that to 600 feet AND they cannot do it within 600 feet of another watercraft either.  That would put a lot of smaller lakes completely off limits here in the land of 10,000 lakes.  The problem is enforcement.  Laws are no good unless they are actively enforced.

[waymont]

I found that starting with a weightless 6" stickbait was a great lure to start out with. It will help you get the motion down, then you can change baits.  The thing that helped me at first was learning to hit the water on the cast closer to me than I expected. It will force you to get the motion of moving the bait horizontally forward.