Skipping the unskippable

[FlyingDutchman]

Hey y’all, 

 

I was out on the canoe today on Lake Austin skipping docks with a Andy Montgomery skipping jig. Wasn’t having much luck so I rigged up a senko with a 1/4oz weight and skipped it under. After pulling out 2 dinks, I got a wild hair up my rear and rigged up a 14inch ribbon tail worm. To my amazement, I was actually able to skip it. Granted, not very far but still a good 10-15 feet. Unfortunately, it was getting dark and I had to call it a day shortly after. 
 

This got me thinking, are there any lures y’all skip that conventional wisdom would lead you to believe aren’t good or even impossible to skip? 
The first that comes to my mind is a crankbait. I’m eager to blow up a couple of reels tomorrow morning trying. 

[GaryH]

Good luck FD keep us posted

[Big Rick]

Since I have been acquainted with the spectacular SV spools on Daiwa reels I have greatly increased my abilities to skip baits. However, I have never tried a crank bait. That, in my opinion, would most certainly define "un-skippable" with treble hooks, round body, protruding lip. If you manage to pull that off you will  have achieved a skill very superior to mine...

[TnRiver46]

31 minutes ago, Big Rick said:

Since I have been acquainted with the spectacular SV spools on Daiwa reels I have greatly increased my abilities to skip baits. However, I have never tried a crank bait. That, in my opinion, would most certainly define "un-skippable" with treble hooks, round body, protruding lip. If you manage to pull that off you will  have achieved a skill very superior to mine...

I’ve skipped them Many times on accident and sometimes on purpose.  Most times the hooks are fouled but it works on super rare occasions haha

[RichF]

Try a 6.5 in hollow belly swimbait!

[CountryboyinDC]

Somebody in a canoe skipping about all the baits you would think would give a problem.  Kind of shows it depends on who's doing the casting.  He didn't skip an Alabama rig, though.  I can skip a Senko, unreliably and with poor accuracy.

[ww2farmer]

I can skip a lot of stuff well..... EXCEPT a buzz bait.  That thing gets me every time

[GTN-NY]

Skipping with a baitcaster. I don’t have the balls to even try it. 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, GTN said:

Skipping with a baitcaster. I don’t have they balls to even try it. 

There's a reason I still have spinning rigs...and it's not just for finesse fishing.

[GTN-NY]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

There's a reason I still have spinning rigs...and it's not just for finesse fishing.

Yeppers

[Michigander]

It's not that the bait shape can't be skipped, it's the hook fouling as mentioned earlier. However, I think if you removed the trebles on a squarebill and replaced just the back hook with an inline single, you could probably do it fairly reliably.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Rapala makes a saltwater x rap called a twitchin mullet, its similar to a lipless in shape and it doesnt have a lip.  I skip these at night for stripers in the ICW behind Avalon and Stone Harbor.  It takes a while to get it down and your going to ruin a few of them, but its worth it in the end.

[CountryboyinDC]

8 hours ago, GTN said:

Skipping with a baitcaster. I don’t have they balls to even try it. 

Come on man!  Can't let a little thing like blowing up a reel keep you from trying new things.  Shoot, I do that about a dozen times a year  or trying to skip?

[scaleface]

I'm still in the learning phase . I can skip some but just not very consistent .

[gim]

Think about this like trying to skip a rock. An irregularly shaped rock with angled edges and such doesn’t skip very well. But when you toss a flat round one, you can skip it many times a longer distance. Lures apply the same principle. It’s called Physics.

 

The condition of the water plays a role too. Flat, calm water works better than wavy, rougher water.

 

For those of you that are able to do it regularly using a BC without getting back lashes, good for you. I can’t. That’s why I’m still using a medium heavy action spinning rod instead.

[Mike L]

Skipping with a BC takes practice..a lot of practice. It took me years to get proficient at it but there’s a few things that can make it easier

Get low... the lower to the surface the better. 

The angle you use will make it easier too, Don’t try to skip using a pitching motion at first, an underhand sidearm motion is best. 

Don’t get aggressive....Most folks start out trying to skip 20ft, it can be done but if you don’t try to get distance at first you’ll be much more successful long term. 

Use light baits until you get the motion down. The heavier the bait the harder it is to skip. 

For me I had to Adjust the tension knob just a little tighter than I normally would for distance casting.  
 

It’ll take some time, but stay with it. 
Once you get the rhythm down you may surprise yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[RichF]

22 hours ago, CountryboyinDC said:

Somebody in a canoe skipping about all the baits you would think would give a problem.  Kind of shows it depends on who's doing the casting.  He didn't skip an Alabama rig, though.  I can skip a Senko, unreliably and with poor accuracy.

Those big swimbaits skip super easy! I was pretty surprised the first time I tried it.

[Boomstick]

On 11/18/2020 at 10:20 PM, GTN said:

Skipping with a baitcaster. I don’t have the balls to even try it. 

I use my Tatula SVs and turn the brakes up to like 16-20 when I do it, which minimalizes the backlashes.

[GTN-NY]

Does type of line make a difference?

is one(mono, fc, braid) easier over the other?

[Jonas Staggs]

This guy is a master at skipping 

 

 

[FlyingDutchman]

11 hours ago, GTN said:

Does type of line make a difference?

is one(mono, fc, braid) easier over the other?

I learned on FC and it probably cost me $60 in line. 

I would imagine mono is slightly easier to learn on as it’s more manageable. I would also wager that if an angler cannot skip, line choice is likely not the largest factor. 
As for braid, I’ve only tried on 65lb and found it to be marginally more difficult, but still very doable. 
 

As an update, I tried skipping a crankbait, it was pretty difficult but definitely not impossible. Skipping distance was pretty bad. I was using a 6th sense crank and I’ve always thought that they used slightly too large of hooks. Maybe this made it worse? Gonna try with some Strike King cranks and see how that goes.

[MGF]

IMO the line to use starting out skipping a bait caster is fairly heavy mono. It's easier to get a backlash out than with braid and it's much less expensive. Since I started skipping a few years ago I've been keeping one BS set up with 17 pound mono. It works fine for fishing a "swim jig" in the shallow water of my river and the setup skips like a dream.

 

While spinning is generally safer I would say my swim jig on the bc skips better...there are skips and there are slides. The swim jig/bc combo will slide. I don't know if the fish care but it's really fun for me. I think the taught line (thumb pressure) actually helps the bait stay up.

 once you let go.

 

I have a pond I go to primarily just to cast because there aren't many fish in it anymore. I do more practice with spinning. Sure it's less dangerous for the line but I actually think it's harder to get just the right trajectory for a nice skip because you have less control over the line.

[MGF]

I haven't skipped many baits that I would think of as "unskippable" but a couple surprised me. One is a split shot rig, especially a splitshot rigged tube. Another is a double fluke rig. It actually skips pretty good.

 

This fall wasn't so good on the river but I caught the heck out of them last fall skipping the double fluke up under shoreline cover.

[Nitrofreak]

Skipping baits is one of those techniques where the equipment is an intricate part of being successful.

 

I can skip jigs decently with a 7’ medium heavy casting set up using a roll cast but that’s about the extent of it, the rod needs to have a tip that will allow the bait to load relatively easy without putting much muscle into the cast, the action itself needs to come primarily from your wrist and forearm and not much else, too much effort will cause accuracy issues and frustration.

 

It is a given that using a bait casting set up for the first time will inevitably end up with a “professional overrun” but with enough practice you will soon be able to accomplish what you wish to do.

[MGF]

1 hour ago, Nitrofreak said:

Skipping baits is one of those techniques where the equipment is an intricate part of being successful.

 

I can skip jigs decently with a 7’ medium heavy casting set up using a roll cast but that’s about the extent of it, the rod needs to have a tip that will allow the bait to load relatively easy without putting much muscle into the cast, the action itself needs to come primarily from your wrist and forearm and not much else, too much effort will cause accuracy issues and frustration.

 

It is a given that using a bait casting set up for the first time will inevitably end up with a “professional overrun” but with enough practice you will soon be able to accomplish what you wish to do.

I'm of a different mind on it all. I hate rods much over 6.6 because they don't fit in my truck. I don't have a large boat so the most I carry is 4 or5 rods and none of them cost very much money.

 

I can skip with what I have. I'm not saying that it isn't easier when the weight is right for the rod or that some rods aren't easier than others but I can skip a 1/20 oz ned rig on a medium spinning rod. I don't mean bounce off the water once or twice I mean skip real nice...and far.

 

With a bait caster I have to be a little more mindful of weight vs rod action but I still prefer a shorter rod especially for accuracy.