i have read on this site about using casting outfits for skipping baits but why, is it more productive than a spinning outfit and is the rod any different than one used by spin fishers to skip..i would think it is easier with a spinning rod..any thoughts..

It can be easier to skip with spinning gear (especially with lighter baits)
But with bait casting gear, I can more accurately put the bait exactly where I want it.

I think part of that may because I can more precisely control the exact moment of line release on a bait caster with the thumb. then I can a spinning rod with the fore finger.
and is diffidently easier to feather the line to slow or stop forward momentum of the bait so it lands exactly were intended.

I get professional overruns everytime I skip with a casting rod, it's inevitable.

it sounds like spinning is better for skipping worms and casting works best for skipping jigs and i guess dressed with some kind of plastic..does that sound about right..how long a rod works best and is their a best action..i guess spinning is different from casting..

Long rods can get in the way of getting a good swing and skip, you can't hit the water, or boat. Only you know your circumstances, I personally use a 6 ft rod I built rated 6 to 17 lb. line, light enough tip to cast anything I use and more than enough power to boat a 25 lb. chinook salmon I bycaught trolling a bottom bouncer/worm rig trolling for walleye. I'm sure it could have skipped reasonable sized jigs within it's lure range no problem.

Steve thanks and Spencer thanks..

Skipping is definitely easier with a spinning rod, but as Steve said, and it's true for me as well, I have much better distance control with a bait casting reel, than I do with a spinning reel. My main reason for learning to skip with a bait casting set up is because of the advantage that bait casting gear has over spinning gear when it comes to landing fish. A bait casting reel is a winch, a spinning reel is not.

And yeah I know ..... big fish are landed on spinning gear all the time. But it's a lot easier with a bait casting reel. Also for me .... I don't really like braided line, and I especially don't like it on spinning gear, so bait casting gear allows me to use heavier line

Oh and I don't use baits like worms for skipping. I use more compact baits like tubes and the skirted jig and trailer that you mentioned earlier.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2020 06:03PM by David Baylor.

thanks David, good stuff..

Spencer, the best method I have found for skipping with a baitcaster is to remove about 1/3 of your spool of line. Since you are not bomb casting the reduced spool capacity will be of no ill affect.

I have found this method to be especially useful on every major brand of baitcaster out there for bass fishing.

Tom

another great tip..Thanks Thomas..

I figure skipping relies upon three things: the angle of attack, the area of the object being skipped, and its speed. I would like to know, specifically, how this relates to rod-building?

Phil spend a day BASS fishing on any lake in the country where you mostly skip docks and you will see Very quickly how it relates to rodbuilng. As I believe the odds of you doing this are about as good as a snowballs chance hades I will refer you to google and YouTube

Phil, at times you remind me of a certain guy who uses Twitter a bit too much for his own good. Just a feeling I get, with no definitive data to back it up. Lol

if your interested in building a rod for skipping, you want to understand the technique to some degree..i used to fish with two people who were skippers..one skipped plasiic worms like you would not believe and was written about in local paper after the outdoor writer fished with him once..he could easily skip the length of a twenty foot dock and it only stopped because it ran out of water..the other skipper only used a casting outfit with mainly jigs and i witnessed him puling a bass over eight pounds from under a dock..i really regret not trying to make a stronger effort to learn from these two people but i was too busy catching really nice bass by flipping jigs and big jelly worms..skipping is very deadly in the right hands..

I can skip a fly-rod bug under and around things pretty well but it doesn't matter much what reel or rod blank I use as long as long as it's a #7 or over. For guys like me (big Twitter fans) it's still the speed of the fly/plug, the surface area which strikes water, and the angle at which it strikes the water which produces and limits the "skip" not the rod, the reel, or the guide train. In this new age individual intuition seems to have replaced the physical sciences, but I can't even imagine how a reel changes a lure's behavior on a slack line?

I consider myself pretty proficient with a bait caster but not for skipping. I use either a 6 or 5 1/2' spinning rod.

Thanks Alex..does an extra fast rod skip better or easier than a moderate action or maybe it doesn,t matter..Thanks..

Other aspects of my life have reduced my rod building opportunities over the few past few years but I still check in here every couple days so thought I'd chime in.

I fish bass club tourneys throughout the summer and one of my confidence presentations is dock skipping with spinning gear. Though I no longer have time to build customer rods, I still build my own rods and have built 2 more for skipping this past year. One is for skipping baits such as wacky-rigged Senko worms and the other is for half once jigs with trailers. I can't stress enough how important it is to use an extra fast rod with strong backbone. An XF rod helps generate the tip speed needed to accurately skip the bait. The backbone is for quickly pulling the bass away from the dock. I use a minimum 12lb flouro leader tied to 30lb braided backing line.

For an excellent explanation search youtube for Andy Montgomery and skipping.

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

some more great info..Thanks Chad..