Help with skip casting gear

[jimmyG]

Need some help in preparation and practice for skip casting under docks...as in Clear Lake and Delta. So here are my questions, thank you for any assistance..

What type of spinning pole, length, and action?

Is mono better than fluro in this application?

Do some type of baits skip better than others(tubes, worms etc.)?

Please/Thank you for your input and suggestions.

[ash]

I skip with both casting gear and spinning gear - obviously the casting gear takes a lot more practice in terms of feather ones thumb on the spool. A frog is a great bait to practice with for casting gear esp ISH's PHAT frog as it is wider and skips well. After a while you can skip just about anything from jigs, to tubes, to worms and creature baits.

For spinning outfit, I can skip with any of my spinning rods from 7' MH to a 6'6ML - I dont SLING SHOT baits much - which looks like making the rod into a bow, holding the bait, openign the bail and using the momentum of the rod to sling the bait back.

Rather I truly skip - just as we did as kids with rocks in the river. As far as line, I use copolymer on most of my spinning outfits, my go to rod is my 7' MH GL3, go to baits can vary - a Senko skips well, but gets beat up pretty quickly, a tube is probably the easiest bait to use especially with an internal weight system the key no matter what bait you use is to have the weight stationary - ie if T-rigging peg the weight, this keeps the weight and bait from seperating, I really like to skip 4" yamamoto hula grubs with a 3/16 - 1/8th oz pegged Bullet wieght (or jig head) and a 2/0 owner rigNhook the bait skipping across the water looks like bait fish flittering and at times can trigger bites for me.

The art of it is getting that rod sideways and calculating that first splash down to skim on the water, my right hand feathers the line coming off of the spinning reel in terms of controling where she lands, I will pull the line tighter to stop the skip and allow the bait to drop on a slack line. Typically if I am going to skip a a low hanging doc(like the plastic floating ones) and you want to get to the back through the lil opening my splash down point is about 2-3" in front of that opening so that it flutters and skips to the back.

I think practice is more key then setup - the great thing is you can practice on any body of water from the bank so you dont burn a day of fishing. Hope this all makes sense - I am sure others will chime in.

[GKramer]

Don't know if its worth mentioning, but rod length seems to have the most import in regard to how tall you are, first, and second, how close are the quarters you tend to skip. I'm a tall 5-11 and I feel I'm more accurate if I don't go over 6 1/2 feet. I have used even shorter when the dock openings are not much wider than the boat.

[Jason C.]

Here is a great video on how to skip. I hope this helps!

http://tacticalbassin.com/skip-jig/