Baitcaster skipping

I consider myself a knowledgeable fisherman normally always putting together a decent 5 bag limit when tournament fishing. One thing I’ve been trying to expand on is skipping with a baitcaster. I can consistently do this with my spinning setup but for the life of me I can not master the baitcaster. The closest I can get is when cranking everything down but then I do not get a far skip. Any pro’s in here have any advice?

I cant with a baitcaster. Spinning yes.

You talking bout docks.... ...... if so just point rod downward, turn your wrist sideways, flick your wrist and put you lure as close to the structure as possible. Do it faster than flipping and adjust your reel as necessary till you get the hang of it.

Tuned in... Ive tried and tried with a baitcaster and cant master it. A longer rod seems to help but I still struggle.

Just use a spinning rig

There are a few good videos that helped me a lot. What seemed to help me was using a shorter rod. 7’h

i can put a jig chatter bait or weightless bait where ever you want it but as far as telling you how to do it i dont really know. i just do it. i think the biggest thing is your bait is going to go where youre looking.

The main bait I’m looking to skip is a frog. (When) I manage to get a good skip and have a big blow up I can’t ever manage to get the frog back in that spot. I did upgrade to a heavier spinning setup with 20# braid to use as a follow up but as we all know you can’t horse them out as well when the cover is thick and your throwing 50-60# braid.

id think that would be fairly easy to skip. what frog are you using?

Swing hard. I can skip about anything, skipped a spinnerbait a lot this winter. Throw the piss out of it and keep your thump on the spool. Frogs skip easy, roll cast but sling it harder than normal, try to hit the water 5 feet from where you want it to land and keep your distance from your target. It skips easier farther away from you.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/251s2IefuWE[/video]

I've heard and said for years, the single greatest difference (maybe the ONLY worthwhile difference) in professional fishermen (or even the 'sticks' who win everything locally) and weekend Joes is casting ability. The ability to use a baitcast reel and put any lure, any where, every time. Coincidentally, I've been off this week recovering from surgery, watched a buttload of YouTube videos, saw KVD say that exact same thing just yesterday.

For me, I can do it "slightly better than average" on easy docks, but I'm not good enough to skip LOW docks, or hit that little gap between floats on floating docks 100/100 times without alerting the fish or backlashing. I've found chatterbaits to be one of the easiest things to skip.

Just some things that make it easier for me:
1. Rod needs some tip. I can't do it with a heavy/fast action, and it's also not good with medium action, I need the proper medium heavy with a fair tip.
2. The length of the rod isn't as important to me as the length of the handle. My best skipping rod is actually 7-3 (I'm only 5-11 tall), but it has a somewhat shorter handle than some other 7-0 to 7-6 rods I have. I also prefer a split-grip rod as opposed to a solid cork handle (for example). I'm using a 703C and/or a 733C Dobyns right now, they're dang near perfect.
3. Heavier line is easier, especially braid.
4. Reel needs to be looser than you think. Actually, back off on your spool tension knob, but crank up on your magnets (as least as possible)

Thanks everyone. I will give a few of these a try this weekend. The frog bite is on at Eufaula right now so we’ll see how the skipping goes.

I don't believe that it's the only difference, but think it makes people feel good to say and the pros repeat it so they don't hurt folks' feelings.

I have in the last 25 years fished with pro anglers at the top and bottom of the FLW and BASS lists, including Kevin, Skeet, Ike, Nixon, Ish, Gerald, Guy Eaker, Rojas, Biffle, Shin and others. I've seen guys at the bottom of the standings cast their asses off but they couldn't find winning fish to save their life, which IMO is the difference — finding and catching winning fish.

Can one of us skip a frog or jig completely under a dock - and I mean completely under, back in the "can't get there" edges? They all can. Or under willows on a cut bank with just a couple inches clearance. Or hit the target on a cast to hit a stump 90 times out of 100.

A lot of us can do those things. All of those guys can. But if the back of that dock or under the willow bank or crankbait stump doesn't have fish on it then it doesn't matter. Finding and catching them is the key.

That said, they're pretty f'king remarkable casters, no doubt. I always got a kick out of saying "Can you put it there?" and as they were doing it they'd say "There? Right there? How many times?"

Some of y'all may remember Craig Powers from east Tennessee. I'd put him up against anyone in a casting contest. He was remarkable.

Oh heck, no real argument here! But (like you said), when you're in the boat with those fellas who can cast like that, you realize your inadequacies. And it's not only accuracy and unique ability, they are relentless...they make 2 or 3 times more casts than you do. I pull a 2 pounder from under a dock and I wanna talk about it and retell the story (as if you weren't in the back and didn't see the whole thing), they yank a 4 pounder from under there, boat flip it, kick it off the backside of the boat cause it won't cull, and before a word is said ZING they're back under the dock. All. Dang. Day.
But I do agree (I've thought the same thing many times before), knowing where fish are at certain seasons and/or conditions is the trick. And perhaps the only reason I lean back to casting is because the one thing I've become more convinced of in recent years (especially watching them on TV) is they still catch more fish and win more tournaments by just "stupid power fishing" down the bank than anything else. I can go to Logan Martin and I know every hump and stump on the lake, I get too fancy and spend way too much time offshore (that water isn't as crowded), then come in with 13# of spots. This other dude comes in with 20# of largemouths and says "we kept that jig in our hands and skipped docks all day long, that's ALL we did". I watch Bassmasters or FLW and they're just running the grass with a swim jig and buzzbait, then they pass a floating dock and skip a chatterbait all the way to the back in a 3" wide gap next to the pontoon boat.. They aren't on a roadbed with a drop shot.

Speaking of skipping baitcasters....I bought a new reel today! I highly recommend y'all get one in your hands, it's suhweet!!

Brand new Daiwa Tatula SV TW 103XS (8.1:1)....little bitty, perhaps the lightest $200 reel out there, and I'm not sure it can be birdnested! #skippingmachine

Congrats on the Tatula, let us know how you like it.

I have a very good friend that fishes the ABA. If not for having to pay for kids college he would have already turned pro. He fishes a jig 90% of the time. In a days time on Eufalla he will hit 80 to a 100 brush piles. He said you get one shot at these small brush piles and is more accurate than anyone I’ve ever seen. At 20 yards he can flip a jig and land it on a fence post.

I’ll shoot docks all day long with a spinning reel and can throw long and accurate with a bait caster on schooling fish but I’ve never mastered that particular skip

I asked Denny Brauer once what other color jigs he threw besides black-and-blue.

"There are other colors?"



One thing I've learned about a lot of the pros and their evolution, or maturity, is they refine and reduce colors. It minimizes decision-making, builds confidence and they don't sit around thinking about 40 strands of orange or 18 strands in their jig skirt. I was with Marty Stone once back in 2001 or so and got him to pull out all his jig and skirt boxes. His entire front deck was covered with boxes of cast-pitch-swim-football heads in multiple sizes, colors, skirts, the works. He said he wanted "to be ready for anything." By the time he retired, I think he'd pared it to a couple of boxes in a few colors and sizes. Simplicity.

He may have changed by now, but I think Swindle for a long time threw brown jigs. Brauer threw black/blue. Hackney likes both of those colors (he almost drilled my forehead once setting the hook with a swimjig). Similar to how KVD and Skeet throw, usually, chartreuse-white spinnerbaits. It just minimizes the decision-making and time.

The only time, usually, they get away from this is maybe if they catch some fish and find, say, a brown craw with orange claw tips in their livewell. Or if yellow bass are the dominant forage, or maybe perch up north.


There's a lot of really great "weekend" anglers who probably could compete on the pro scene. I always thought Terry Tucker from Gadsden could have. It's a tough career path, though, especially for fathers with jobs and families.

Yes, it seems like it is all glory fishing everyday for the pros but I can tell you I’m not wired that way. My wife and son are too important for me to be away that much for ANY job. I’ll stick to being a ‘spare time’ fisherman.

I like to throw plastics lizards that have 128 flakes. I throw the rest away.

My address is .................... instead of you throwing the rest away!