What are you using for dock skipping equipment?

Dovetailing off the dock fishing etiquette thread – what are people planning to use this year to skip under docks/overhangs? Favorite rod, reel, line, lures?

Traditionally I have used spinning gear (6′-8″) Medium Extra Fast with braid and a fluorocarbon leader. Would throw Senkos wacky style or Texas rig. Always seemed to work relatively well.

This past year I started to go a little heavier in hopes of better hook up and landing ratio. Went to baitcasting equipment and experienced my share of backlashes. But used stronger line – switched to 8-12 pound Yo-Zuri hybrid as a leader at the end of the braid. That helped but the rats nests were a pain.

This year I’m using two primary rigs – one is a 6′-8″ Medium XF baitcast rod (St. Croix Avid X) and a Daiwa Zillion SV. 20 pound braid plus 8 or 10 lb Yo-Zuri for skipping wacky worms. The SV reel is a great improvement – once dialed in I rarely get fouled up.

Something new I just started using are wacky worm sleeves from Cadman’s Customer Lures. I used to get 1 maybe 2 fish per wacky worm, but with these sleeves I got 6 the other day! Skipping is hard on soft plastics – these sleeves are awesome.

I’ve also started experimenting with a Caffeine Shad. Man that thing has some deadly action on the fall. Very soft so am using a screw lock hook – really helps in terms of durability.

My second rod is a 6′-10″ Lews MH Fast baitcaster. Paired with Tatula SV and works great. Am just starting to use the Strike King skipping jig in 3/8 oz plus a Rage bug trailer. It skips really well and again has a screw lock to keep the plastic up. 40 pound braid and 12 lb Yo-Zuri. The Yo-Zuri has the diameter of 17-20 pound flouro but I find it much tougher and better knots than flouro.

So far am just using the lead jigs under overhangs so that I don’t clang off someone’s pontoon or jet ski

What is anyone else using these days with success?

Ijust recently got into skipping docks over bass catch and release opener on saturday. Bought a 6’9″ baitcaster with an abu garcia black max reel. Not crazy expensive just wanted to see if i would like it first. Lined it up with 17# mono to help out with backlashes. I have been exclusively using strike kings 1/2 ounce structure jig with zoom speed craws as trailers and some brush hogs as well. Man I tell you I have never had more fun bass fishing! Ive been consistently catching good numbers and good size. Its really rewarding to get a perfect skip way up under a low dock and pull a nice 3-4 pounder out of it

When fishing docks I almost always fish a senko. I used to use a baitcaster but last year I was using a medium fast Shimano Clarus spinning rod with 10lb Fireline and I really liked that setup. I have much better control and the fast tip really helps with skipping the bait further under the dock. I feel that the no-stretch of the line is important to pull a fish out from under docks too. Being able to easily see the line is huge with detecting bites when you see the line move sideways, but may not feel the fish right away.

ClownColor wrote:

The “flying lure.” It dives right under the dock!

Fat Ika’s too —

FryDog, where do you get those senko sleeves? I’ve been using o-rings, but the pictures of those sleeves look better, but I can’t seem to find a place to buy them.

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blank wrote:

FryDog, where do you get those senko sleeves? I’ve been using o-rings, but the pictures of those sleeves look better, but I can’t seem to find a place to buy them.

Below is the link – go to “Other Products” and you’ll find the worm sleeves. I’ve used O-rings for years, even started using 2 rings last year… kind of a hassle and not that effective. These sleeves are far better and you just slide them on without having to mess with the O-ring dispenser pen.

My guess is that if Gary Yamamoto hears about these sleeves he’ll buy them out so people can continue buying his Senkos that only last one fish and are $8/bag.

Black or clear color available
http://cadmansjigs.weebly.com

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I stumbled across these.
Savagte Gear Mesh Infused Wacky Worms

Seems like a good idea. There is a product called Fishbites for salt fishing that is some fish formula on a mesh. It holds up real well and the boat slowly dissolves. They’d be awesome for catfish…wait, where am I?

Thanks FryDog. I had found that site, but it didn’t work on my computer. It works on my tablet though. I might have to give them a try.

Sorry to stray off topic some more, but I hope I’m not the only one who feels bad when you lose a worm just for the fact that it’s not biodegradable. I try to replace any worm that is torn significantly before it’s lost in the water, and try to catch any worm that flies off near the boat.

mplspug wrote:

I stumbled across these.
Savagte Gear Mesh Infused Wacky Worms

Seems like a good idea. There is a product called Fishbites for salt fishing that is some fish formula on a mesh. It holds up real well and the boat slowly dissolves. They’d be awesome for catfish…wait, where am I?

I like the looks of those and might want to try… I think mesh would hold much better than an embedded ring too. And that’s $3/bag less than Yamamoto worms… thx for the heads up. Don’t worry about missing out on the catfish up here – you have Tilapia there!!

I’d love to hook a tilapia. Saw an otter catch a 3#ish one the other day. Might have to throw peas and corn on a hook under a bobber some time.

Just a tip for those of us using senko type baits, you can also just use a piece of clear heat shrink tubing instead of O-rings. This works great I just stick the hook through the heat shrink and stick bait, and they last a long time. You only need a 1/2″ piece or so of the heat shrink

How about the Original Banjo Minnow attached to the kids flat skipping rock?

Still the number one laughed at lure of all time – but when you really think about what they were trying to accomplish at the time, many other credible lures of today have copied features of the iconic banjo lure…

That being said, I never owned one… but have always been a late adapter–

The flying lure was way better.

7′ ALX Dream MF casting rod…14# fluoro… 1/2oz skipping jig w craw trailer (Greg Kizewski aka Super K jigs make a great skipping jig and is an old IDO local
from the Rice lake area…
It takes some practice and I found going to a softer rod tip allowed me to “skip” the jig much better with a roll of my wrist. Works great for overhanging branches too!

#alxrods #superKjigs

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