(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Bass Pro Tour competitor Bryan Thrift makes no secret that he’s attained a huge part of his success by putting his lures where others won’t even try to go. He loves to skip a jig and a soft stickbait, but other lures like poppers and buzzbaits are not out of the question.
“I’ve even tried to skip an Alabama Rig,” he half-joked.
For anglers who want to get into the skipping game, he has a tutorial on how to get started with minimal pain. “I’m going to say 90 percent of skipping a lure is in your rod.” He’s 5’8” and prefers a 6’9” medium-heavy model from Fitzgerald. Even if you’re taller, he suggests that you start with a comparatively short rod and then increase the length as you get better. He stands on the very tip of his boat, keeps the rod tip 6 to 12 inches off the water, and endeavors to maintain a low angle. He’ll “slingshot” the bait by loading up the tip as he goes back.
“The whole key to skipping a bait is following through with your cast,” he explained. That’s what allows the lure to keep skipping forward. As soon as the bait hits the water, lift your rod tip.
He suggests that newcomers start with monofilament because it’s more forgiving – it won’t backlash as much or as seriously. As you progress, switch to fluorocarbon. He’s uses 20-pound P-Line 100% fluoro almost all of the time, at least with his standard 1/2-ounce jig. When he downsizes to a lighter jig, then he may drop down to 12- or 15-pound in order to remain accurate. At first, you should keep your reel adjusted fairly tight, and then gradually loosen it up as your aim and timing improve.
He learned to skip with a Shooter Jig, a tightly-held Carolina secret (“nobody talks about it”), but in recent years he’s added the Damiki Mamba, which is compact but flares out when it rests on the bottom. No matter which version you use, a hand-tied skirt is better than one that has the skirt affixed with a rubber collar. He keeps his colors simple – white, black/blue and something natural.
“There’s 400 different shades of green-pumpkin and I don’t think bass can tell the difference if your jig has one strand of blue or one strand of yellow in it,” he said.
While a buzzbait may not look like it should skip easily, Thrift said it’s one of his favorite tools for the task. “The whole key to making the buzzbait skip is putting a piece of plastic on it.” Sometimes, he’ll remove the skirt and add on a toad-style lure. Other times he’ll cut off the nose of a Damiki Gizzard Shad and attach it while leaving the skirt in place. He typically uses a 1/4- or 3/8-ounce buzzer. “Blade size doesn’t matter.”
You can skip under all sorts of overhanging cover, but Thrift has one type he likes the best: “Docks are hands down my favorite thing to do,” he said. He’s prone to hit 70 to 100 of them in a day. “You don’t have to spend 10 to 15 minutes on each dock,” he explained. If there’s ample water clarity, just a few casts will suffice. Those fish are there to feed.
If you want to learn some of the other aspects of Thrift’s skipping fundamentals, including how he tailors a Damiki Knockout to be the best skipping jig trailer around, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
