A 5" yamamoto swim bait with a 3/16 oz belly weighted swimbait hook is probably the best skipping bait for me as far as casting gear goes.  It's pretty much effortless to skip with that bait because it's so flat and casts real well on a 7' MH F. 

I usually use spinning gear to skip under docks... Sliderhead with finesse or trick worm.  Occasionally I'll use casting gear and a jig, but I'll swap out my normal pork trailer for a bigger craw/beaver because it seems to skip further that way.

Traps, spooks, senkos, flukes, jigs.

Traps, spooks, senkos, flukes, jigs.

I've never tried to skip with a spook or with a trap. Do they skip really well?

Senko type bait, jig,and hollow body frog.

Flukes and senkos skip the best IMO. I've never tried to skip a hardbait.

Flukes, senkos, and jigs

Forgot about frogs…

Auggie, anything with a flat or smith side can be skipped. Spooks and traps under docks can be deadly (and costly, lol).

berkley havoc backslid.

arky head jigs, but definitely senkos weightless are the easiest

Forgot about frogs…

Auggie, anything with a flat or smith side can be skipped. Spooks and traps under docks can be deadly (and costly, lol).

I can see where a trap can be skipped, but i've never tried it.  The spook is a surprise to me.  I'll have to try it out sometime.

There's really nothing like a lip or cupped mouth to prevent it from skipping. I can usually get around 10' of hops with a bait caster.

I like the Havoc Craw Fatty for skipping.

Spooks, flukes, jigs, frogs, shaky head, wacky rig. A lot of things can be skipped!

 

Like Francho said, spooks are DEADLY under docks, but can be very costly!

Depends on how much I have been drinking

When I do, it's rocks.. (Fun) no, seriously not many , if any docks to fish in my area. But I like to practice the technique with a zoom fluke stick..we use to have some old duck blinds where you could skip but they have since crumbled.. It's pretty cool to watch folks that are good at this.

Senko

 

 

 

 

Zoom trick worm.

Wacky Senko, All Terrain Skip N Jig

I like to use IMO the most forgotten about bait that is also one of the most productive. a 3/4oz johnson silver minnow. i have learned to get them to skip pretty well. something about a fast silver flash falling under the dock. if there are shad under that dock bass will go crazy over it. if they dont hit it on that fall i pop it back to the boat. I think why i prefer a spoon over a jig under a dock is i get strikes on a spoon not bites. i have had fish almost pull the rod out of my hands fishing a spoon. 

pretty much any soft plastic, weedless spoons, frogs and mice

Most of my dock skipping is done with 4" or 5" Senko's (wacky rigged) or tubes (texas rigged with weight inside the tube). 

 

However, recently I had a day that was uncharacteristically calm the entire morning, not even a whisper of wind.  For whatever reason, the Senko's just seemed out of place, making too much commotion on the eerily still surface as they skipped back under the docks.  I wacky rigged one of the new Berkley Moneymakers and found their lighter weight made for a much quieter entry.  Their sink rate (unweighted) is slower than the Senko's, but the bulbous ends still give off a shimmy as they sink.  Caught 13 keepers, all of whom seemed to strike them in the same manner as the Senko's.  In the afternoon, when a little wind began to blow, their lighter weight made skipping them a little more difficult, so I switched back to the Senko. 

 

I think the moneymaker will be a go to bait when I need some real quiet skipping on calm or small water.

Zoom super fluke weightless w/ spinning gear but a 5in senko for casting gear.

Senko, jig, or tube. 

Weightless stick baits and Fat Ikas rigged backwards..