I'd not heard of these, but this vid showed up in my Google News Feed.....the skipping stuff is interesting, but the look of the lure in the water is what grabbed me.  Anyone use these?

 

 

I have looked at them a few times but the though of “shooting” a 2/0 hook into my hand has kept me from buying them.  

 

I do fish a lot of the very similar shaped SK Shellcrackers and they are skipping monsters, so I think the theory is sound. 

LOL....I guess that's why they created the pull tabs to go with...seemed a bit too much to me, but I guess I can see the attraction

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

LOL....I guess that's why they created the pull tabs to go with...seemed a bit too much to me, but I guess I can see the attraction

I will say that the "flat baitfish-imitator plastic rigged sideways" is a great presentation, I do that with the Shellcrackers sometimes and they skip like a stone and have a really erratic flutter to the bottom.  

Looks interesting.  I'd rather weedless rig it and use a baitcast outfit to skip it than whippy spinning rod as a slingshot.

Shooting a jig is really popular among crappie guys. I've got buddies that can shoot a little 1/16oz crappie jig way under a dock. Underspins are really popular for doing it. I've tried, but usually end up bleeding, so I stick to sidearm or underhand skips. 

So....the Monkey bested me.  I went ahead and ordered the Shooters, jigs, and tabs.

Mini review:   summary - jury is still out. 

 

I spent about 45 minutes in the yard working on the mechanics before taking these out on the water.  I was fishing from a kayak, so height above surface may be lower than if shooting from boat deck....not sure yet where the advantage lies. (Higher launch might actually be a little better.)  I got decent enough at skipping them, but not all too consistent yet.  Best skips were farther than I get with my baitcaster, but the majority are not.  I think that the value (over baitcaster) will be in accuracy, vice distance. 

     Rigging is a bit of a challenge; getting the plastic perfectly centered is tough.  Less than perfect rigging doesn't hurt skipping much, but it does affect the swimming/gliding action quite a bit.  

     I didn't get any bites on them that day, but then again, I didn't get bites on anything else around that time/location. 

    I'll try them again, but I am not advocating that anyone else should be going out of their way to get these...yet.   Unless....unless, you either fish spinning gear exclusively or have difficulty skipping with a baitcaster.  I will say that my spinning gear skipping is far better with these than 'normal'.   But, I've come a long ways with my skipping in the past year, but I still have trouble hitting really tight spots (like between a pontoon and lower unit.)  These may end up being best for bulls-eye skipping.