I don't skip cast, but then I don't fish under docks because there aren't many docks where I fish and I'd hate to fuss around someone's property. Is there another reason I should learn to skip cast? Maybe a downed tree?

Overhanging trees and brush. Not many can make those kind of casts so those fish always seem easier to bite. 

18 minutes ago, Craig P said:

Overhanging trees and brush. Not many can make those kind of casts so those fish always seem easier to bite. 

Yup, it’s also just a fun way to fish and comes in handy for more than just fishin docks 

It will also improve your backlash removal skills.

this guy is showing off a bit - doesn't have to be this energetic, but the best skip-cast (reverse spiral cast) demonstration I've seen on the internet.  

 

 

Where to use it, under cypress overhang, under mangrove overhang.  

Note that intentionally skipping on the water surface is not required (myth) - what you're shooting for is low trajectory.  

 

ps @ol'crickety - this is also something you can practice, casting to the bottom of shrubs in your back yard - you don't need blazing distance here, but accuracy.  A shorter, light-tip rod helps, and if the weight you're casting under-loads the rod, the trajectory will arc upward.  

I'm gonna work on developing a skip cast. Thanks, guys.

36 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I'm gonna work on developing a skip cast.

It's a piece of cake with spinning, even backhand skips. Let the lure first hit close to the target. The skipping bait often calls their attention like a baitfish trying to escape by skittering across the surface.

One of my little secrets is to use a skip cast with a Yamamoto DShad on fish schooling on top.  The bait skittering across the top looks like a fleeing baitfish and they chase it down.  😉

Get a Lews shallow spool custom lite on a soft tip mh rod .

I suspect it's going to be hard to skip from a canoe being so low in the water.   Since you're good with a spinning reel start with that.   I suspect a shallow spool bait cast reel would be great but I get by with a "regular" one.    I used to struggle some skipping.  I was basically slinging the devil out of my lure with a low side arm cast.   Guy Eaker (retired Bass fishing pro) was at the reel counter of a local tackle store one day when I was there.  I asked him about skipping, and if I needed a different reel or rod.  (I wasn't getting backlashes, just not very accurate).  He yelled "Hank, come over here".   Bass pro Hank Cherry came up and started telling me how to skip.   He said use a roll cast, not just a sidearm sling.   They took me out back and had me skipping in the grass.   I'm pretty good now.  I've caught Bass as far as 40 feet under a dock walkway.    Hats off the Guy and Hank for helping me with technique instead of selling me a sponsors product.   

6 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I suspect it's going to be hard to skip from a canoe being so low in the water. 

 

This was the first thing I thought of too when she posted this.  Sitting down in a canoe is going to make it very difficult.  We're used to doing it standing up in a bass boat.

 

@ol'crickety honestly if you don't have docks or a lot of fallen trees, its probably not much use for you.  Falling into the lake from a canoe is not worth it either.

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I'd hate to fuss around someone's property

 

Also a valid point.  There is a fine line between fishing around or under someone's dock and constantly getting hung up on a post, lift, cover, etc.  I personally don't even fish a dock if I see someone out there or in their yard.  Potential confrontation isn't worth it.

33 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Sitting down in a canoe is going to make it very difficult.

Not with a spinning rod, which is what she'll be using.

52 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

One of my little secrets is to use a skip cast with a Yamamoto DShad

Flukes skip nicely.

I will skip a bait (like a weightless wacky Senko) up to a bluff wall, and then let it sink down the bluff wall.

8 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Not with a spinning rod, which is what she'll be using.

 

What does using a spinning rod have to do with sitting down?  I using a spinning rod standing up in a bass boat.  I can't imagine doing it sitting down in a tippy canoe.  In fact, I wouldn't even attempt it.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

 

What does using a spinning rod have to do with sitting down?  I using a spinning rod standing up in a bass boat.  I can't imagine doing it sitting down in a tippy canoe.  In fact, I wouldn't even attempt it.

 

I'll try it tomorrow morning, but I'll watch some videos first. I would love to be able to skip a lure under branches. I'll be fishing from my heavy canoe. I'd have to work to tip that barge. 

13 hours ago, gimruis said:

What does using a spinning rod have to do with sitting down?

The mechanics between skipping with casting gear and spinning aren't the same.  Much more latitude with spinning. I've skipped plenty with spinning gear from sit-in kayaks and canoes. No problem at all. Just point the nose of the vessel in the direction of where you intend to skip and let it rip.

@Woody B I skip cast from kayaks with the right rods.  

This bass came out of the overhang on the right bank.  

Can't beat S-glass for skip casting.  My best freshwater river rod for skip-casting close is 5' composite butt and S-glass tip.  

 

Best salt marsh kayak photo I have is Josh's sister Nina casting to redfish back.  

I put together this 6'4" 2-hand S-glass just for mud marsh skip casting to redfish.  

extended grip is not for casting, but for stopping redfish at the boat

Regarding the tipsiness of my canoe, on the tipsiness scale, being long, light, and thin, it's a 10, but I've paddled it so much the last three years that it's feeling more and more like a second skin. I was leaning on it yesterday morning  and it was listing as I leaned.

 

For a sec, I thought, "Am I dancing with the devil there?"

 

But I know my boat, like a whitewater kayaker knows her boat and sometimes, leaning looks more precarious than it is. 

34 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

The mechanics between skipping with casting gear and spinning isn't the same.  Much more latitude with spinning. I've skipped plenty with spinning gear from sit-in kayaks and canoes. No problem at all. Just point the nose of the vessel in the direction of where you intend to skip and let it rip.

 

 

@ol'crickety if you search Tik Tok skip casting you’ll see some crazy skipping from canoes and kayaks. They aren’t tutorials just some people showing their skills, way above mine. 
When I skip cast, it’s like a golfer putting for the win. An announcer whispers…..” Yes ladies and gentlemen… he’s lining up his shot, slight breeze coming from the west, don’t know if that will affect him. He shoots…. Oh man it takes a nasty bounce and right into the bushes., thought break, and he was doing so well”.

I skip lures from a kayak with a baitcaster but pretty much only when I’m standing. Easier motion that way, but also helps to be up higher and see into the target area better. 

@ol'cricketyI skip a lot of baits with my spinning rigs. Wacky rigs, weightless Texas rigs with Senkos, worms, craws, etc.  As others stated, if you have overhanging brush and limbs, skipping baits underneath can target bass hiding out in ambush positions. I’ll skip jigs as well with my baitcaster, just not as well lol. 
 

I think you’ll be fine in your canoe. It’s all arm/wrist movement. I get relatively close (10’ or so) so it’s not like I’m swinging for the fences. I’ll skip forward or backhand, depending on the situation. I think I’m better backhand with a spinning rod. It’s a hoot watching a Senko skip a few feet under the brush and get hit just as it stops. 

I tried skip casting this morning, but failed. I'm fine with a low, sidearm cast, but my lure didn't skip. 

I’ve noticed with lighter baits it’s easier to skip with a ML vs a M action. 

9 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

I’ve noticed with lighter baits it’s easier to skip with a ML vs a M action. 

 

A ML? Yikes!! I'd never get my bass into the canoe with that wet noodle.