Big Bite Baits Best Skipper Ever: the flat creature bait built to skip
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On most waters the best summer bass spots are the ones nobody reaches: the far end of a floating dock, the shade under a swim platform, the forty centimetres between the water and a wooden deck. The fish are there because it is cool and dark, and above all because they never see a lure go past. The Best Skipper Ever, designed by Big Bite Baits with Nick Smith, sets out to do one thing: get in there.
A body shaped like a skipping stone
Measure it and it comes to 6.4 cm / 2-1/2 in. Look at it and you see almost no thickness at the edges and a domed centre. That is exactly the geometry of a flat stone you skip across a pond, and the maker says as much.
The shape answers a specific problem. A conventional creature bait, with its round body and appendages sticking out in every direction, is a disaster on a skip: it catches the water on the first impact, spins off and finishes two metres short of the cover. The Best Skipper Ever presents a flat, smooth surface to the water instead, and its appendages are deliberately short and tucked against the body. It bounces like a stone, three or four times, and runs deep under the cover.
The body is also solid — "thick" in the sense of plastic volume, not profile depth. That gives it mass of its own, which matters enormously for skipping: a bait that is too light has no energy to bounce, it simply lands on first contact.
The appendages and the back slot
Once it has arrived under the dock, the bait has to do something other than skip. That is where the small appendages moulded along the flanks come in — four a side on the photo, short, amber and speckled. They do not produce the flailing of a Zoom Baby Brush Hog; they stir the water right around the body, discreetly, during the fall and on every tiny movement. That is a weak signal, and deliberately so: under a dock the fish is fifty centimetres from the bait, there is no need to shout.
The back carries a moulded lengthwise slot, clearly visible on the blue example in the photo. It exists to seat the hook point for a clean weedless Texas rig, without the plastic bulging and without having to guess where to pierce the body.
The rig
A 3/0 or 4/0 wide gap hook, point brought out and laid back into the slot. For the weight, there are two schools.
With no weight at all the bait falls very slowly, flat, with the appendages quivering — that is the first-choice rig under a dock, where you are fishing a metre and a half of water and the fish are aggressive. With a 3.5 to 7 g bullet weight pegged against the head you gain skipping distance and penetration, at the cost of a faster fall. Past 10 g you leave the bait's register entirely: it drops straight and the appendages no longer have time to work.
The classic mistake
Rigging the bait on an exposed jighead. The flat body suits an unprotected rig poorly, and above all you lose the lure's central point: under a dock, every cast ends up touching a chain, a float or a cross-brace. A weedless Texas rig is not an option on that spot, it is the condition for fishing it longer than ten minutes.
How to send it under the cover
The motion is sidearm, rod almost horizontal, arm low. You do not aim at the dock but at a patch of open water two or three metres short of it: the bait has to land flat, not dive.
Set the casting reel brake slightly softer than for a normal cast, otherwise the spool slows the bait on the first bounce. Keep your thumb in contact with the spool throughout the flight — that is what corrects, not the brake.
Count the bounces. If your bait only makes one, you are casting too high or too hard. A good skip is a flat, almost lazy cast where the bait grazes the water rather than hitting it. Ten minutes of practice in open water beats an hour spent unpicking your line from mooring chains.
Once the bait has arrived, let it sink on a semi-slack line and do nothing for five seconds. The great majority of bites come during that first fall. Then two or three small twitches on the spot, a pause, and you reel in to cast again: there is no point retrieving the bait ten metres, the fish is at the foot of the cover or nowhere.
Not sure what to tie on?
Photograph your spot: CarnaFish reads the scene, cross-checks the conditions and gives you the zone, the lure and the retrieve. Free on iOS and Android.
What it does, and what it does not
This is a spot bait, not a search bait. Along a long open margin a Yamamoto Senko 4 covers more ground with a more seductive fall, and a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver gives a bulkier profile for flipping into heavy vegetation.
Its 6.4 cm size is an accepted limit too. It is a small bait that catches fish of all sizes but does not sort for the big ones. And Big Bite Baits publishes no weight for this model: if you want to work out an exact fall rate, you will have to weigh it yourself.
Colours by bottom
- Stained water, dark wood: the midnight blue with blue flake of the photo, a clean silhouette that does not rely on subtlety.
- Clear water, weedy bottom: the olive green with a cream belly on the other example, which all but disappears against grass.
- Gravel or rock bottom: a crawfish tone, orange or red green pumpkin, matching what the fish actually eats on that substrate.
You still need to know whether the day's fish are under cover or out on the breaks. That is precisely what CarnaFish does: a photo of the spot, and the AI suggests the zone, the depth and the lure family suited to conditions. To build the groundwork, our guide to getting started with bass fishing covers reading the water and the tackle.
What to remember
- A flat, solid 6.4 cm body designed to skip like a stone and reach spots under cover.
- Short appendages that vibrate discreetly on the fall, without the flailing of a conventional creature bait.
- A back slot that allows a clean weedless Texas rig, which is essential under a dock.
- No weight for the slowest fall, 3.5 to 7 g for range; past 10 g the bait loses its point.
FAQ
How big is the Best Skipper Ever?
Big Bite Baits gives 2-1/2 in, or 6.4 cm, sold in packs of eight. No weight is published for this model.
What hook should I use?
A 3/0 or 4/0 wide gap hook suits this size. The slot moulded into the back is there to take the point for a clean weedless Texas rig without distorting the body.
Do I need a weight?
Not necessarily. Unweighted, the bait falls very slowly and flat, which is often the best presentation under a dock in shallow water. A 3.5 to 7 g bullet weight increases skipping distance and penetration; past 10 g the fall becomes too fast for the appendages to work.
How do you learn to skip a soft plastic?
Practise in open water with no obstacle. Sidearm cast, rod almost horizontal, a flat low trajectory, aiming at a point two metres short of the target. Keep your thumb on the spool throughout and count the bounces: three or four is right.
Is this bait good for anything other than bass?
It is an American creature bait designed for bass, and that is where it gives its best. In Europe a small soft plastic rigged Texas under a dock can interest a perch, but that is not what the model is for and nothing from the maker points that way.
How does it differ from a conventional creature bait?
Geometry. A Zoom Baby Brush Hog or a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver rely on volume and mobile appendages that push water. The Best Skipper Ever gives up part of that action for a flattened shape that skips, and it only truly justifies itself where skipping is necessary.
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