Skip Jack Talk

I think its a great idea! Skipjack is the best bait that I have ever used, hence the user name. I fish the Ohio river around northern KY. Besides warm water discharges, I would like to find out where to consistantly catch Skipjack. Thanks, David

We catch skipjack below our dams when they are generating and use them for bait for stripers which we have in abundance here in east tennessee. The bigger the skipjacks the better. We also like to catch the jacks on light lines, they remind me of tarpon the way they fight and jump out of the water. great fun

I'd like to be able to catch my own too. I'm getting of buying them at $4 a piece.

Het SkipJack, I graduated HS in LaGrange way back when and my folks still live there.

Hey Duxsrus, We moved to Lagrange about six years ago from Louisville. We like it a lot!
We have a great school system, lots of friendly people here. I've even met some B.O.C. brothers from Bedford. We get out and fish Ohio just about every weekend. The engine on my boat caught fire while we were fishing a tournament in Rising Sun. I don't know if the guy who said that he can fix it can get the job done. It is an Evinrude 150, he has had it for over 3 months now. He told me that the parts have been back ordered from Mexico. Anyone
ever herd of waiting for parts that long? Anyway, my friend Vern takes me out on his boat now. He can always find big fish. We catch skipjack at a power plant by Madison. If you get back ths way,
give me a shout, maybe we can hook up and catch some fish. Good Times! Good Luck! David

Does anyone think that piscitor rigs are the best way to catch them, or does anyone have a better idea. Any input would be appreciated.

Jagal, I am not familiar with that rig. I use crappie jigs, rigged in tandem on the main line.

Justin, the piscator rigs (Sabiki Rigs) will work for skippies. The few times I have gotten into the skips this year, once they would tear the Sabiki Rig up and hardly hit crappie jigs. The next time, I could only catch very small skippies on the Sabiki but caught about 30 decent sized on crappie jigs. Color can make a difference too. I usually use solid silver hair jigs with two jigs about a foot apart. The Sabiki Rigs work but can be a pain to store/transport. Lots of hooks going in all directions. I have only caught skippies at the power plant discharge this year. I haven't caught any below rock dikes. I know that some others have though. Good luck!

gofish Justin, the piscator rigs (Sabiki Rigs) will work for skippies. The few times I have gotten into the skips this year, once they would tear the Sabiki Rig up and hardly hit crappie jigs. The next time, I could only catch very small skippies on the Sabiki but caught about 30 decent sized on crappie jigs. Color can make a difference too. I usually use solid silver hair jigs with two jigs about a foot apart. The Sabiki Rigs work but can be a pain to store/transport. Lots of hooks going in all directions. I have only caught skippies at the power plant discharge this year. I haven't caught any below rock dikes. I know that some others have though. Good luck!

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Thanks gofish I think I was just about ready to throw my sabiki rig in the garbage anyways....never really had much luck with it.

Hey Top! Speaking of Skippies I left my bait knife in your boat last time out. Jim says he put it in your shed when yall cleaned out your boat. Hope to see ya soon, didn't get much of a chance to yakk when I saw you at wally world. Call me, lets plan on finding some Skippies!

Hey Skipjack,
where at in the ohio river do you catch your skipjack. Because I fish the Ohio river also, near a power plant, and me @ my buddy usually have to use nightcrawlers, liver, or shad gut for bait (which hasn't been doing too well). We have a cast net that we try catching shad or skipjack with. But we just cant catch em'.

Hey Jagal,
You been doing any good fishing in Evansville? Cause you're not real far from where me @ my buddy fish. We fish the Indiana side of the river near Jefferson @ Clark County. We have done O.K.

In the summer time we catch skipjack where the warm water from the discharge rolls down the inside of a wall where barges tie off. Right where the warm water hits the river, at the end of the wall.There is lots of current here. We use sabiki rigs of different sizes. They seem to hit different sizes on different days. They have since gone away, with the cooler weather or gone deeper. We can't catch them lately. Now we castnet treadfin shad in the creeks and marinas.We also use live bluegill. We've been doing well, catching flatheads on treadfin shad. I had a good run using a treadfin that was 14'' long. This was my first run in with a very big flathead. I tried to set the hook to soon, but you know the rest of the story about the one that got away. :cursing:

Have you tried adding enough weight to let you fish all the way to the bottom? Skippies generally hit on or near the top, but I've seen times when I'd have to use more weight, and give a 20-count before starting the retreive.

Can you freeze them and have them usable for future trips. If so, how do you do it without them being too fragile?

Paleocaver, sure you can freeze skips. Most of mine that I use are frozen.They do not turn mushy until about the third time you thaw and re-freeze. I put mine in a gallon freezer bag. I put 4 to 5 in each bag. As winter get close Most of us Arkansas members will be catching skips for bait and we will be posting info about our catches in the Arkansas thread under Arkansas talk. Stop in and read some of the post.

I caught around 80 or 90 skipjack last week using (4) 1/16oz white jigs around 6-10" apart. I also put a large splitshot about 6 inches before the first jig to be able to cast farther and keep the rig under the water while im reeling fast. I could not catch any until the last 45 minutes of daylight. I also hear that early in the morning they will hit for an hour or two.

I didnt use freezer bags. I just put my huge stash of walmart bags to use. I put around 6 skipjack in each bag and rolled it up tight and stuck them in the deep freezer. When I use the frozen skipjack I can cut it up with a sharp fillet knife pretty easily and it keeps all of the guts inside of the fish for a little while.

rodpod said:

I caught around 80 or 90 skipjack last week using (4) 1/16oz white jigs around 6-10" apart. I also put a large splitshot about 6 inches before the first jig to be able to cast farther and keep the rig under the water while im reeling fast. I could not catch any until the last 45 minutes of daylight. I also hear that early in the morning they will hit for an hour or two.

I didnt use freezer bags. I just put my huge stash of walmart bags to use. I put around 6 skipjack in each bag and rolled it up tight and stuck them in the deep freezer. When I use the frozen skipjack I can cut it up with a sharp fillet knife pretty easily and it keeps all of the guts inside of the fish for a little while.

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I hear a lot about skip jack back east, since I am getting ready to move that way, what do they look like? How big are they?

-Brian

I concur with Top "SKIP JACK FORUM PLEASE"

Brian I've cought skipjack at Pickwick that were 18in long and go maybe 3 pounds.I don't have skips in my home waters so I make a bait trip to Pickwick every spring and sence I started using skipjack for bait 3 years ago I haven't used anything else.