A lot can be accomplished with a good skipping jig. Not only do these jigs excel at what they’re designed to do—skip under overhead cover—but they also double as a pitching or casting jig. So if you can find a quality skipping jig, then you can have a jig that can be used in a wide variety of situations. Now, how do you find said jig? Well, I think we can help you there with the subject of today’s review: the V&M Pacemaker Skipping Jig.
MEET THE PACEMAKER
Bassmaster Classic Champion Cliff Pace has been tinkering with tackle since long before he started cashing big checks in bass tournaments. This veteran pro is a big fan of jig fishing and the Pacemaker Skipping Jig is just one of a handful of jigs that has gone from a prototype in his garage to a name brand bait thanks to a partnership between Pace and V&M Baits. Designed specifically for skipping docks, bushes and other overhanging cover, the Pacemaker Skipping Jig’s head is built to go where other jigheads can’t. This is where we’ll start.
HEAD DESIGN
A good skipping jig has to have a fairly flat head and that’s exactly what we find with this one. If you’ve ever tried skipping a rock across a pond, you know you don’t go and grab a big chunk of gravel. No, you look for the slickest, thinnest rock you can find that still has a little weight to it. The same elements are needed in the head of a skipping jig. The collaborators did a fine job with this one, designing a wide and flat head and then incorporating a sleek line-tie eye in the process. Thanks to the 30-degree angle of that line tie, there’s nothing on this head to catch the surface–thus making it perfect for skipping.
STOUT HOOK. SOLID BAIT KEEPER. BEEFY WEED GUARD. CONVENIENT RATTLE HOLDER
This jig has all the trimmings. V&M used an oversized hook, one that’s capable of sticking big bass and pulling them out of cover without bending; I know this for a fact. The 5/32-inch fiber weed guard is also a bit bulkier than most skipping jigs. This was done to intentionally make this bait as weedless as possible. There’s a no nonsense bait keeper molded onto the hook shaft as well, which does a fine job of locking on a soft plastic trailer and keeping it in place. The skirt collar also has two rattle holders built into it in case you want to add rattles to your bait.
FULL SKIRT AND GOOD COLORS
This jig comes with a fairly large skirt, which leaves the angler with options. If you want to trim the skirt down a bit when the water is colder or the fish are simply swiping at the bait, you certainly can. You can leave it full too, as I chose to do for the testing, I really think I prefer it that way. I like how much the full skirt slowed the fall of the bait down. Using a bulky skirt like this allows you to increase the weight a bit so that you can skip the jig well, but still have a slow fall.
The colors in this jig are top notch too. There are eight color options in all, with some super realistic muted hues in several of them. The heads are painted to match the different skirt colors, which completes each package nicely.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I was pleased with how durable these jigs were. Though I did have one of the weed guards detach when I was shooting pictures of the baits, I believe that was a fluke. I put the one I tested on the water through the ringer pretty good and it’s still rolling right along. Not only were there no issues with that jig’s weed guard, but the paint job held up well too, despite getting dinged off cover on a regular basis. When my accuracy was on point, this jig skipped smoothly under cover–the head design is superb for skipping.
One of the fish I caught on this jig was around 6-pounds. Although, I lost a couple of big ones too. One of those was completely due to operator error; I had a big one swimming to the boat with it right after I landed the 6-pounder and when I went to set the hook, my drag slipped from where I had backed off of it during the fight of the other big one. I couldn’t catch up to the fish after that to set the hook again since it came straight to the boat. I got one good look at it as it turned and showed itself and then was no more.
I only tell you about these near misses and the weed guard falling off the one jig in the spirit of full transparency. In spite of those two fluky mishaps, I would still buy this jig. My former favorite skipping jig has recently been discontinued, this is now the new frontrunner in my search for my next favorite skipping jig. I haven’t found another yet that I like more.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In my opinion, the head design of the V&M Pacemaker Skipping Jig is perfect. This bait comes through cover well and the paint job takes a pretty good beating. Most importantly, it skips with ease. I recommend leaving the skirt full to start with to see how you like the rate of fall. The Magic Craw and Green Pumpkin Purple Haze are beautiful colors; I caught several on the Summer Craw color.
There are three sizes in the Pacemaker Skipping Jig: 5/16, 7/16 and 9/16. I really liked the slow fall of the 5/16ths. Thanks to the head design, it was still plenty heavy to skip well. The hook is strong enough to land big ones, just be sure to check your drag…lesson re-learned. For $5.49, this is a high quality skipping jig with a lot of great features–a good deal. Maybe even a new favorite of mine, we’ll see.
