The best way to improve your spinner bait action is all in the skirt!
I thought for my first column I’d look at a fishing technique that one that I go to often. Spinner baiting at the right times and in the right conditions can be effective. Spinner baiting can be as simple of as complex as you want it to be.
The complex part for me is working out just where to cast and how long to let it drop and then how long to let it sit. Beyond that I must admit I like a simple constant roll retrieve back to the boat or bank. I’ll rarely completely pause and prefer to just slow down the retrieve.
Why Upgrade?
Why upgrade your spinner bait skirt, well the answer is simple? These after market skirt manufacturers only make their money by selling skirts. So, they make them from the highest quality materials to the highest standards.
Their skirts have more bulk, flash and resilience than many of the standard Chines skirts on many off the shelf spinnerbaits. Generally, I’ll use a spinner bait as it comes until the skirt degrades. There are some brands that use higher quality, but you can assess them by the fact that the skirt material simply just starts falling off the body.
Skirt Construction
When you look at many spinner baits you will see that the skirts, they come with are usually all the one length and at times they can be a little bit thin as far as bulk goes.
There are two styles of skirt construction. The first is what we call the standard Lay Over style, this is a skirt with the material laid parallel and a rubber grommet securing and holding it together in the middle. The better skirts however are usually longer and have the grommet position offset so that when you fit the skirt onto the spinner bait head you get two distinct lengths to the layering.
The other style of after market skirt is what they call Pre-Formed. This is my preferred configuration as they are super easy to refit, the quality is superb, and they impart great action.
Skirt Materials
For most spinner bait skirts silicone is the preferred material to use. There are various grades of silicone and you’ll find that most after market manufacturers only use high grade silicone.
From my experience they do last longer and are stronger than other options. The best skirts are made in the USA and believe it – South Vietnam!
What you see in these after-market skirts is an overall longer length than standard skirts. Plus, an attention to detail with a two-layer length with the lay over a shorter length than the inner layer.
The other material included often is glitter and mylar to add flash and attraction, like Krystal Flash.
Lastly some of the extra-large sized Spinner baits will have a high-end vinyl skirt that is designed to add length, bulk and enhance the action of larger spinner baits.
The Makers
There are a whole range of makers of after-market skirts. Some of the better lay over skirts are Beast and Boss. Picasso make a really good pre-formed or Laid-Over skirt, but the best one for me is the Strike King Perfect Skirt. Strike King feature colours designed to flow from top to bottom and to match the colour of most popular spinnerbait heads. Their Magic Skirt undulates and blooms wide for unbelievable action.
