I understand the concept of slowing the bait down in cold water conditions.  How about the use of rubber or silicon skirts?  Rubber is more lively and probably does a better job of providing bulk/body to the jig quicker when compared to a silicon skirt in cold water.  I'm probably taking upwards of 3 minutes plus bringing the jig back to the boat through the target zone giving the most subtle twitches for very little movement of the jig on the bottom.  Wouldn't the rubber skirt entice a bite more than a silicon as it would provide movement with just the slightest twitch of my rod? 

 

I'm a little unsure as I've been told to use both rubber skirts only and silicon skirts only in cold water. 

 

 

Hair jigs work best in cold water with bear being the best material I have used so far.

 

Allen

How cold of water are you talking about?

hair jigs for sure man. they are subtle and have a nice puffy action.

Well honestly .... I still use deer hair tyed 1/4 oz jigs for the cold water... Then switch to silicone for the rest of the year. I haven't used rubber in a long,long time... But I use to fish rubber years ago and got bit. Rubber won't last real long.. It didn't for me anyways...

Happy fishing

My fault. Hair jigs aside. I have those tied on up until the water is 50 anyways. I'm talking 3/8 to 1/2 oz jigs in staging areas before they move up shallow to spawn

Im a big fan of using rubber mop jigs when the water is still cold. The round rubber will flare out and breath more than silicon when you are slowly dragging a jig. 

For me cold water doesn't dictate the type of skirt material I'm using on a jig, it tells me what type of trailer to use and cold water means a chunk, a plastic version of the pork frog. The trailer is key as I want the right profile without all the action and silicone works with it no problem Rubber skirts are good but they get a little stiff in cold water so there isn't a ton more movement and I think too much action is the wrong way to go, so I use a jig with silicone skirting and a plastic chunk trailer.

This is the article that made me think rubber is the way to go in cold water:

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfootballjigspg4.html

"Rubber skirts have the key advantage in colder, deeper waters of flaring out more than their silicone counterparts and the skirts on these Bass Patrol's jigs are no exception to this rule." When I saw the silicon in the underwater pic - it was no comparison.

Rubber may be misleading, it's living rubber that comes in 3 types; round, square and mini round frog hair.

The round has the most memory and flares out more than square, the frog hair is the softest very similar to deer hair. All living rubber skirts are good in all types of water temperatures. The draw back with living rubber and real deer hair is color, they are solid.

The advantage of real deer hair is texture, it feels real to the bass and they chew it longer than either rubber or silicone.

Tom

Y'all forgot flat thin cut & flat wide cut!

But still most prefer silicon to rubber in colder conditions?

How cold of water are you talking about?

40's. If the ice ever melts up in CT

For me I typically throw a silicone finesse jig with a 2" chunk trailer or Rage Baby craw.  I'll be throwing a DB craw here shortly also.  At times I will throw round rubber jigs also but most of the time it is silicone.  That is where my confidence is.

 

Confidence is what it's all about. I have none with a jig - going to try and change that this year.

By far the best jig I have fished during the early ice out period and just before the ice up period is the Northstar hippy jig. Combination of living rubber and hair. Fished it side by side with one that had silicone and living rubber with little success. Cold water is defidently a time for hair jigs and combination of hair and living rubber jigs for me anyways.

There is yet another skirt that may be the slowest falling of them all.  I'm not saying     Guess it and I'll share.  A clue....it's the most expensive to buy and found in a different fishing discipline.

Jigs are so fun

 

FL