I love siebert jigs. I fish a lot of the snipers. I’ve bought them from Mike assembled. And bought skirts from him and jig heads and popped them together. 
 

im considering buying some of his unpainted sniper heads. Powder painting then myself and putting the weedgaurd in. 
and buying one of the skirt kits that comes with the tool and bands and a assortment of tabs. And I’ll probably buy a flirting vice off eBay. Just curious what everyone’s thoughts are? Is it worth it to play around for a winter hobby lol. 

I think making your own skirts and building your own jigs is definitely worth it.  And it is fun.  I will offer only two suggestions, though.  One is to keep a list of colors, strand count, and how you layer them.  This can help duplicate the patterns that you find work well.  Second is to not wait until winter.  When I decided to start making my own, I thought during the winter would be a perfect time.  What I didn’t anticipate was how frustrating it was to build jigs with skirts I was convinced would be killer patterns, and then not be able to use them for 2 or 3 months to find out.  Incredibly frustrating. Painfully frustrating!  And the skirts are so easy to put together I got a little carried away.  During any free time I had that winter while having to wait on the water to start warming, I ended up putting together probably 200 skirts before my family held an intervention and hid my supplies ( I think at the end of the first season I still had about 185 untried ).  So, avoid the possible frustration and start now so you’ll be able to test your handiwork right away and not have to wait to enjoy the reward of catching that first fish on something you created.

1 minute ago, OldManLure said:

I think making your own skirts and building your own jigs is definitely worth it.  And it is fun.  I will offer only two suggestions, though.  One is to keep a list of colors, strand count, and how you layer them.  This can help duplicate the patterns that you find work well.  Second is to not wait until winter.  When I decided to start making my own, I thought during the winter would be a perfect time.  What I didn’t anticipate was how frustrating it was to build jigs with skirts I was convinced would be killer patterns, and then not be able to use them for 2 or 3 months to find out.  Incredibly frustrating. Painfully frustrating!  And the skirts are so easy to put together I got a little carried away.  During any free time I had that winter while having to wait on the water to start warming, I ended up putting together probably 200 skirts before my family held an intervention and hid my supplies ( I think at the end of the first season I still had about 185 untried ).  So, avoid the possible frustration and start now so you’ll be able to test your handiwork right away and not have to wait to enjoy the reward of catching that first fish on something you created.

That is an excellent point thank you! I guess I’ll get started haha! That’s one question I had. Do you stack the tabs and tie them? I was gonna stack them in order and use small zip ties to initially see how the colors lay out. Then tie them? 

And is the. Est thing to just buy packs of tabs? Or start with one of the kits 

I ordered tabs, rings, and the tool from fishingskirts.com and/or barlowstackle.com

I am no expert, but I lay out the strands on a piece of white poster board to 1st see how the colors meshed.  I would then experiment with the order I stack the tabs.  That is, sandwiching a color between other colors in various order.  I would then use the rings I ordered to secure the skirt.  If I were using wire, I would only use it after installing on jig head and being satisfied with the way color pattern looked and length of strands.  I play around with where on the skirts the ring is located…centered or slightly off center gives the finished skirt a different look on the jig.  There are others on this forum who know more about using wire.  I personally want to be able to simply change skirts rather than carry around a tray full of finished jigs.  I think I have around 100 skirts I still haven’t used.  They are divided into what I consider a craw pattern, a baitfish pattern, blue/black variations, and green pumpkin variations.  And I also play around with skirts for bladed jigs and spinner baits.

It’s all really pretty easy.  I would suggest play around with the skirt making part to discover ways to get a pattern you envision.  Then move to putting them on a jig head.  Have fun!

3 minutes ago, OldManLure said:

I ordered tabs, rings, and the tool from fishingskirts.com and/or barlowstackle.com

I am no expert, but I lay out the strands on a piece of white poster board to 1st see how the colors meshed.  I would then experiment with the order I stack the tabs.  That is, sandwiching a color between other colors in various order.  I would then use the rings I ordered to secure the skirt.  If I were using wire, I would only use it after installing on jig head and being satisfied with the way color pattern looked and length of strands.  I play around with where on the skirts the ring is located…centered or slightly off center gives the finished skirt a different look on the jig.  There are others on this forum who know more about using wire.  I personally want to be able to simply change skirts rather than carry around a tray full of finished jigs.  I think I have around 100 skirts I still haven’t used.  They are divided into what I consider a craw pattern, a baitfish pattern, blue/black variations, and green pumpkin variations.  And I also play around with skirts for bladed jigs and spinner baits.

It’s all really pretty easy.  I would suggest play around with the skirt making part to discover ways to get a pattern you envision.  Then move to putting them on a jig head.  Have fun!

Thank you so much! I’ve been adding colors I like to my cart lol. I wish they just made a big kit lol

Just now, Joedodge said:

Thank you so much! I’ve been adding colors I like to my cart lol. I wish they just made a big kit lol

That would make it too easy🙂

1 hour ago, OldManLure said:

That would make it too easy🙂

Hmm excellent point lol

I looove making my own skirt patterns, but I much prefer to let Mike do the powder painting, and just buy the painted heads. 

 

Get the skirt-making tool thing from Fishingskirts and use it with rubber collars. Once you put the skirt on the jighead, tie some wire above the collar. Eventually, the rubber collar will rot and fall off, but the wire tie will stay. 

Speaking of Mike...

 

 

Thanks so much everyone!!!

Save the weedguard for last so it won’t be in your way while putting on the skirt material.

59 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

Save the weedguard for last so it won’t be in your way while putting on the skirt material.

Yep that’s the plan!!!

Soooo what's it cost a guy to put together a well made jig?

54 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Soooo what's it cost a guy to put together a well made jig

54 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Soooo what's it cost a guy to put together a well made jig?

From what I can tell if ya wana make like 10-20 of them. Maybe $2 lol

3 hours ago, Joedodge said:

From what I can tell if ya wana make like 10-20 of them. Maybe $2 lol

 

I could make 3 for what I'm currently paying for 1?

 

INTERESTING.

Since I pour my own and buy hooks by the thousand my cost goes somewhat like this; hook $.25, 2 skirt tabs $.40, lead and paint inconsequential, time irrelevant so $.65-70 per jig plus I pour my own trailers for $.0675 each.  That’s why I do my own.

You can build an unpainted Boss jig for about 1.40$. If you build all the same color it can get even cheaper. A 55 strand skirt costs as much if not more than the jig. 

 

Unpainted Seibert jigs are in the 2.50-3.00$ range last time I bought them. 

 

 

My opinion is to bypass the tools and bands and suck and just hand tie the skirts. You only need floral wire at most. 

1 hour ago, Smirak said:

My opinion is to bypass the tools and bands and suck and just hand tie the skirts. You only need floral wire at most. 

I bought some jewelry making wire. But for what it cost I did snag some bands and a tool. Just to play with

You’re ahead of me then!

5 minutes ago, Smirak said:

You’re ahead of me then!

Lol. It’ll be fun. Something to do this winter and what not. It’s all for fun   

22-24 gauge craft wire and an O-ring is really all you need to tie jigs. 

 

I have a jig vise that I bought last year to tie bucktail and marabou jigs. 

 

I still wire tie silicone skirts using just an O-ring. Easier than using the vise and easier to adjust. 

 

Buying everything in bulk cuts down on the cost. I will pour 100's of jigs at once and bag them.  Powder painting is the slowest part since I do like 75 at a time. Need to go through my stuff and sell off the stuff I will never use.

 

Allen 

2 hours ago, Munkin said:

Buying everything in bulk cuts down on the cost. I will pour 100's of jigs at once and bag them.  Powder painting is the slowest part since I do like 75 at a time. Need to go through my stuff and sell off the stuff I will never use.

 

Allen 

Wow that’s awesome. I agree with the bulk. I did 20-30 tabs of the stuff I like and think I’ll use. Feel free to message me whatever ya wana get rid of I may be interested 

If you're powder painting, I'd recommend getting some shrink tubing. Cover the hook eyes with it and cleanup after paint is a breeze. Clearing out hook eyes is no fun.