This place legit? 

 

https://shartopfishingtackle.com/index.php/product-category/silicone-tabs-for-fishing-skirt-material/

 

$3 for a 10 pack of tabs is a rip off, I have seen on AliExpress for a buck or less, so I know theres better deals available somewhere. 

 

I'm happy to buy a 10 pack of 10 packs for 10 bucks, maybe a little more for a cool color. Even the sheets

 

Siliconetabs.com has some decent deals, but only on select items and deals change.

 

Where do yall get your skirt material from? 

Wow, never heard of them. 

 

I pretty much stick to Janns Netcraft, Barlows and Amazon. I've grown weary of buying from new online stores. Usually try buy from the "tried & true" online outlets

fishingskirts.com

They now also offer finer cut strands for the finesse crowd.

Barlow and FishingSkirts are the only retailers I bought skirt tabs from, ave about $3 per 10 tabs.

using 2 to 2 1/2 tabs per jig = 40 to 50 jigs per 100 tabs. How many jigs do you have in mind to make?
Tom

Shartop is legit, I have bought tabs from him for years.

 

Allen

3 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

How many jigs do you have in mind to make?

I plan to put these on jigs, spinnierbait, chatterbaits, buzzbaits for the rest of my life. I'm not pouring the lead, have no way to do that and no way to make a way to do that. 

 

I have purchased a bunch of different 10 packs over the past year or so, but really had no idea about composition and how to make a skirt look "right"

3 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

FishingSkirts

I definitely like the selection, I'll see what blanks Friday looks like

 

2 hours ago, Munkin said:

Shartop is legit

Happy to hear, I'll explore more over there, I definitely liked their prices

Keep in mind that new must have colors come out every year. The basics don’t change much so use the new colors as highlights.

Tom

PS, I loose skirted lures faster then the skirts wear out.

18 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

must have colors

What are the real "must have colors"? Essentials that can go into almost any build as a base or accent?

 

Obviously some kind of green pumpkin with barbs or other contrast. And some kind of white with scales.

 

What are some good recipes?

For starters what are your confidence colors? 
 

Spinnerbaits and chatter baits def need White in it. Chartreuse mixed in is a classic. 
 

Jigs for me start with black and blue. Another classic. 
 

I would throw those in the cart and then branch out from there.

 

Can’t wait to hear from our tackle builders on here. 
 

I’m pretty basic and love my bucktails

 

 

Can’t wait to see yours  

Tacklewarehouse has skirts also a guy on Ebay sells them $3.39 per 10 with free shipping. I buy only a few at a time so the 100 packs will outlast me.

Basics depend on what you have confidence in catching bass where you fish.

Spinnerbaits, swim jigs and buzz baits: Pearl white or hologram white. 
Chatter blade jigs: Green pumpkin.

Jigs:  barb wire green pumpkin, Rust brown, black.

2 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

confidence colors

Black, I mostly fish at night. So for when I get the chance to day fish I don't even know what to throw. I know the forage is sun fish, craws, and then depending on which pond/lake herring when they're running. Some shiners here and there and stocked trout a couple times a year. 

 

2 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

love my bucktails

How do you fish those for bass?

 

Sounds like i was on the right track, thanks Tom

Buck tail hair is the most common hair used for bass jigs. The term jig & pig is a buck tail hair jig with pork rind trailer.

Tom

I always associated the term jig & pig with a silicone jig.

10 minutes ago, Bazoo said:

I always associated the term jig & pig with a silicone jig.

The term was used long before silicone skirts.

Tom

55 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

ski

So you just fish it like you would any old silicone jig?

9 minutes ago, Banned User said:

So you just fish it like you would any old silicone jig?

No, pm your email and I will send a copy of my Horizontal Jigging In-Fisherman article that detail how I fish jigs.

Tom

14 hours ago, Banned User said:

Black, I mostly fish at night. So for when I get the chance to day fish I don't even know what to throw. I know the forage is sun fish, craws, and then depending on which pond/lake herring when they're running. Some shiners here and there and stocked trout a couple times a year. 

 

How do you fish those for bass?

 

Sounds like i was on the right track, thanks Tom

So sunfish and craws have black on them, so why not have black in your skirt mix? Why not incorporate colors that are in trout and shiners? White? Purple? Red? Blue? All work.

 

Incorporate what's already in nature if you want to "match the hatch" (a fly fisherman's term) and make you lure look like it belongs in nature. But don't forget about completely going the other way and have like a bubble gum or caution orange and make your lure look like it doesn't belong in nature. Predator may see that and try to annihilate it 'so I better get it first before it gets me'.   

The most productive hair jig color was anytime anywhere; Black back, purple center and reddish brown belly. I put this combination together to match 1 of the pork rind trailers Iused; black, purple and  brown. I did this so I could change trailers without changing the jig. Total stumbled onto this combination  in 1971. Caught 4 of my 5 top giant bass on this jig color. Today it’s called PBJ.

Tom

The color topic can be a book in length.

decades ago the Black Bass including Largemouth had their eye studied to determine if they can see colors. The bass eye has both rods and cones and can see colors. Hundreds of studies and experiments to determine what colors the bass can see have been done without a conclusion. Why? Know one can determine how the bass brain interprets the color spectrum. Bass are fish that live underwater and using a human interpretation what bass can see isn’t a good baseline.

Too many variables but I believe bass can see ultra violet color spectrum like birds can. This allows the fish to see in very low light, something we can’t do.

Anecdotal evidence that supports bass can see color spectrum we can’t comes from Eppinger lure co when the EPA forced them to remove lead from the paint they used for decades. The Dare Devil spoons were the companies top selling lure and after changing the color red that “looked” identical their sales dropped off everywhere.  The only change was the paint supplier who made the red color. Eppinger studied the original and new red under ultra violet light and the new color was very different. From the study a lead free red identical to the original was developed and sales recovered.

Another study by Bill Murphy in his book in Pursuit of Giant Bass, Bill experimented with 10 identical deep diving crank baits. The lures were painted with to Bills trained** eye with white from 10 different suppliers. The lures were trolled and the few that consistently caught bass were studied under ultra violet light each look identical. Bill then painted the unproductive lure with the same supplier white as the productive lures and they all caught bass equally.

The only difference is the ultra violet spectrum needed to be the same.

Tom

*Eppinger study is in Jason Lucas on Bass

** Bill was a dental technian.

Tom

14 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

bubble gum

I'm big on Bubble gum soft jerkbaita, might as well make a bladed jig and spinnerbait out of it. Good call

 

11 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

PBJ

Gonna put this recipe on the menu, thanks 

 

So i should add UV paint/ UV materials if possible? I've thought about that before, got some UV Thread to wrap with. 

Zank ( John Zankoski) came up with neon soft plastics using moth or butterfly dust ( tiny wing scales) that reflect UV and his hand poured worms were excellent. Today they use Neon dye and doesn’t work nearly as well.

Tom

16 hours ago, Banned User said:

I'm big on Bubble gum soft jerkbaita, might as well make a bladed jig and spinnerbait out of it. Good call

 

Gonna put this recipe on the menu, thanks 

 

So i should add UV paint/ UV materials if possible? I've thought about that before, got some UV Thread to wrap with. 

If you plan to fish in low light conditions or deep water, it won’t hurt.  I’ve tried Tackle Warehouse’s CS Coating UV Blast marker.  It is a clear overcoat, and did not seem to alter the bait’s original paint scheme.   I feel like the stuff with color would.  I’m still not certain how effective it is.  I have used it only a few times, and did catch fish with it on a lure in early morning and late evening.  But I’ve caught plenty of fish without it in those conditions so I’m not sure.  My rationale is it probably won’t hurt.

Google can birds and fish see UV spectrum.

Tom

Adding about 4 strands of holographic flashabou in your skirts adds UV reflection. I do this in my hair jigs.

Tom