Skirt Selections

[TRUMAN BASSER]

A lot of times the season and where I’m fishing on a body of water determines what kind of skirt I’m going to use and what color. For instance when I’m fishing in the backs of creeks in the summertime I like to use baits that imitate juvenile bluegill. A lot of times your shad have moved out to the main lake and you’ve got a lot of bluegill in the backs that the fish key in on. You might have a lot of shad out on the main lake but some of the biggest bass in the lake will be back in the shallows eating on Mr. Gills. I’m going to throw a spinnerbait that has some blue,purple and orange in it. Especially if I’m fishing fairly clear water because the bluegills get really colorful under those conditions. If the water is darker I’m going to throw more lighter colors like a lighter green and white with a little bit of orange in it because the bluegill are not going to be as dark. When the sun hits a bluegill its tail gives off a glow and I like to take my spinnerbaits and dip the very end of the skirt in some chart Spike-It. It does two things. For one it will give my spinnerbait that tail glow like a bluegill and it also adds a nice garlic scent that will make a following bass swallow my spinnerbait that otherwise wouldn’t commit. Also I like to throw thicker spinnerbaits if I’m trying to imitate the bluegill. That bigger profile imitates a bluegill to a T. If I’m fishing main lake grass in the summertime and there are a lot of shad around I’m going to be throwing lighter grays and white skirts on my spinnerbaits. I sometimes tie a thinner skirt too if I’m trying to mimic the shad because on a lot of the lakes around here they a keying in on the thread fin instead of the larger gizard shad. If you look around there isn’t a baitfish out there that doesn’t have a darker back side on it and a lighter belly so I try to tie my skirts in this manner usually adding gray to the top and a white or clearer underside to the bottom. Most of the time I’ll dip the tails in Spike-It as well.

For my jigs a lot of times I like to tie slight variations of a black and blue or a PbNJ. Around the Ozarks a PbNJ is hard to beat but often times adding a little blue or a little more purple can get you some more bites on hard days. Whenever there is a full moon approaching I have done really good on black and blue. I don’t know if the crawl fish change colors or what but that color really seems to shine. The further south you go the more red you want to add to your jig skirts. Most of the crawlfish around here have blueish pincher’s and I like to try to imitate that with my skirts by adding some blue. Also there are times when you want to use a thinner skirt or a thicker skirt. If I’m looking for a big bite with a football jig the thicker skirt gets the nod. If I’m just looking for some bites I’ll throw a thinner skirt with fewer strands. When you change the skirt size you can also make your jigs fall faster or slower to give your jig a different presentation. Sometimes playing around with this can give you a lot better results.

A great tool that I’ve really utilized on and off the water for my skirt building is the Naked Bait Company Skirt Expander. The expander lets you build skirts to your exact specifications. When your in a tournament and need to make a quick adjustment you can build a skirt in seconds. The product is really durable too. All you have to do is put a skirt guard on the pins, give the expander a twist so it spreads your band, insert your skirting material through the hole, twist it back to close the band, pull the skirt off the expander, and trim your skirt tails and you are ready to go.


Here's a pic of the skirt expander.