EZ SKIRT

Chances are, you are not yet using these, but you certainly should be. This new skirt style for 2006 has 70 silicone strands (each 2-1/2" long) that all billow backward. It has a light, airy, "full yet sparse" look. The strands are locked permanently in place by a small rubber center hub that creates a perfect "umbrella" profile. Because the strands are locked in place, the different colors (fixed in five strand increments) do not move out of place or get mixed into each other. So if a skirt has different back, side and belly colors, the colors are permanently locked in position.

One of the biggest spinnerbait vendors in the USA, Strike King Lure Company, has incorporated their own exclusive version of this same new skirt technology into their new product line for 2006, including Stike King's newest jigs and spinnerbaits. Rad Lures, makers of the overnight sensation, the Chatterbait jig, also use these same skirts.

In their marketing ads, Strike King tends to point out the wide, symmetrical "bloom" of this new skirt type, meaning the way the strands puff up off the center hub.

The skirt looks square cut in the back, but when used on a jig or spinnerbait, the end of the skirt tips often come together when pulled through the water, into a point like the tapered tip of an artist's paintbrush. Because the "bloom" or bend where the strands come off the hub puffs out so much, it constantly flexes backward, making the strands wriggle actively. It's a very lively action skirt, and due to its sparse billowy appearance, it is ideal for clear water. There is a lot more see-through effect on this skirt style, which breaks it up more and blends more naturally into the background.

It goes nicely on a hidden head spinnerbait since fish get a great glimpse of the baitfish-shaped body hidden beneath the billowy skirt. This skirt lets fish more clearly view the attractive fish-shaped hidden weight belly.

On a swimming jig or any clear water or finesse type jig with a soft plastic trailer, the sparseness of this new skirt style really shows off the soft trailer body underneath, letting fish get a good peek-a-boo glimpse of the full trailer shape beneath the billowing skirt.

You probably have not tried this new skirt style yet, but you should. It's good.