Jig skirt durability

[Robert Riley]

Been bed fishing with my first round of hand-tied jigs. We have been catching maybe 40-50 fish a day, no bigger than 2lbs max. I feel like my jigs haven't been holding up as well as I expected, it's mostly the skirts falling apart. Is that what to expect in terms of durability? 

[Bluebasser86]

Are the skirts banded or tied? I rarely keep a jig long enough to catch 40 or 50 fish on one, but they're usually still largely in tact other than missing paint on the head after a few dozen fish. I wire tie mine. 

[smalljaw67]

What do you mean by "falling apart" ?  Are the strands coming out or are they torn and pieces missing?

[buzzed bait]

also, are you using wire or thread to tie these?  i use wire on mine and have no issues with the skirts coming off.

[Robert Riley]

Banded. The threads on the skirt are both broken (short) and missing. I always thought wire tying was the way to go, but a few people complained about the wire crimping the skirt and creating a weak point. 

[J Francho]

I have wire tied jigs that are years old.  If the wire is making a weak spot, they were tied wrong.

[buzzed bait]

if you over torque the wire when wire tying it may sever a few strands and/or make the skirt poof out more than you'd like, but that's about it.  if you do that, just don't tighten it so much and you're good to go.  

[CTBassin860]

Pulling jigs through stumps,brush piles,hanging it up on various underwater cover and short strikes your going to lose a couple strands.

[Munkin]

Like others have mentioned I think you are over tightening the skirt. Besides that it could be showing how the wire is better than the band. When the skirt catches something it is pulling off stands instead of pulling the whole skirt down or off.

 

Allen

[WRB]

Rubber collars don't damage silicone skirt strands. The tool used to expand the collar when you slide the strip material through the collar may cut a few strands. The problem most people have with bands is can be pulled back off the jig or they fail with heat or age.

Bass don't usually tear up skirts, you may be damaging the skirt removing the jig from the basses mouth. 40 bas son a jig, it's lasted longer then most jigs.

I use bands on silicone skirts without any issues, wire on living rubber and thread on hair.

Tom

[kickerfish1]

I hate banded. Have had both the black bands and the clear/carmel colored bands completely rot out. At this point the whole skirt sort of just falls apart. I would say about 90% of the jigs one can buy are banded vs wire tied/thread tied. I have never had a wired tied or thread tied jig come undone. I have had the occasional piece of skirt material pull out but it never was all pieces rather sort of thinned it out after a few days of hard use and lots of fish. Wire tied jigs, spinnerbaits, and chatterbaits are typically a bit more but well worth it.

[BassNJake]

I had some small wire ties left in the boat after putting in some new electronics and they worked very well to replace my torn skirt collars.

[Robert Riley]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'm gonna wire tie my next few swim jigs and try it.