Weed Guard Trimming

[clayton86]

How would you trim a weed guard I read awhile ago about doing it by just cutting it at an angle right at to hook but it seemed to make it so stiff and useless. Is it even worth it. How many of u trim the guards down or even the skirts for that matter

[00 mod]

I trim my weed guards at an angle to the hook point only when fishing open water. When in thick cover, the weed guard is necessary! Skirts I pretty much leave alone! I like the slower fall

Jeff

[clayton86]

Looks like I'm gonna leave em there's no open water here its all grassy and lots of trees and vines in the water

[jignfule]

The way I fish it's better to have too much then not enough of a weed guard.

[brushhoggin]

don't cut them in half that just makes them more rigid and wont collapse as easily. If you're going to, cut them completely off. obviously not all of them, i usually cut off a few shy of half of all of them.

[Gatorbassman]

I don't trim mine at all. I just fan them out a little.

[BobP]

Every jig is different so nobody can tell you how much or if to trim one. You just have to bend the weed guard and make your own determination about whether it's stiff enough to come through the cover you're fishing without snagging, while being soft enough not to inhibit a hook set. Flipping jigs tend to have fairly heavy weed guards. I sometimes remove some bristles at the base to make them softer when fishing wood. Be conservative in trimming a weed guard. Once you cut too much, the jig is worthless.

I almost always trim and/or thin the skirt just past the bend of the hook. It makes for a more compact profile and shows the trailer to best effect.

[clayton86]

Thanks for all the info most the gaurds are pretty soft not to stiff just a little long some are easily half inch above the hook just seemed a little long to me

[slonezp]

Remove bristles, not length.

[RoLo]

There's no pat answer regarding the modification of weedguards, every product is different.

Some weedguards are factory-soft and barely weedless, others are factory-stiff, which can hamper your hookup ratio.

If you're looking to stiffen the weedguard, shortening the bristles will do that by reducing the flex leverage.

As for the cut-angle, I don't think that means a hill of beans.

If you're looking to reduce the flex tension, you should reduce the number of bristles but snipping them off at the base.

Normally I leave my fiberguard as is, but "always" fan it out generously.

To do this, you've got to be rough, and need to repeat the process several times to overcome the memory of the bristles.

Roger

[clayton86]

By fan out do u just mean like exactly that fan it out so there all spaced out so to speak kinda like say a fat round paintbrush idk what to compare it to

[RoLo]

By fan out do u just mean like exactly that fan it out so there all spaced out so to speak kinda like say a fat round paintbrush idk what to compare it to

Yes. It's nothing fancy but it expands the weedless zone of the hook.

It also adds a little more motion, because the jig is deflecting off more cover.

The bristles have a great deal of springback, so mash them down without mercy,

and when you return an hour later, the fan may only be half its original size

Roger