Make Your Own Skirt Umbrellas for Spinner Bait and Jig Skirts

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Spinner Bait With Umbrella Skirt
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Skirt Umbrella
Spinner bait and jig skirts are usually reversed when they are placed on a lure so that the strands of the skirt will flare out and give better action. This also gives the appearance of more body to the lure. Better skirt strand action and a larger looking body can be enhanced even more with the use of skirt umbrellas.
Assembly of Skirt Umbrellas

A Skirt Umbrella is a very simple small plastic cone that is placed under the skirt to flare the strands on spinner bait and jig skirts. The skirts are actually loaded onto the cone and this assembly is then placed onto the lure. The easiest method we have found for loading skirts onto the Umbrella is to use a small piece of arrow shaft (size 1816 or 1916) about 5 inches in length along with an insert and field point. Screw the field point into the insert and place this into the shaft. Place a little Vaseline or soapy water onto the field point as a lubricant. Slide the skirt onto the arrow shaft. Remove the field point and insert from the arrow shaft. Place the Umbrella tube into the arrow shaft and slide the skirt onto the Umbrella tube.

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Trim the excess Umbrella tube up close to the skirt as shown. DO NOT TRIM INTO THE NECKED DOWN PORTION OF THE UMBRELLA TUBE AS THE SKIRT WILL SLIDE OFF WHEN THE LURE IS FISHED. After trimming the Umbrella tube will probably collapse due to the skirt collar, but that is OK. The Umbrella Skirt is now ready to put onto a spinner bait or jig.

Arrow shafts, field points, and inserts are available in any archery shop. We also offer this skirt Umbrella Tool in our mail order store. The stock number of the tool is 420086.
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Alternate Method for Loading the Skirt
An Alternate method for loading the skirt onto the Umbrella is to use a metal shaft of some type such as a nail or drill bit. The metal shaft is to keep the tube of the Umbrella rigid while the skirt is added. Slide the umbrella onto the metal shaft. Slip the skirt up onto the Umbrella tube and under the cone of the Umbrella. The skirt will slip onto the Umbrella tube much easier if a lubricant is used. One of the best techniques we have found is to place a little Vaseline at the front of the Umbrella tube where it contacts the nail point. This allows the skirt to slip onto the Umbrella tube very easily. Additionally, the finished lure will look better if the skirt collar is in the middle of the skirt strands rather than toward one end of the skirt. Remove the Umbrella and skirt from the metal shaft. It is now ready to trim the Umbrella tube as described above. This method will work, but is not as easy as using the arrow shaft tool.

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When you place the Umbrella Skirt on a lure be sure to put the Umbrella Skirt onto the lure so that the cone is pointed away from the head of the lure. This will allow the skirt strands to flare out properly.

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Skirt Umbrellas are available in 2 sizes, several colors, and will
work with nearly any skirt and on nearly any lure. The large size is best for spinner baits and jigs. The small size is used to make skirted treble hooks for lures.
Skirt Umbrellas are also useful for adding skirts to treble hooks on lures. The small size Umbrella should be used on treble hook sizes 6, 4, 2, or 1. The large size Umbrella on larger treble hooks. Assemble the Umbrella as described above, but don't trim the tube. Place the eye of the treble hook up through the tube on the Umbrella and the skirted treble hook is now ready to add to a lure. The small size Umbrella works best with a 20 or 30 strand skirt made from fine cut silicone layers.

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Good Fishing
Barlow’s Tackle
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