Beatheable Rubber skirts vs Silicone

[Stump bumper]

What is the big differance between the two? When is rubber better?

[GotstaFish]

Rubber skirts are prone to heat. They melt together and to other lures in your tackle box, this is one of the benefits of silicone. With the advances made in the silicone skirt materials today I find it hard to see any benefit in using rubber. JM .02 

[Dug]

Rubber skirts are prone to heat. They melt together and to other lures in your tackle box, this is one of the benefits of silicone. With the advances made in the silicone skirt materials today I find it hard to see any benefit in using rubber. JM .02 

Agreed, with as many jigs as I have, when I pull one out that's a little gooey, I know it's rubber and just end up trashing it.  Mainly that's the reason I had to figure out how to change skirts easily, I didn't want to waste the bait, just the skirt.

Dug

[kcnflman]

I have not been able to find the old style round rubber jigs anymore?  Anyone?

[Baron49]

I agree on the older style flat rubber skirts, but disagree with the "living" rubber skirts.  One of the big benefits was they do not stick together and they fluffed out making a big profile.  Stanley jigs used to make a very good living rubber jig and I still have a few dozen left I use on special occasions.  The newer silicon skirts are good, but I find you have to add a lot more material to get the same "fluffed" look of the living rubber.  Been making my own skirts for a while now and use both the living rubber and silicon.  Both have their place for the type of jig you are using.

[J B]

Thats not a problem anymore they make skirt collors that flair the silicone.

[Stump bumper]

I agree on the older style flat rubber skirts, but disagree with the "living" rubber skirts.  One of the big benefits was they do not stick together and they fluffed out making a big profile.  Stanley jigs used to make a very good living rubber jig and I still have a few dozen left I use on special occasions.  The newer silicon skirts are good, but I find you have to add a lot more material to get the same "fluffed" look of the living rubber.  Been making my own skirts for a while now and use both the living rubber and silicon.  Both have their place for the type of jig you are using.

What kind of jig do you use the living rubber on??
I use silicon on 90% of the jigs and hair on the swimming jigs now.

[Baron49]

I still use living rubber on arkie style jigs.  I fish a lot of jig and pig combinations and for some reason the arkie head with living rubber and a big #1 or the smaller #11 pork chunk seems to work best for big fish in cold water.  I use this combo in the early spring and again when the water cools down in the fall.  The living rubber pulses and fluffs even in cold water.

Silicon skirts get used when fishing in warmer water in and around weeds.  Booyah style pointed head Jigs rigged with silicon skirts seems to slide through milfoil and hydrilla easier with a plastic trailer.  In my opinion the silicone skirts make a thinner or more narrow profile.  Perfect for fishing in and around the weeds.

[ss454]

I agree on the older style flat rubber skirts, but disagree with the "living" rubber skirts.  One of the big benefits was they do not stick together and they fluffed out making a big profile.  Stanley jigs used to make a very good living rubber jig and I still have a few dozen left I use on special occasions.  The newer silicon skirts are good, but I find you have to add a lot more material to get the same "fluffed" look of the living rubber.  Been making my own skirts for a while now and use both the living rubber and silicon.  Both have their place for the type of jig you are using.

A trick I use when I want a really large profile skirt is to use a double band.  Just hold the lure by the hook and let all the skirt material fall forward then slip on another band over the hook and push it up on top of the other band.  It will double back the skirt material and give it a HUGE profile in the water.  Works great with Vibrashocks/spins, spinner baits and jigs.

[Baron49]

Interesting idea....I will give it a try to see if it works in my situation.