skirt or no skirt

[luv2fish]

Hi all, What are the benefits of putting a skirt on rigged baits as opposed to just naked? And what colour skirts are best?

[Nonong]

I'll give it a shot.... for instance a strip bait rigged with a skirt will appeal to two critical senses of the target fish....scent + visibilty.

Scientific studies have proven that Fish go after bait because of its scent appeal. An additional plus factor is sight. Fish will target moving objects that they can see. It doesn't matter if its a skirt or a jig head as long as its visual lure appeal along with bait scent attracts it to strike.

A skirt's color could be matched to the hatch so to speak..... White the color of squid, silver the flash of a baitfish, etc.
Other factors are.... color brightness + contrast + fluorescent glow + reflection + shine= high visibility.

high visibility + scent trail + movement= high strike ratio. Add the lateral line or movement sense of fish when you troll that skirt rigged strip bait and you have another plus factor.