Rigging Blue Marlin Lures with Vinyl Skirts and Sta-Stuk Hooks

How do you skirt a blue marlin lure with vinyl?

Rigging blue marlin lures with vinyl skirts starts with clean, square cuts and narrow legs. Kevin Hibbard cuts vinyl against a parallel ruler with sharp scissors, because dull blades fray the fiber backing and it unravels in the water. He keeps the legs about a quarter inch wide, because wide legs get sucked up into the lure and tangle.

Vinyl itself started in Hawaii, where crews skirted lures with lawn furniture vinyl and bicycle inner tubes. Hibbard likes it because it fits heads with big hips that rubber won't go over, runs more freely, leaves room to get the hook in, and lasts a bit longer than rubber.

Why does a vinyl skirted lure roll, and how do you stop it?

A lure that rolls usually has a skirt problem: legs sucked up inside the head, or a seam that doesn't close. Hibbard's seams meet edge to edge, never overlapping, because an open seam catches water and turns the lure. He seals each seam with a vinyl tab and water resistant super glue.

The inner skirts matter as well. He weights them to match the lure's belly weight, with strips on the belly and sides and none on top, because top strips can make it roll. The exact count is in the video.

Which way should the hook and leader face in a vinyl skirted lure?

Hook down in slant and pusher heads, hook up in bullets and jetted, conical heads. Hibbard then lets the leader's coil memory lift the lure "like a leash on a dog," while the hook rig acts like the tail of a kite. Turn the memory the wrong way and the leader pulls the lure into a spin.

Inside the video

• A 10/0 Kona cut Sta-Stuk on 49 strand 900 lb cable with a thick walled copper crimp
• Calibrated crimpers, and shrink that leaves a little crimp showing: "check, recheck and check again"
• 530 lb extra hard leader, about 26 ft, and why the crew wants more leader to wire
• Yellow tape at the connection, photographed on a jumping fish to read where the hook is set
• Why Hibbard could run a lure in all black and catch as many fish

Questions About Rigging Vinyl Skirted Marlin Lures

Choosing Vinyl or Rubber

Vinyl is Hibbard's skirt for pushers, but not for every head. For when he switches to rubber, and what black smoke and white smoke look like in the water, watch trolling lure skirts for marlin: vinyl vs rubber.