Skirted lures have been developed to catch anything from small sport fish, to XL game fish. The lures have a hard head, made from plastic, resin or metal. Typically two skirts are attached to this head, one on top of the other.

Skirt materials are various plastics, as well as tinsel and feathers being used for added attraction. Skirts come in a multitude of colours. Combining different colours in under and over skirts gives a huge range of options.

Despite the skirts often being called octopus skirts, and the general octopus/squid look of the lures, these are designed to imitate bait fish. Water pressure compresses the skirts together, and while running they look like the sides of a fish.

The size and shape of the lure head will determine its action in the water. By action I mean how it travels through the water, some are straight, shallow, deep etc etc. This shape and action will be different, for different lures, depending on how far back the lure is when trolling.

I prefer the lures with shorter, cup faced heads. These provide good traction and will run in calm or rough conditions. They also withstand a wide range of speeds. As a starting point, this head shape will cover most of your trolling conditions.

These lures come in a large size range. I prefer lures 10 inch up to 14 inch for mother ship trolling, and trolling near the edge. Lures much larger require bigger hooks, and bigger trolling outfits. Smaller, 6 to 8 inch lures are good for trolling around bombies within the reef.

Trolling large skirted lures does not mean you are only in with a chance if there is a large Marlin in the area. I have caught Wahoo 15kg and up, as well as Dogtooth to 20kg on large skirted lures. The bigger Yellow fins don’t mind them either.

If there was a Marlin sniffing at my transom, a large skirted lure is what I would like to have hanging out of it.

The longer, and less tapered the lure is, the further back it should be run. These lures are often called barrels because of this shape. These lures have a very straight action, and run close to the surface. In rough water, the head does not provide good traction for the lure, and it will tend to jump out all the time.

Shorter, and more tapered lures should be run closer to the back of the boat. These lures produce good sized bubble trails. Usually the front of the lure is cup faced. This gives the lure good traction in the water, and also causes the lure to dive deep. These lures can be run in any position, from close to the boat, to further back.

Lure heads are often tapered. Wider at the front and tapering back to the skirt, or wider near the skirt tapering towards the front. These tapers change the action of the lure in the water.

Lures tapered back toward the skirt i.e. chuggers, run straighter and in the widest range of conditions and speed. Lures tapered forward, have more of a shaking, side to side action, but not quite the same range of conditions as the chuggers.

Another head shape is the cut or sliced head. The head of the lure is sliced at an angle. This angle provides for deep running, and heaps of splashing on the surface. These lures work best in calm conditions.

Lure heads made of metal, such as Hexajet lures, use the weight in the head to help keep the lure in the water. These lures are designed to be run at high speeds 10 knots plus.