Skirt Material Flaring Out

[RSNeely]

Can anyone help me out. Im new to tying and every now and then i get some jigs that turn out a little different. The skirt doesn't want to lay down flat. Im tying with 24 gauge copper wire. Am i not tightening the wire down enough? 

[Yo Al]

I've had some issues with keeping a consistent profile wire tying. The biggest issue I found was I was getting the tabs on a little forward or back. I finally put a mark on my vise to keep consistent. Tying tighter seems to flare more. It also seems to make a difference if the wire is up tight to the head or back closer to the collar or barb. The more I tie the better the outcome. Leaving the front longer lays it down more and if I want a more bulky look with more spring to the action I'll cut it shorter on the water. Hope some of this helps.

[Darkman]

try not to tighten the wire too much...yo al has it right about leaving the front a bit longer

[smalljaw]

I actually like what you have with that jig, I make finesse jigs with a crop top like the Eakins jig but I also make one in which the top strands onlt come down to the middle of the jig, it makes it very springy, for lack of a better term, and allows the material to open and separate quickly. Yo Al was spot on, if you want mor of a stream line jig then leave the upper section of material long and position your wire closer to the ring or further from the head. There will be one problem that happens and not much you can do and that is stiff material, you'll be fine if you buy your skirt material from the same source but if you go to different vendors you'll end up getting stiff material. For me, I got some black with red tip silicone and it was very heavy and stiff, so stiff it didn't matter how tight you tied it, it was flared out really bad but that ended up being used for finesse jigs that I like with a little flare. Remember, longer strands up front and tie further from the head.