Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Anyone else use fish skin such as from the Lai (Leatherback/Spotted Queenfish), to dress their lures and jig heads? I spent the morning whipping up a bunch of these. Yeah they're kind of funky looking, but the trevally and snappers gobble em up like candy...What's your go-to fish skin?

Never heard of that .... not a thing in Canada.... but they look great !

Todd

Quote from: Hardy Boy on September 18, 2026, 01:26:29 AMNever heard of that .... not a thing in Canada.... but they look great !

Todd

Thanks Todd!

No one else uses fish skin, not even for Sabiki? Hmm, must be an Indo-Pacific/Hawaii thing. They also use them in the trolling heads here, too. Works of art but pricey much.

On a couple of my Kona trips the heads of the homemade trollers had fish skin inside of the clear plastic; I remember one with mackerel that was very reflective. - john

I have a clear resin sinking Hawaiian kaku popper with a fish skin insert from back in the day. Always felt it was kind of a gimmick.  Flash can be useful, but there are plenty of easier ways to get flash.

-J

Interesting.  I know some East Coast striper fishermen sew real eel skins as tails on  plugs.  I've never seen it but   the movement in the water is supposed to be very life-like.

Some fish hit by eye sign and don't care much about smell . i found pure striper don't care about smell but Hybrid do , I always use Gulp curly tail when fish for Hybrid and use mono leader

Leatherback Lai skin jigs have a bunch of smell to them, to go along with the natural flash and pulse-like action when worked.

Some folks here will tie an entire tail skin section of eel onto the hook/s and cast that out as a lure, something I've never tried.

I'd like to hear a bit more about the process.

How is the skin prepped and dried?

-J

Quote from: jurelometer on October 07, 2026, 09:30:35 PMI'd like to hear a bit more about the process.

How is the skin prepped and dried?

-J

It's a simple process of skinning the fish first by cutting it around the edges sorta like a fillet, then peeling it away and scraping off any remaining belly meat. Next the skin is placed flat, flesh side down, on a piece of glass or a mirror etc and allowed to air dry a couple days. Once dry, we peel the skin off and cut it into strips that are folded back and tied onto the jig head as you would a rod guide. Some clear nail polish to set the wraps (I like Sally Hansen's Hard-as-Nails), and you're ready to fish.

The guys making trolling heads will go an extra step and brine-soak the skin to remove any moisture before cutting it, but I haven't found that necessary when tying jigs. Lai skin is oily and pliable when wet; stiff and crinkly when dry. Before fishing we soak the jigs in the water for 10 minutes to allow the skin to rejuvenate. A simple freshwater rinse then shake-n-dry after use, will keep them in useable condition for a good while.

Here are some Lai I caught recently. They don't grow very big—2-3lbs is thought to be quite big and 5 is a monster. These have a bit shinier skin and are fun to catch on light tackle. Some unleash an impressive display of aerial acrobatics throughout the fight.

Cool.  I caught a couple of these in Australia-  Cape York.  They call them lesser queenfish there.  Neat little fish.

Not sure that we have anything with a tough enough skin that is also flashy out here on the West Coast, USA.

-J

Salmon skin?  Dominick