Eel skin Q's

[Krispy]

I have seen ready-to-use eel skins available in some shops, does anyone have a contact for these? They were bagged like a plug in salt.
Is someone familiar with the procedure for drying eel skins that can be bagged, without keeping them in the fridge until I need them?
It would be great to keep a couple handy in my truck and rig them onto plugs on an as needed basis or when another is trashed.
I know once used they should be kept in salt and in the refridgerator till the next time

[Flaptail]

Krispy, no need for the fridge. If there is a good Jewish delicatesen of market near you, go in and get a pound of Kosher pickling salt. It has a grainier and more flaky consistency than regular salt. Get your skins and then get a small rubbermaid container thats roughly six inches long by 1-1/2 deep by 4 inches wide. Put in the salt an very slowly drip some lukewarm water into it. You want the salt damp not wet. A good test is when you can poke your finger in all the way to the bottom and the hole does not collapse and no water forms at the bottom of the hole. Then just fold your skins in ( if un-rigged) and cover them. You are all set and every once in a while drip a few more drops of water in but maintain that consistency. If you are going to store complete rigs in it make sure the hooks are stainless otherwise the salt will eat them up and turn the salt orange from the rust and stain your skins. You can keep them all season in your vehicle like that, I have for years. Hope that helps, Flap.

[Krispy]

Perfect, thanks Flaptail!
Will they hold indefinitely like that?

You dont find the skins rot after use w/o refidgerating?

Im thinking a seperate plug tube with screw on cap for rigged skins and salt solution that will have a permanent place in the side of the plug bag. Bad idea?

[Nebe]

professor flaptail.

I once heard that if you are using regualr steel hooks, and you used kosher salt and enough water to cover the hooks with water, the hooks would not rust. The theory is that rust needs oxygen to form....

I've never tried this...... anyone else

[redlite]

I believe they won't rust, that is until you take them out and they get air.
When I was a kid, we were out on Race Point near Hatch's. We were bored so by little brother drew a random circle in the sand and said lets dig. Dig we did and we unearthed a monstorous hunk of rotted ship wreck. In it was this old spike that was as bright as the day they put it in the wood. Within a day of it being out of the salt water, it was nothing more than a block of rust.

[MakoMike]

Guys,
You can buy Kosher salt in most supermarkets. Stop & shop for one carries it. Also good for freezing clams.

[Flaptail]

They will get a little bleached out by seasons end but the fish don't seem to mind. The tube thing sounds interesting, what have you got to lose. Give it a try and report back, I would be interested in the results. The skins won't rot. Just remember the consistency thing and don't leave the rig out of the container to long if not in use. Have fun!

[tlapinski]

i was wondering why this popped into your head today, but then i got home from work and saw the Fisherman mag in my mailbox. at least they didn't just reprint the same article with the same pictures for the 3rd or 4th time.

one thing i have yet to get answered regarding the salting is does kosher salt make a difference? i used "normal" salt on last season's batch and didn't notice anything wrong.

[Krispy]

I dont get the fisherman Toby, it popped into to my own head Your spending to much time thinking like a lawyer
Do you wanna give me a synapses of the article?

[tlapinski]

it is your basic eelskin article.

1) - get eels. either buy them or catch them. i catcht them since the ones that live on the CT river are way bigger than any you will find in a tackle shop bait tank.

2) - kill the eels. you can either put them in a bag and freeze them, or pout them in a 5 gallon bucket brine sollution like i do.

3) - skin the eels. take a new razor blade and make a shallow cut around the "neck" of the eel. you only want to cut throught the skin, not into the meat. peel the skin back s-l-o-w-l-y. take care in this step not to tear the skin or get too much meat attatched. around the "vent" is s aticky spot sometimes. if you are having trouble grabbing the skin, a pair of pliers can help.

4)- put the skin on the plug. i use many different types of plugs such as needlefish, rebels, atom juniors, 40's, dannys, etc... match the skin to the plug. you want the skin to be just a tiny bit larger diameter than the plug so that it goes on easily, but is not baggy. remove the hooks from the plug and pull the skin up to the swim plate/metal lip. leave a length of tail off the back of the plug roughly 1/3 the length of the plug. i have heard many different takes on the skin lengths. you will learn what is too much and what is too little. attach the skin to the plug by wrapping thread/dental floss/wire etc.... around the front of the skin. trim back any excess skin on the front, add hooks, and fish it around rocky shorelines!

how is that?

[Stroth]

flaptail ain't kidding

those skins will last forever!!!!!

[Jenn]

This is a little different but still interesting and useful.Sprinkling your softer baits with some salt (let it sit for a few hours) toughens it up a bit! I read this somewhere as a tip for catfishing with chicken livers and said to myself "yeah right"........well I tried it and wouldnt you know it worked like a dream.

[thefishingfreak]

are you useing the skins inside out?
i rigged a few on split back rapala's{swims and looks awesome}.
but turning the skins back, right side out, was pretty tricky.
are you guys using them inside out?

thanks for the tip on the tupperware and salt, now i won't have to disassemble the plug at the end of the night.
'cause there aint no way the wife would allow them in the fridge.

[nor-easter]

The question of skins "Blue side" or "Natural side" has been going on since before I was a kid and that is over fifty years ago!
It all depends on what you are trying to make your bait look like.
The Atom skin plug rigged blue side usually replicates a Herring/Pogie and thus is blue side and only about a three inch beyond the plug length. It casts well and does not usually tangle the hooks
If you are trolling in deep waters, tide rips etc then the natural side out with a full 2 foot or longer skin is used. Some rig these on the skinny Danny, or what ever turns you on. Because of the length of this lure it cannot be cast well but if used trolling needs to use wire in 50 pound test or better. To troll this rig on light tackle is a total waste of lure, and all tackle as few fish will be landed on light tackle with the big skin plug. You don't find too many small fish willing to grab a two or three foot eel!