Trout Skin

[Martin]

I am going to attempt to use the skin of rainbow trout on a large jointed plug. There is a market that sells 14? beautifully colored, Idaho rainbow trout. These fish held most of there color. I have never attempted this but I am paining to epoxy the skin to the plug then epoxy over the skin and scales.

Is there anyone with experience that can give me a few tips?

Martin

[kellure]

I would probably speak to a taxidermist first on how best deal with the trout oils on the skin...sounds interesting, keep us posted.

[RiverMan]

Years ago I took the carapace off of a small shrimp, formed a body over a hook, and then slipped the shell over the whole thing. At that time I didn't know anything about Devcon or Etex so use several layers of shellac or clear fingernail polish. I tied in some legs from horse hair and it actually looked very good in the end but not worth the hassle.

I would guess that with the skin you will have to be very careful to properly prepare it so as to avoid break down over time. The other problem will be dealing with the thickness of the skin. It will be difficult getting the skin to fit perfectly (unless you first skin the fish and then make a model of the original body) and then getting it to seam properly where the skin has been cut.

My recommendation for what little it is worth is to work with paint. Many taxidermists today use fiberglass forms that they then paint and many look as real as any skin mount.

Best of luck to you.

jed v.

[AlamOso]

Send me an e-mail sometime

alamoso@alamolures.com

I make baits with real rattlesnake skin, and maybe some of the techniques would work on fish too. People have asked me to try out fishskin, but if you're willing to do some experiments, I'll be happy to help out.