Fish Skins

[Bone pile]

I've seen a few photos of carp and people saying they'll use the fish skins for various projects.I clean fish all the time,mostly salt water,whats the method of curing the skins for use?I imagine you'd scale and remove flesh..yum the good part.Any instuction on this would be great.
Thanx
Bone pile

[DanaM]

Only fish skins I processed was a big lake run brown trout, I started to scale it but the scales would barely come off and in the process
the skin lost most of its color After that I scraped it as clean as I could and stapled it to a piece of plywood skin side down. Let it dry for a few days then cut it free.
I used a piece of it laminated on leather for a sheath, before gluing I sanded it a bit.

Timo has a skin along for grass carp in the How To section.

I guess if the scales come off easy scale it carefully, scrap it clean of flesh and fat, wash it with Dawn and staple it to a board to dry

[mullet]

 Roger, If you get any shark or ray skin I'll trade you something for some.

[Bone pile]

I don't usally keep ray's or shark but If there's a good reason I'll do it.I landed  a 4' ray a couple months back allmost took it home to eat,those littlle ones just don't have much meat.I was thinking more on the reds and snook skins,they are thick when you get one on the top of the slot.Right now it's snapper time for me nothing like a mangrove snapper .I'll tell my brother to give me a call when he scores ,he caught 3 black tips and a nice cobia sat.
Bone pile

[mullet]

 I love those Mangroves, too. The ray and shark skin is like mild sandpaper and make excellent hand wraps for bows. That's what the Japanese used on the handles of their swords.

[DanaM]

Count me on in some of the shark/ray skin  After all Roger were brothers of the sewage eh
Will trade ya something and no it won't be souvineers from work as you have yer own supply of them

[Pat B]

Hearing a trade going between two turd herders makes me wonder!

[mullet]

 You know that old saying, Pat, "One man's Turd, is another man's Treasure".

[DanaM]

Hey ya never know what will get stuck to the bar screen or show up in the grit rake

[Bone pile]

It's amazing what we find alright,had a freind that found 60-80 bucks a day 3 days in a row.Then all of sudden all the operators wanted to clean the screen.Yeah everyone thinks us Doctors of DoDo have a nasty job,but let my 3 million gallons a day run into the bay like it did in the 50's and I bet boat sales would go down :PBut on a better note it's fathers day and my son ,grandson and me are going  fishing! Like ol' Salty Saul used to say "go fishin' cause it's Gooooooood fer ya"Who knows ,I might be skinnin' so fish later.
Bone pile

[mullet]

  good luck, Roger, it's gonna be a hot one today. I havn't heard anybody mention Salty Saul in years. I hope you don't hum Earnie Lee songs when you fish.

[Hillbilly]

Oh well, didn't read this thread until now, and I caught and threw back several stingrays and small sharks last week, including a couple good sized rays...

[HoBow]

Hillbilly- not sure how it is up on the East Coast, but they are everywhere right now in the gulf....water temp is hot and that pulls the rays in....I plan on going out to an island to get a few bow handles this weekend.  I have been looking on how to prep it....on the rays (or shagreen as they call it) you don't have to tan.  You treat it just like rawhide.  I also read a lot of Chinese buffets push of stingray as scallops because the meat is apprently the exact same....I'm looking forward to getting dinner and a few grips.

[mullet]

 The meat doesn't taste the same and is kinda pink colored, but it is good, sweet tasting.

[Pat B]

If the grain runs up and down it is scollops, if crossways its ray! Shark meat is excellent to eat. You should soak it in salt water because sharks urinate through their skin and the meat will have an amonia smell if not prepared correctly.