HAYABUSA - P230 PREMIUM MACKEREL REAL FISH SKIN MADE IN JAPAN

Hayabusa P230 Premium Mackerel Real Fish Skin, Made In Japan

This is raw material for rig building, not a finished rig. The P230 is selected natural mackerel skin with an aurora finish, supplied as flat sheets that you cut to shape and tie onto hooks. It is the traditional dressing for sabiki branch hooks, tai-rubber and tenya bodies, and hand-tied bait hooks, and it is used because no synthetic sheet behaves quite the same way in water. Real skin is semi-translucent, so light passes through it as well as bouncing off it; it stays wet-bright instead of going flat when soaked; and the natural fibre structure lets a thin strip flutter and fold on its own at speeds where a stiff plastic dressing simply trails. Cutting it yourself also means you are not stuck with a factory hook size — you match the strip to the bait the fish are actually on. Two sheets per packet.

Key Features

• 100% natural premium mackerel skin — authentic scent, texture and visual appeal that synthetic material cannot fully replicate
• Aurora finish over the natural scale pattern for reflective flash
• Semi-translucent, so the strip lights up from behind as well as flashing on the surface
• Holds its wet-bright appearance in the water rather than dulling like some synthetic sheet
• Supplied as rectangular sheets — cut to any shape and size to suit the hook and the conditions
• Natural fibres give a lifelike fluttering, erratic action when cut into a thin tapering strip
• For dressing or repairing sabiki hooks, tai-rubber and tenya bodies, jig assists and bait hooks
• 1 packet = 2 pieces of fish skin. Made in Japan

How To Use It

• Cutting the strip — Lay the sheet skin-side down and cut a long, narrow taper with the wide end at the hook eye. A strip roughly as long as the hook shank plus the gape is a good starting point; longer strips flutter more, shorter strips stay tighter to the hook.
• Tying it on — Bind the wide end to the shank behind the eye with fine rigging thread, whip forward, and finish with a few drops of head cement or superglue. Leave the tail free so it can move.
• Repairing a sabiki — When one or two hooks on a shop-bought sabiki lose their dressing, re-skin those hooks instead of throwing the rig away. Match the strip width to the untouched hooks so the rig still swims evenly.
• Adding it to jigs and tenya — A short skin strip on an assist hook or behind a tai-rubber head adds flash and a soft trailing edge without changing the sink rate.
• Matching the water — Wider strips and more flash in coloured or deep water; narrow, sparse strips in clear water and bright sun, where too much movement puts wary fish off.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — Dressing sabiki hooks for selar, kembung (Indian mackerel) and tamban off jetties, and skinning bottom rigs for snapper (ikan merah) and grouper (kerapu) on reef marks.
• North America — Pier sabiki rigs for Pacific mackerel and sardine, and hand-tied hooks for rockfish, black sea bass and porgy on party boats.
• Japan & East Asia — Its home use: skin sabiki for aji and iwashi, tai-rubber and tenya dressings for madai, and custom assist trailers for slow-pitch jigging.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Bait jigs for slimy mackerel and yellowtail scad off Australian wharves; sabiki for sardine in the Gulf and Mediterranean; feathered cod and mackerel traces on European boat marks.

Specifications

Recommended Pairing

• Fine rigging or fly-tying thread plus head cement or superglue for binding the strip to the shank
• Sharp scissors or a craft knife and a cutting mat — a clean edge frays far less in the water
• Sabiki-pattern or gure-pattern hooks in the size that matches the bait school you are working
• Combine with aurora thread, luminous beads or skin rubber on the same hook where a stronger visual signal is wanted