REAL WALLEYE-SKIN WALLET • Product Review by Captain Mike Schoonveld

REAL WALLEYE-SKIN WALLET • Product Review by Captain Mike Schoonveld

What can I say. It’s a wallet and it’s made out of walleye skin. Neat, huh? I’m familiar with items made from cow skin, deer skin, kangaroo, ostrich, snake, alligator and pig skin, but nothing made from walleye skin—until now.  

Anyone who is in touch with all things fishing, hunting and other consumptive outdoor sports has probably heard that the fur trade is in a deep depression. That doesn’t bother most trappers, like me, who trap furbearing animals for multiple reasons not related to money, but for people like Clint Boyd a trapper in Manitoba who makes a living out of trapping and tanning the skins, the economic crash was personal. 

So he came up with the idea of tanning the “hides” from commercially caught walleyes skins which would otherwise be tossed with the rest of the inedible parts of the fish. Once he perfected the process and determined it would be tough-enough, he started making wallets from the distinctly patterned skins. 

 

 

I was skeptical about whether or not the wallet would stand the test of time. I got my Walleye Wallet back in November and decided to carry it for several months before featuring it as a T&T product. It went in my butt pocket on late season fishing trips, on my trap line, in my deer stand and to the grocery store. (It even got a thumbs up at the supermarket after catching the eye of a fisher-lady check-out clerk.) It’s still going strong and still catching the eye of people who think it’s just plain cool. 

It’s a bi-fold wallet, with plenty of slots for bank cards, fishing licenses and other important documents. There are “hide-away” spots where I keep a $50 bill in case I happen to see some fishing gear on display at a garage sale.  

There are no scales on the skin, but the skin still maintains a walleye skin like texture. They come in natural, brown and black. The one I have (pictured) is called natural, but it tends to be more of a gray/blue. They are available in several tackle shops here in the US (more outlets are being added) or buy them online at www.walleyewallets.com. Also available from WW are fillet knife sheaths and key fobs, also made from walleye skins.  

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2 comments

Looks like thier website 404. Dang, these would make great Christmas gifts!

Wally

Where can I get one

Bill

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