Pretty sure someone like Uncle will know more than me though!

I'll give these a try next time I head out.  I've normally just use plain old frozen bait on a hook but I suppose I could also put bait onto these hooks to give it more enticement.

The bodybuilder guy Nathan off the TV show Big Angry Fish popularised 'skutes' a few years ago. As with that one you were given, he tied them using a variety of materials (synthetic and natural) tied on to softbait jigheads (using fresh or salt water tying vice and equipment).

Others came forward saying it was nothing new, they'd been doing it for years etc. In North America and Europe, 'feather jigs' and 'bucktail jigs' have been in use for ages. 

Hunting & Fishing brought out a commercial; range designed by Nathan, and there's a guy on Facebook out of Coromandel I think, who sells them. H&F pretty quickly dropped them as a stock item, I believe, as the TV show went off air and people forgot about the fad.

They definitely work, though - I've had success on several that I tied myself using salt water fly tying materials and dyed rabbit strips. That one looks similar to a bucktail. Could get taken for a shrimp etc on the bottom.

The main thing to bear in mind is that they sink a lot faster than with a traditional softbait on the jighead - particularly a Bait Junkie or Z Man - which are buoyant. For that reason, Nathan started to incorporate a bit of hard cell foam in the underbody of his.

It's fun to catch fish on something you made yourself, but economy wise, a pack of Z Mans is probably more value for money - unless you get your materials from a $2 shop or similar. And they are more fragile to a snapper's sharp teeth than stretchy rubber, I can vouch for that!

It is a bit demoralising to spend quite a bit of time creating a masterpiece, only for it to be destroyed pretty quickly. 

This Northland fish fell to one of my 'skutes' designed to look like a squid.

I was mainly fishing in 10-20m, casting ahead and retrieving like a softbait. they got hit on the drop or soon after hitting bottom (I used Nathan's method and put some closed cell foam in the body - from some packaging material I had on hand - to try to ensure they didn't just plummet to the bottom).

Baitfish, squid, prawns etc all move erratically in the water, so I'd recommend that kind of jiggly retrieve. Nothing too dramatic.

I suppose you could add some scent, but I didn't. That would be the big difference between a skute and Gulp, obviously. 

But with the rabbit strips etc, they have plenty of movement in the water.

In some ways, it's a bit like saltwater fly without fly fishing gear, but the jighead would make the skute move differently to an unweighted fly.

Possibly more like the equivalent of a trout fisher using a Woolly Bugger tied with a heavy tungsten bead at the head to get down deep in a river or lake.

Ultimately, it's about having confidence in what you're using. Human nature being what it is, I often was so keen to hook fish at the start of the trip that I would consider a skute but then put on my favourite softbaits. If I was finding it tough, I'd think, 'maybe a skute?'. But that wasn't a fair situation to try them in. 

One of these days I'll have the faith to put one on at the start of a trip and stick with them!