Fish Of A Life Time.

[laker67]

Sorry Chief, I completely overlooked this thread until now. Tell Dylan that is definately a fish to be proud of. Congrats to him and his coach of many years.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Aww, that is ok bud. I have done the same thing. Then you see one gets to 3 or 4 pages and....

I'll pass along your acclamation.

[Mitch f]

Aww, that is ok bud. I have done the same thing. Then you see one gets to 3 or 4 pages and....

I'll pass along your acclamation.

Chief, you posted at 4:22 am, you must have to be at work early

[Al Agnew]

Just heartbreaking ain't it?? When I saw Dylan wrestling that fish, I knew if it did get away before we could get a picture, it would have ruined his whole day. More like the whole weekend!

Have you any mounted fish???

Yes, I've mounted three myself, a long time ago. A 7.5 pound largemouth, and the two five pound smallmouth I caught from Ozark streams. The last of the three was taken in about 1978. I caught a 9 pound largemouth around 1980 that I was going to mount...kept it in my freezer wrapped in frozen towels for at least five or six years, never got around to mounting it, and finally threw it away.

Mom had the biggest largemouth from our years of fishing Wappapello, an eight pounder. Dad kept it in the freezer for at least six or seven years planning to mount it. He had a freezer in his mechanic's garage where he had his business. He'd take the thing out of the freezer and unwrap it from the newspapers he had it wrapped in to show it to people. Finally one day he was cleaning out his freezer when one of his regular customers walked in. He told the guy he was going to throw the fish away, and the guy said he wanted it to take home and eat! Dad told him how old it was, and the guy said he thought it might still be good. So Dad gave it to him. He asked the guy the next time he saw him if it was any good to eat, and the guy said it wasn't very good...Dad later learned the guy had thawed it out and taken it all over town telling people he'd caught it!

[Flysmallie]

Dad later learned the guy had thawed it out and taken it all over town telling people he'd caught it!

What a dork. I bet that fish wasn't much to look at after that much time in the freezer.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Quite a story there Al. Sounds like that guy already had a plan!

You wouldn't happen to have any pics of those fish would you?? I would just like to see your work. I'll bet it is as outstanding as your art. Because it is art!

[Chief Grey Bear]

Chief, you posted at 4:22 am, you must have to be at work early

Nawww, not til 7 bells. I just wake early. Usually asleep by 10 and up by 4 or 5. Even on weekends. I haven't set an alarm for a couple of decades. Can you imagine what its gonna be like when I get old!!!

[Al Agnew]

Quite a story there Al. Sounds like that guy already had a plan!

You wouldn't happen to have any pics of those fish would you?? I would just like to see your work. I'll bet it is as outstanding as your art. Because it is art!

Nope, the mounts are in Missouri and I'm not...you're absolutely right, though. Good taxidermy is art, especially fish taxidermy, because you have to recreate the colors of the fish. I painted mine differently than commercial taxidermists usually do. All hand painted with brushes (most use an airbrush) with a lot of iridescent acrylic colors. The fins are also a big problem. They shrink as the fish dries. The fins on the live fish are thin and translucent. Many taxidermists put a backing on the fins to make them sturdier...they are pretty fragile when dry. But the backing either makes them very thick, and/or makes them opaque. I actually cut off the fins on one of my smallies and made new fins from thin poster board, making the rays and spines out of the poster board and covering them with a layer of clear acrylic varnish which made the membranes between the rays, then gave them a wash of transparent paint to make them the right color.

I also made a "mount" of the biggest walleye I ever caught. When I caught it I saved the head, letting it dry outside nailed to a tree. Much later, I got to looking at the head and decided to make a body for it. I made the body out of paper mache, the fins out of the poster board and clear acrylic, and attached the head and painted the whole thing.