Replica Suggestions?

[Al Agnew]

7 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

I will say this Al.....none of these guys do a very good Smallie mount especially Don's and Coryell.

Not many do a good smallie......Don's had the vertical bars going the all the way up and down the fish???....some of these guys just haven't seen many Smallies I assume???

Yeah, those dark bars are tricky.  Most of them run from about the lateral line downwards, and above the lateral line there are irregular spots and blotches, not bars.  There is a lot more detail to do with smallmouth than with largemouth, and unless the taxidermist is very meticulous and has a good photo to work with of the exact fish he's trying to reproduce, he won't get it anywhere near right.  Plus, the smallmouth's chameleon-like ability to change colors can really mess things up, as well.

[cracklebak]

11 hours ago, Gavin said:

In another direction, not a fan of fish mounts or replicas. What would be cooler than a water color, pen & ink of your fish to scale? Underwater type pic maybe. Frame it with a picture of your catch, the lure & litte blurb with the details. It will look better than a fish on the wall. Will probably cost more if done right though.

There is an outfit that does just that... I thought it was a great idea.  If I remember correctly, the cost was significantly less than a mount, and they looked pretty good.  I checked out their website but it was months ago, so I don't recall the name of the company.