Trophy fish can bring out your creativity. Mounted on simple wall plaques, or
in special habitats, fish make beautiful mounts. Once again, some special
care is needed to ensure a life like mount for your enjoyment.
Your first decision will be if you want a skin mount or a replica. Skin mounts
use the original skin off the fish, which will be mounted and painted to
match the natural colors of the live fish. Replicas will employ the use of
cast fish that match the size descriptions of your fish. They are then painted
to match your catch. Both methods produce excellent quality mounts, the big
difference being with the replica, the fish can be caught, photographed and
released.
If you decide on a skin mount, the fish must be handled with care. The first
priority will be to keep the fish moist. If the fins dry, they will crack
and split and will be hard to repair. You will also want to take some pictures
of the fish when it is as fresh as possible to show the true colors and markings
as clear as possible. This will help the taxidermist reproduce your fish as
close as possible. Protect the fish from any rough handling so scales will
not fall off or curl. Do not clean the fish! As soon as possible, get it
either to your taxidermist or into a freezer. When freezing the fish to bring
to a taxidermist at another time, wrap the fish lightly with newspaper. Keep the
catch as flat as possible and try not to bend the fins. If you decide on a replica
mount, then you will want to take pictures of the fish and also take some
measurements. Measure the length and measure the girth in several places. This
will help the taxidermist replicate the fish as closely as possible.
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