Keep it for a skin mount or have a replica made?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Larrick on February 5, 2011 at 8:15am

My avatar is me holding my father -in-law's personal best from Florida. It is a skin mount and  is at least 20 years old. It definately is slowly deteriorating and us fragile. For me though it comes down to species. For some reason to me smallmouth replicas look better than largemouth replicas.

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on February 5, 2011 at 8:44am

Kevin,

 

Thank you so much for chiming in and bringing an authentic voice to this thread.  Thank you as well for posting the videos.  Very impressive.  Fiberglass replicas are the way to go.  However, you get what you pay for and definitely do your homework when selecting a taxidermist.  I have seen fiberglass replicas that look like they just swam out of the water and fiberglass replicas that look like Billy Bass. 

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on February 5, 2011 at 11:05am

It would definitely be REPLICA for me. However if you catch a giant fish legally and want it skinned it should be left up to you and without the ridicule of others. There are so many more important things in life to be concerned about than a single fish.

Permalink Reply by P.J. Koshi on February 5, 2011 at 11:13am

I wish I would have known something about anything regarding Musky, because I would have gotten a REPLICA of my Tiger Musky made.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on February 5, 2011 at 11:40am

Absolutely Josh.  I don't think anyone is looking down there nose at doing a skin mount, rather, that most stuards of the sport would  be proud knowing their fish is possibly still swimming. 

 

Ben do you really think the cabelas mounts don't look good?  They don't look very realistic to me, because they have no art around them.  They are just stapled to the wall.  A good replica has a nice backdrop, or some structure around it to liven it up.  Cabelas doesnt do that.

 

Skin Mount:

Replica:

To me there just isnt any discussion to be had....but I guess thats my opinion because I don't see the "nastalgia" is having "THE" fish hanging on my wall.
Josh Potter said:

It would definitely be REPLICA for me. However if you catch a giant fish legally and want it skinned it should be left up to you and without the ridicule of others. There are so many more important things in life to be concerned about than a single fish.

Permalink Reply by Larrick on February 5, 2011 at 12:25pm

I do think the replica in your example looks a helluva lot better. That's what I'm talking about.

Jake "The Snake" Anderson said:

Absolutely Josh.  I don't think anyone is looking down there nose at doing a skin mount, rather, that most stuards of the sport would  be proud knowing their fish is possibly still swimming. 

 

Ben do you really think the cabelas mounts don't look good?  They don't look very realistic to me, because they have no art around them.  They are just stapled to the wall.  A good replica has a nice backdrop, or some structure around it to liven it up.  Cabelas doesnt do that.

 

Skin Mount:

Replica:

To me there just isnt any discussion to be had....but I guess thats my opinion because I don't see the "nastalgia" is having "THE" fish hanging on my wall.
Josh Potter said:

It would definitely be REPLICA for me. However if you catch a giant fish legally and want it skinned it should be left up to you and without the ridicule of others. There are so many more important things in life to be concerned about than a single fish.

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on February 5, 2011 at 1:29pm

I agree 100% with Jake regarding the memory and nostalgia piece, as well as the pride of releasing the trophy catch.  Once again, the Snake is the much needed voice of reason.

Permalink Reply by Larrick on February 5, 2011 at 3:22pm

Tag much props to you for releasing that state record. Honestly though I don't know what I would have done. (Que the Jeporady music)

Tag Watson said:

I agree 100% with Jake regarding the memory and nostalgia piece, as well as the pride of releasing the trophy catch.  Once again, the Snake is the much needed voice of reason.

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on February 5, 2011 at 4:23pm

Thank you for the kind words, Larrick.  For me it is all about the thrill of the catch and the joy of watching a trophy fish swim away back to its home.  I do like capturing the memory with a photo if I have a camera, but several of my best fish have been caught while fishing solo and not captured on camera.

 

I tried for an hour or more to contact someone from the WDFW on a Saturday but had no success.  The chance of having my name in fine print in the Fishing Regs was not important enough for me to keep the fish.  However, being an advocate of CNR and a good steward to our resource is.     

 

Interesting story on the release of that fish:  I had to fizz that largemouth although it was caught on a buzzbait.  It was caught over 20+ feet of water and the majority of the largemouth live extremely deep in that lake due to the gin clear water.  Although the fish was out of the water only for a short period of time, it took me close to a half hour of wading knee deep in the water to help it gain its equilibrium perfectly before she swam off towards deep water. 

Larrick said:

Tag much props to you for releasing that state record. Honestly though I don't know what I would have done. (Que the Jeporady music)

Tag Watson said:

I agree 100% with Jake regarding the memory and nostalgia piece, as well as the pride of releasing the trophy catch.  Once again, the Snake is the much needed voice of reason.

Permalink Reply by Don Hogue on February 5, 2011 at 5:35pm

Replica...

Although I see a lot of not so good ones.  One thing that anoys me is when they make the underside of a smallmouth in a wash-out white look.  It's hard to find someone who will do the mottled underside look right. 

 

Here's an example of what I mean with an unrealistic underside...

 

Ryan Brown had one done that I think looks great. 

 

 

This guys is local, and is a real artist.  When I decide to have mine done, he'll be the guy.

http://www.davecampbellfish.com/home.htm

 

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on February 5, 2011 at 6:42pm

I agree that fish looks like an overgrown crappie.

Larrick said:

I do think the replica in your example looks a helluva lot better. That's what I'm talking about.

Jake "The Snake" Anderson said:

Absolutely Josh.  I don't think anyone is looking down there nose at doing a skin mount, rather, that most stuards of the sport would  be proud knowing their fish is possibly still swimming. 

 

Ben do you really think the cabelas mounts don't look good?  They don't look very realistic to me, because they have no art around them.  They are just stapled to the wall.  A good replica has a nice backdrop, or some structure around it to liven it up.  Cabelas doesnt do that.

 

Skin Mount:

Replica:

To me there just isnt any discussion to be had....but I guess thats my opinion because I don't see the "nastalgia" is having "THE" fish hanging on my wall.
Josh Potter said:

It would definitely be REPLICA for me. However if you catch a giant fish legally and want it skinned it should be left up to you and without the ridicule of others. There are so many more important things in life to be concerned about than a single fish.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on February 5, 2011 at 6:44pm

I had my smallie done by Dave Campbell as well, he is an unbelievable artist, he lives in Spanaway/Fredrickson. He paints each individual scale, Ryan's fish is awesome and the picture doesnt even do it justice. It truely is a peice of art.

Don Hogue said:

Replica...

Although I see a lot of not so good ones.  One thing that anoys me is when they make the underside of a smallmouth in a wash-out white look.  It's hard to find someone who will do the mottled underside look right. 

 

Here's an example of what I mean with an unrealistic underside...

 

Ryan Brown had one done that I think looks great. 

 

 

This guys is local, and is a real artist.  When I decide to have mine done, he'll be the guy.

http://www.davecampbellfish.com/home.htm

 

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