It took Charlie about 15 minutes to land that snook and about 18 months to get it back from the taxidermist! Evidently the backlog of work and lack of skilled help prevented it from being completed any sooner. It was a skin mount, as were all mounts in that day. The actual skin of the fish, complete with scales was carefully removed, preserved, and then fitted over a hard form as close to the actual size of the original fish as possible. It was quite an elaborate and lengthy process. But one thing was sure: the fish hanging on your wall was the very one you caught with memories to last a lifetime. The memories will always last, but is that fish on the wall actually the one you caught? Chances are if you used the services of one of the larger taxidermy houses, your fish may not really be yours.
Unless your fish had a distinguishing physical mark, or you wanted an unusual mounting pose, you may not be looking at the fish you caught. In order to keep things going, the at least one of the larger houses had some number of "in progress" mounts of the more commonly mounted fish. Usually there was one the size of yours in a standard mount waiting to be painted. Did it matter? Probably not. As time progressed, the portion of your skin mount that was from the actual fish became smaller and smaller.
Today, technology has given the taxidermist an edge. And this edge is helping to preserve our world wide fishery for future generations. Most of the taxidermists today specialize in fiberglass reproduction mounts. Take a picture of your fish, along with the length and girth to a taxidermist and you will receive a mount that is often hard to distinguish from a skin mount, right down to the scales. To quote one member of the profession:
"Innovation has encouraged changes in the fish taxidermy profession. Conventional taxidermy once meant killing the fish and having it preserved through skin mount methods. Now we can release a fish and have a beautiful, lifelike replica, as a permanent trophy. Fiberglass models, with realistic scales and flexible fins, can be painted to match the actual fish caught. Large fish can be released into the wild to pass their genes on to the next generation."
Some are better than others, but then some boats are better than others. In both cases it pays to shop and see the merchandise before you buy.
Lots of studios will no longer do a skin mount, and that number is quickly increasing. Some taxidermy schools that taught skin mounts exclusively, now teach replica building exclusively. The artist's air brush becomes the most important part of the mount. The fish lives to fight again another day.
I had lots of mail from the last feature on Catch and Release (thanks to all of you who responded!). It ran from total agreement that we need to release all fish and save the resource, to keeping all fish to feed the family, with one PETA member condemning me for even catching the fish in the first place! So I want to say this about fish mounts. Yes, I do have some fish on my wall, and yes, some of them are skin mounts. I would never propose taking that thrill away from anyone. But perhaps the fiberglass replica is a better way to go. It last longer, looks as good or better, is readily available, and saves that big one to produce more big ones. After all, you can't eat the one you mount.
How do you feel about mounting your fish? Is it the right thing to do? Tell me about it or post on the bulletin board page. Got a favorite recipe, or fish story? Let me know by leaving a comment on this blog.
