1. To repair a split tail when using the natural fins, I try to super glue the split as best as possible, and then back the split with tape or other spanning material and then coat with fin coating material. I’ll do any sculpting in the split with epoxy and then overcoat again with fin coating material to tie everything together. Cast fins already have the split area bridged with the casting material, so it is simple to sculpt any gapped areas with epoxy or by scribing rays. Those repairs are usually for splits that occur during landing or handling, but if it is scarred over and obviously happened before coming in contact with the fisherman that I am doing the fish for, I will consult them on if they want scars repaired or left as character.
2. When setting eyes I’d prefer to have an actual game plan (or focal point) as to what the fish will be doing and then gear it towards that. However, most fish mounts are just fish mounts so I will try to tip them slightly down and forward if basic forward motion is depicted, and sometimes I’ll tip them down and back so that they appear to be looking at the viewer when the viewer is standing directly in front of the fish. And sometimes I’ll just roll them down as if the fish has been taken out of the water and is being held up sideways. I try to pay attention when I talk to the client to see if I can pick up on something that they noticed about the eyes that they found interesting and then I’ll integrate that into the mount.
3. To replicate missing scales on a heavy scaled fish I will fill in the missing areas with epoxy and then either sculpt in the scales as the epoxy sets or carve then in with a craft knife after it has hardened, and/or a combination of those.
4. I mounted a Largemouth for practice for myself once with a closed mouth and fully relaxed dorsal fin and a Smallmouth once with a closed mouth and slightly relaxed dorsal fin for the same reason. That was back about 1985 and I have since given those fish mounts away many years ago. I have never had a request from a client for a closed mouth on a Bass.
5. I have been molding and casting heads on my warm water fish now for about the last 6-7 years, and without the head and placed in front of a fan they dry very quickly, but I still give them at least a week before doing any finish work.
6. A Steelhead is an anadromous (grow and feed in a marine or large lacustrine environment and spawn in a freshwater river or creek) version of a Rainbow Trout (which are usually stream or lake year long residents), but like any population of a certain species that are left to do their own thing for a period of time, the population will start to develop it’s own peculiarities. Along our North Pacific coastal regions we can have both winter- and summer-run Steelhead depending upon the river system, with the winter-run fish coming into the rivers right before spawning in the spring, and the summer-runs coming into the rivers late in the summer and early fall to winter over in the river until also spawning a little earlier in the spring (than the typical winter-run’s spawning in later spring). Incidentally, the body shape of a winter-run versus a summer-run are very different with the winter-runs being very heavy-bodied in depth and summer-runs being conversely very heavy-bodied in width. The advantage of a species being anadromous is that its size (and therefore fecundity or egg production) is not limited to the limited forage base and habitat availability of a river. The anadromous fish can take advantage of the great forage base of a large body of water for maximum growth, and by having the timing of different runs vary, the populations are able to remain unique and also each be able to take advantage of the limited habitat in the river or creek. There is more that could be said about Rainbows and Steelhead, but suffice it to say that they are both the same creature and very different at the same time.
7. & 8. I airbrush the wall side of wall mounts with the same basic tones of the front side of the fish in its entirety, and that takes place very early in my painting process and doesn’t take me a great deal of time. I do however limit my layered process of scale painting and further tinting and shading (which is actually the bulk of time in my paint process) to the show side only.
9. In the past I have done somewhat elaborate business cards, but anymore I just prefer to have my name, business name, and contact information on a basic card that a client or potential client can refer to. If I ever planned on stepping up my advertising efforts, I could see the point in having a catchy or attractive card.
10. In addition to the species already mentioned, Tarpon also have an axillary process. Tarpon are also unique in that they also have fully developed versions of them above the pectoral fins as well as the pelvic fins. Some fish can be argued to have features above the pelvic fin that appear to be similar to a very undeveloped axillary process. The purpose of an axillary process is to streamline and promote hydrodynamic flow efficiency of the fin pocket area, so for the most part it is beneficial to portray them on a fish mount as tight to the body and in the groove created by the pelvic fin being away from the body, although in some hydrodynamic flow situations they could be pulled away very slightly.
......and with all that said, Merry Christmas and/or a Happy Whatever to everyone!
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