Greetings to all of you. Just want to introduce myself. My name is Mike, I'm 51 years old and I live in Eastern Virginia. I retired from the Air Force this month. I have been "practicing" taxidermy as a hobby on and off my entire life but thanks to Uncle Sam's demands and raising three daughters I could never really spend too much time with it. Now that I'm retired and the girls are all grown up I'm back at it again.
I'm posting here because I have a strong desire to learn everything I can about fish taxidermy. Eventually I'd like to make a little money at it but for now I'm more than happy just learning. I want to be a good taxidermist/artist before I become a struggling buisnessman. I was fortunate to spend a few years working (for free and very rewarding) in a Taxidermy Shop but unfortunately he did not do fish because of the low demand in that area.
My first ever fish mount was a stripped bass. It wieghed about 5 pounds but after I got done with it it weighed about 25 pounds. I hand painted it with a brush but that's another story. I'm sure many of you can relate.
My seconds mount was a largemouth bass. I bought a Tom Sexton Insrtuctional VHS tape and watched it about 5 times before I started the mount. At the time I was an E-4 stationed in Nevada with two kids so the budget was tight. I worked part-time as a Glue-Boy for a wall paper specialist so that I could afford to buy the form, eyes, airbrush, and paints. The compressor came out of a junk yard. After a good cleaning I think I was getting maybe 20 lbs pressure and luckily Uncle Sam already provided me with a good set of ear protection. Thanks to the video the mount came out "very" nice. I gave it to my Uncle in Germany where it still hangs proudly on his Fishing Club wall. The VHS tapes didn't fair so well. Somewhere along the way the kids wen't into panic mode and taped "Jem and the Holograms" (cartoon) over it.
Anyways, thanks for all the tips, pictures, critiques, and advice you all provide. I'm learning a lot from you and hope to one day be the person passing on some knowledge as well.
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