Saltwater skin mounts

[hambone]

I will be going to florida this winter and would like to bring back some saltwater fish I catch to mount I was thinking snook,redfish and sheephead, are these species ok to skin mount?

[NOAH@aarrkk]

I have done skin mounts on redfish and seems that for some/many this is their preferred method, some with cast heads and fins however so that should be no problem for you.   As for the others I have no experience with them but if a customer brought them in I would go with molding and casting.  Maybe this would be a good time for you to give this a try if you have not already done so.

IMHO,
jerry

[Old Fart]

Years ago, when I was younger, bolder and stupid, I skin mounted a couple salt water fish for a couple clients. One was a Red Snapper and the other an Albacore(if I remember right).  The Snapper turned out OK and I never heard anything bad from the client. The Albacore SMELLED bad, but I was able to cover the scent by sealing it very well.  It wasn't a rot smell, but a rancid smell. I never heard anything back from him either, but he did pass away at least ten years ago. I have no idea what happened to the fish, I really felt that it had no chance of holding up. Both customer's were insistant that their fish be skin mounts anyway.

At the time I did them there were few repos on the market and I don't believe there were any in the size range of either fish.  Options were limited.  Now with the huge number of repo's available, I don't know why you'd even bother attempting skin mounts. If you're doing it for yourself, WHY NOT.  If you're paying to have it done, it may be a costly mistake.