Removing pike head

[hambone]

I just saw Rick Kranes tutorial  where he instructed the mounting of a largemouth and removed the head, finished it and reattached it, I am about to do a skin mount pike and thought I would try removing the head it seems like it would be a lot easier to handle, anyone see a problem doing a pike this way?

[FishArt]

No problems, just another way of doing things. The time it takes to reattach the head and blend is probably a wash with the extra time it would take to get all the meat out if you left the head attached. It's more difficult to do with the head attached. Plus, there probably would be far less stress on the "shoulder" area where manytimes scales lift in this area due to the stress from skinning. No stress now with the head removed. I don't know how Rick does it, but I would pin the head from the top into your foam along with Apoxie Sculpting the transition. You probably don't need the pins IF you get a nice, tight fit on your foam body, but I'm always paranoid that the head may fall off w/o the pins. I tend to overbuild things though...

[hambone]

Marty I was thinking about using a couple heavy wires thru the nostrils into the form and also using some bondo I think that should hold.

[FishArt]

That would probably work. What I do is put a few wires about an inch in front of the head juncture (2 or 3), each about 3" long and drill through the head into the foam with a bit slightly smaller than the pins so they're snug. I also leave these three pins about 1/8" up from the skin. Since the head has shrunk and needs to be built up anyway the bondo or Apoxie Scuplt goes right over these fins sealing the deal...

[rnviper3]

i actually take off the heads to almost all my fish now.  i find it so much easier,and definitely less stress on the skin.  and like fish art, i do everything i can to make sure it don't come off. 

[den007]

First time I tried this on a musky, I reattached the head with bondo. You guessed it. Eventually I got an embarrassing call about how the head fell off.  lol   Use epoxy.........not bondo! Same for seams.

[Travis Jones]

Definately use epoxy to reinstall the head. I also use some Epo Grip quick repair inside the throat latch and a little on top of the head. When that stuff sets its like a rock. Then cover it with epoxy sculpt.