Dumb question, but I have to ask

[den007]

Customer requesting a 22 inch smallie to "match" one he caught with a "21 inch girth." lol   Sounds like he might settle for a 22 x 20 if I can "design" it.  Oh, I can design it. I paint dinosaur heads too. Question......is there such a blank out there anywhere.
I am hearing crickets already, but have to ask.

[Dave Smith]

I know what I would do: I would make him pay in full in advance and I would make him a smallmouth EXACTLY that size and then let him die of embarrassment.

[Marc]

Too bad you couldn't make a cast of a big respectable fish using a heavy duty rubber like material of which balloons are made of....that way you could just add air to the final product and make a mount of what the angler THINKS he/she caught...LOL!
 I have a monster smallie replica from that guy up in Canada who is now defunct ( after selling to one of the big supply dealers) and I just measured it....it's girth is 18 to 18.5 inches which is as big or bigger than some of the 6.5 to 7.5 pound skin mounts I've done.
 Looks like another reality check is in order.
 In my tenure as a taxidermist, I have heard countless stories of monster fish of unbelievable proportions being caught and with regularity too...I always have the same repsponse to those claims........bring me TWO of those and I'll mount yours free for gifting me the second one. Do you know that I have NEVER had a taker on that offer yet?...LOL..LOL!
Maybe show the guy this thread and tell him he's been looking through the magnifying glass a bit too long...LOL! Which may explain a few other problems he's having as well??

[FishArt]

I'm suppose to be taking in two Smallies today - skin mounts (caught up your way Marc). They're suppose to be 6 and change and 7 and change and only 18" and 20"!!! Apparently both full of eggs...

[Marc]

 Marty...there's been alot of hogs being caught this year. I have a bunch of friends who fish the sturgeon bay open...it's a BIG smallie tourney ( NOT my cup of tea)....top prize is 50K.  If you didn't top fifty pounds for 12 fish...you didn't even make it to the top ten. Many 5 and 6 lb. fish but I have to tell you...those lengths really don't match up with the weights. Even when full of spawn an 18 incher would MAYBE run 4 3/4 lbs. 5 Max. That's even giving it the benefit of the doubt. But you know how anglers are and also how off some of those hand held scales are....but who cares....you charge by the inch anyway.
 Is that why my numbers are down a bit?? Clients are running the fish down to you???....LOL!
 I'll dig up a couple photos of a 19 or 20 incher I recently caught. Definitely NOT 6 or 7 lbs. but then each fish is different. Pardon me for breaking into your post Dennis.

[Marc]

They don't seem to show these bars as well when you catch them as when you let them swim around in the sink for awhile...LOL!

[FishArt]

That's what I thought. Maybe they're longer too and he's trying to save a few bucks (or should I say THINKS he's going to save a few bucks - lol!)

Dennis, I wouldn't touch that custom job with a 39 1/2 foot pole! What I normally try to do is steer my clients onto a longer one which weighed ~ the same. Otherwise I tell them that there's simply nothing available and next time KEEP the damn fish - lol!

[Dave Smith]

I would just cast one of these in epoxy resin and then foam fill it- Viola!! Beach ball with stripes and fins- just what the guy wants.

[Marc]

 Nice job but...
 though pictures can be deceiving, I guess that fish to have a girth of about 17 to 18 inches. Dennis needs a fish with a whopping 21 inch girth.

[fishtail]

Beautiful fish Dave!

Is that the record fish that came out of Hagg Lake? If so, that may be the ticket for den007. Likely the largest blank available?

Nice work.

[Dave Smith]

Nice job but...
 though pictures can be deceiving, I guess that fish to have a girth of about 17 to 18 inches. Dennis needs a fish with a whopping 21 inch girth.

Yeah Marc- it does have an 18 inch girth right now, but not after you cast one in epoxy resin and foam fill it- he he. Yup, Rande- that's the state record. I think it was caught by a kid named LUCKY BAS%@#D- I know: weird name- I thought so too.

[den007]

INteresting replies! That bass does look pig fat. Now, when you say cast it and foam fill it.... Once cast, is the cast not solid???   Just curious. I asked the guy for a good pic of the fish, it was not forthcoming and I basically told him either he was jerking my bobber or whatever I could do on a replica would look plain stupid, but I would be happy to take his money for the extra work I was going to add some of Jeff Lumsden's urethane to the belly, the sand it down to shape, then cover it with apoxie sculpt and do some scale detailing. Never heard back from him. I never know if inquiries such as these are serious, or some taxidermist on lacquer thinner just trying to annoy me. Thanks all. Marc, I saved your nice photo of the smallie back. That is a seriously good reference pic for an area of the fish typically neglected.