1. Why do we charge more money as a rule for reproductions as apposed to skin mounted fish?
I charge the same for both. I find, although I have to pay for the blank (I don't cast my own at this point), the amount of labor is less which makes it pretty much a wash in comparison to a skin mount. Actually I find not contending with building up shrinkage, fin coating and backing, back seam work, etc. on a good quality blank it's a refreshing change of pace!
2. How do you go about putting the color stripe on a rainbow trout? Explain how and what colors you may use.
I put down a gold base under the stripe color I use. I mix yellow and red in a ratio that gives me the color I want. Many times I also tip in some silver scales. Sometimes on a chormish fish that just has a hint of pink I just use red very lightly. I've also seen steelhead with a more violet color.
3. How much time do you spend rebuilding on the inside of the mouth of a fish? Lets say on warm water or even a repro as there is always some work to be done? What do you repair or rebuild and how?
Not sure how much time it takes but I fill in any damage from skinning, build up the tongue to it's original shape and build up the bottom lip with Apoxie sculpt. I've seen other mounts where the taxidermist didn't bother. IMHO it's imperative.
4. What are some really important considerations when choosing what airbrush to buy? It does what I want it to do, simplicity, and ease of cleaning and maintainence. I'm considering checking out the high end brushes that everyone raves about, but my H-1 Paashe pretty much does everything I need it to. I guess I'm a KISS kind of guy. (Keep it Simple Stupid).
5. What is a paint schedule and how do you come up with one? A paint schedule as everyone knows is supposed to show you step by step how to paint a particular species. I think they're a great way to help a beginner, and can even give more advanced painters some ideas. I only come up with them now to help others on here or help students. A fish taxidermist should at some point be able to look at a fish and determine what colors he should use to duplicate it.
6. If you as a taxidermist catch a nice fish for your own collection how do you go about getting it from the water to the freezer? Tell us what you do to preserve your fish for the freezer?
If I'm out a in a boat on public waters I put them on ice. However I rarely fish public waters anymore as I've had it with the crowds, jetskies, and rude people. The quality of expericen for the average angler is not tehre anymore in my state. On my own property I euthanize the fish with a fish anesthetic such as MS222, or Clove Oil or very small bit of Clorox in a cooler of water or place a bass or yellow perch in a wet towel and allow it to expire that way ( that's not a good idea for trout as they can discolor) Once the fish expires it's immediately placed on a plastic lined shelf of a freezer, and allowed to freeze. Once it solidified I place wet paper towelling over the fins. Once the wet paper towel freezes solid the fish is vacumn sealed a foodsaver material. This is what I do with my commerical for sale fish also.
7. Have you ever looked at a mounted fish that was poorly done and said to your self that is bad taxidermy? OK we have all been there now here’s the question. If that bad fish mount was 8 or 10 dollars were inch how much more is good work worth? How do you separate the customer from paying for bad work and paying you more for better work?
Around here the bad work is even lower than 8 to 10 dollars an inch. Good work startes at 9 or 10 dollars an inch. Usually the customer gets what he pays for but I have seen high priced mounts that look like crap too. It's the exception but it does happen.
8. Root, Panel, or by it self… What is the most typical customer hanger for their fish?
Most of my customers prefer cedar driftwoodk or by itself. I do offer hardwood panels, and natural bark panels though. I find they usually pic what you have on display and too many choices can confuse them.
9. Tell us how you set and eye? Where does the pupil go and how do you figure out the angles and the depth?
I "eyeball it." No pun intended!
Narrow part of the pupil is forward obviously and the pupil is level with the angle of the fish (there is a limit). I dont' want them in to far in, but I don't go for the bug eyed look either -- although I've seen it on live fish. I also want the eye to be parallel with the plane of the fish and usually hold the fish against the wall to get that right. Of course there are some other things you can do if you want a special effect.
Bonus Question
10. Is this a trout or a char? What make you think one over the other? How does this apply to your taxidermy work? See picture at the bottom of the post!
A Char is a brook trout, lake trout, dolly varden, bull trout, arctic char and a few other minor species. A trout is a general term for a brown and rainbow trout although the brookie is commonly called a trout by anglers. If we wanted to be more accurate we should call a brook trout a
brook char like some in Canada do.
Char typically have strong white edges to the ventral fins and have a dark background with light spots vs. a light background with dark spots as on rainbows and browns. There are other differences too, such as amount of teeth and where they are placed. I personally find the spawning colors of most of the chars absolutely breathtaking.
Scientists now consider all the western trout i.e. rainbows and goldens as salmon and have but them into the salmon genus onchorhynchus with the pacific salmon. They are saying now the only true "trout" we have is the brown trout which is not only not native, but it's closely related to the Atlantic salmon. Go figure. Maybe "trout" is just a colloquial generic term and really doesn't mean much?
Obviously a taxidermist's knowledge of the difference between the species is paramount to reproducing them accuarately.
I can only say what that fish pic is not: It's not in the char family as it would proabably have some distinct black pigment in the mouth. Am I right? Or if it is a char it isn't during spawning time.
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