I want to mount a carp. please dont ask why I just need help. about 6 or 7 years ago I mounted one the mount itself was fine but the head on these rough fish are not the same as game fish. It stunk.I thought maybe for a couple of days and it would go away. Wrong I threw it out. Now that there is this wonderful forum and all these profesionals with the answers I thought I would try it again. So if someone could help I sure would appreciate it. Is there something to soak these in or something to prevent the head from smelling. I would really appreciate any help and also what is the best degreaser to buy . Please if you dont have something good to say dont reply.
As far as I know carp are done the same way as any other warm water fish.
Are you sure you cleaned out as much of the head as possible? You need
to make sure you clean out everything. And then after all of the fish is cleaned
and fleshed I would preserve it one of two ways. Either soak it in a
mixture of 50%water and 50% denatured alcohol.
Or you can mix per gallon of water, 1 cup of Borax,1/4 cup of zinc
sulphate and 1 capful of lysol. And soak it in either of these mixes
overnite. This should work unless there is something about a carp
I have never heard of. If there is let me know please. Also I do not
know if carp are especially greasy or not. If they are you may just
want to cast a head and not worry about it. You can find stuff about
casting heads in the archives.
Good Luck,
Todd B
The carp I have done were very greasy.
I did use the real heads on them and made extra sure that they were cleaned out. I would highly recomend removing the tongue and gills and use solvents to preserve the skin. I have always used methonal. I hope some of this helps you
Maybe some one else as some better ways.. I have only mounted 4 of these mothers and wouldn't care if I did another... good luck
I have done quite a few carp. I think the best way is to cast the head. It will solve your smell problems, no shrinkage. I have recently tried super solvent degreaser on fish from Rittels and it works great. Good Luck, MarkV.
Yes and it is a wise choice to do as Mark has said CAST the head. They have way to much grease and shrinkage.
Here is an easy way to cast the head of any fish.
This is all done BEFORE any cuts are made to the fish!
1. Dry the head with a paper towel.
2. Open mouth to the position you want.
3. fold a piece of paper towel, just big enough to stuff into the throat to stop the alginate from going in too deep.
4. Mix up you alginate into a containor lare enough for your fish head.
5. Place containor of alginate under your mounting stand.
6. Hang your fish by it's tail from your stand so that the head and gill covers are submerged into the alginate.
7. Let set. If the fish spins, block it with a stick or something.
8. Gently remove your fish when the Alginate is set-up.
9. Dry the inside of the mold out with a hair dryer.
10. Make a cast mixture of 60%Bondo- 40%fiberglass resin maybe 70%-30% if it seems TOO runny.
11. Pour into mold. Start at the top edge and work your way into the middle. rotate the modl as you pour. Do this in two steps. 1 Light coat, then another. Leave the middle mostly hollow.
12. Let set, then remove very carefully.
12 You have a cast. just sand and finnish. You can make more that one head from this mold if you act fast. After a while the alginate will dry out and shrink.
Good luck.
If you need more info, e-mail me and I will give you my phone number.
Dave