Has anyone ever worked on a brown trout from Lake Ontario, Up State New York? My problem is oil. I have soaked it overnight in Liqua-Cure mounted - still oily, brushed it down with white gasoline - still oily, washed it with Dawn Dish Detergent - still oily - covered it with saw dust for two weeks - STILL OILY - I will never work on another brown trout again from Lake Ontario.
Can anyone give me any suggestions on this fish?
Thank you in advance for any help or sugguestions that you can give.
John
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trying to use the real head. Because if you are, inside of the head is honey combed with oil. Either cut the top of the head off an remove everything in there. Then you need to rebuild the top the head back. Or go with an artifical head. Is which most of us do anyways You can cast them yourself or purchase one from the many suppliers out there.
Coyote
...soak it in Mineral Spirits overnight. Then Dawn and rinse.
Wear gloves and a mask when dealing with harsh chemicals (had to beat ya to it George!). Mineral Spirits is one of the best degreasers out there. Other's will disagree I'm sure. All I can say is this technique has been working for nearly 30 years and I have not found anything better to degrease fish.
Try it and post your results please....
I just assumed you are using an artificial head as Coyote mentioned. No degreaser out there will remove all the oils from the head of a big salmon or trout.
Btw, you ain't gonna get much oily-er than some of the Big Lake Michigan Lake Trout we get here in the Chicago area. And the mineral spirits does the trick for them...
How many times do I gotta say this before SOMEONE listens. Mineral spirits, gasoline, kerosene, acetone, and a zillion others ARE NOT DEGREASERS. Never were, never will be. THEY ARE SOLVENTS and for every particle of oil they DISSOLVE, they leave their own residue. A DEGREASER is something that actually ATTACKS THE OIL MOLECULES. That means that only a SOAP can really be a degreaser. Dawn is on the low end of that pH factor while Bloodout/Degreaser is the upper end. Harsher DEGREASERS than those tend to break down the protein that holds the skin together and will destroy your mount. In my opinion, Coyote nailed this one.
I open trout heads up quit a bit I'm able to tear a lot of the brain cavity out and clean It...Try soaking trout skins In varsol overnight
you can buy In any hardware store.I know that by the time the gills are cut out and braincavity practically ripped out I've got the head part pretty clean...The head has to be carefully pinned to form & gill covers carded & pinned to form..If you need to widen mouth further you'll have to jam some paper towel inside to keep It from shrinking
I dont use and solvents, I use any soap made for dishwashing. My thinking is if it will clean the pots and pans it will clean the oils from almost any fish head. But then I take everything out leaving only the gills and the skin you see looking at the head from outside the fish.
My bet is the fish was not cleaned well and was not degreased in a soap!
Yes its true I have been known to use my bird wheel in trout and salmon!
...er I mean George. I forgot, you know everything.
And you were in the Air Force (or something of that nature) so of course you are an expert on the subject.
I have no idea why it works, but it does. In fact, the guy I studied under had a student that was a chemist years ago that actually tested all the known degreasers at the time on greasy salmon. (A rather archaic semi-controlled test admittedly.) But, Mineral Spirits was at the top of the list for pulling out grease.
You're probably right that some residue is left behind. But by placing it in the Dawn for awhile pulls out most of this out.
What gets me George is you're shooting from the hip (again) w/o ever trying something. I've asked you to try it, but in your crusty old, stubborn fashion you won't.
Come on down to Chicago sometime and I'll show you my degreasing bucket of Mineral Spirits. Then I'll take you to see some BIG 30 year old skin mounts of Salmon and Trout that have never leaked a drop of oil.
George, how can you call yourself an artist if you never venture outside the box?
You continue to shoot yourself in the foot. Please point out when I have EVER stated that I was an "artist". I don't have any misconceptions or visions of grandeur, but you use hearsay and try to claim evidence. I know what a "degreaser" is and if you want to use a term, at least make sure the definition fits. Regardless of my history or my education, I have a dictionary. Petroleum distillates are not "degreasers" by definition. I used them up until about 10 years ago when I actually saw the difference and spoke to a people like Bruce Rittel and Steve Steinbring. So at least my guns are on my hips and I'm not shooting myself in the ass. Lately you've seem to enjoy your mission to ridicule my answers, but by doing so, you only make them more viable. I'm just repeating lessons I've learned. They didn't give me any more talent, but they sure did give me scars. Now if it makes you feel better or give you some satisfaction, knock yourself out. I don't figure the opinions I've expressed here ever changed anyone's mind simply because I said it. They just give a choice to those who'll eventually have scars of their own to brag about.
Sorry I didn't get back here sooner, But I had to "hobble" over to my computer and then of course I couldn't sit down cuz my ass was blown off! (lol)
George, you know I love you like a brother. (Maybe a half-brother, but nonetheless.) I disagree with you on a couple of things and all of a sudden I'm on a mission to "ridicule your answers". I consider it just another healthy "debate". Besides, you're the KING OF RIDUCULE, I wouldn't mess with you ;)
George, your opinions here do matter. Whenever people post questions and ask for an individual specifically - such as yourself, then obviously something has rubbed off on them and you do have some sort of influence.
I'm curious. You said that you spoke with Bruce and Steve and "saw the difference". The difference between what? And what did you see? (I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck, I'm genuinely interested in the conclusions you drew and how you based these conlusions). Did you use Mineral Spirits years ago?
I'm just repeating lessons I learned too. The evidence is in the bucket. No hearsay. This stuff is OBVIOUSLY doing SOMETHING.
Semantics aside, the "degreasers" today have come about NOT necessarily because they're BETTER, but because they are SAFER. If they pulled out nearly as much oil and grease as my mineral spirits do, then I'd switch. I simply don't believe they work as well...
Six hours sleep in three days would probably make kids grouchy, so you can imagine what it does to us old people.
The comments about Bruce and Steve were convincing me about the degreasing solutions. I'd hated having the smell anyway and I was looking for a much safer and friendlier product after having used gasoline and mineral spirits for years. Dawn soap came out and I was intrigued at what was happening. It just didn't cut it on pigs and salmon, however, so I started asking. The big problem with the solvents is that they do dissolve the oils to some degree, but the oils are simply suspended inside the solvent. You still must wash your skin in a good soap to break the cycle. A good soap destroys the petroleum molecule and disperses it. STILL, there will be some oil in those very greasy skins that will float to the top and you'll still need to wash them in a second solution and then rinse thoroughly. My biggest concern is, as I said, soap breaks down protein and too strong a soap or too long exposure in the solution can damage a hide beyond repair. I've degreased machinery with tricholorethane tech 1,1,1 (dry cleaning solvent or brake cleaner) that you use on electronics, but you use it from suspended parts washing from the top to the bottom which actually sloughs the grease and oil off. I wish there was a magic bullet out there, but if there is, it hasn't been marketed yet.
Would the oven degreaser,I think it is called Off,or the waterless hand soap used by mechanics do the job