I am going to be spear fishing in the near future in Wisconsin lakes.
What I ultimatly want to do is mount the fish I spear like this, (Fish w/hard curl, head and tail coming away from the wall with the spear half way through it).
Does this seem like to lofty of a goal to set with just starting out in the fish side of taxidermy, or wouldn't this project be much diffrent than a regular mount/replica? Otherwise I will look in to having it done.
I'm open to any ideas, tips or info. Thanks everyone!
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I thought spearing was limited to through the ice for pike or for carp in the spring or other roughfish? But I'm not from Wisconsin so what do I know.
IMHO a fish mounted with a spear through it would be of bad taste expecially since it can be controversial with many anglers. Just my opinion though.
They can spear fish here in Wisconsin in the spring time.
Unless you are native american you can only spear rough fish (in season) and lake Sturgeon (lake Winnebago)through the ice, a very limited season. I live in northwestern wisconsin and spearing can get controversial at times especially if you were to mount a walleye or musky with a spear. But I imagine rough fish wouldn't as bad. I always have thought about mounting a speared fish, but don't think it will go over well. Happy mounting.
Cory
seeing as I'm not much of a fisherman on top of the water I don't know my regulation book that well so I'll have to check in to it but you are allowed to spear rough fish by means of scuba diving or skin diving. The dates are different for different sets of counties.
As far as taste....Hopefully I'll be recrating this for a mount myself so I won't have to worry about how tastefull this is.
Personaly its just more of a conversation peice for me and my friends from FL. No wisconsin fish will ever match up with a nice Grouper, Snaper or Hog fish.
The spear is a small 1/4" shaft (almost looks like an arrow with no fletchings). Not some huge 4-5 pronged barbed pitch fork.
in a way that is not disturbing to Joe public.....I recently saw a deer mount with a misplaced arrow shot that set me back. Though, It was so realistic!
Spearing is very touchy subject in our state.I Just read in the paper recently that many of the good walleye lakes have a 1 fish per day limit due to the amount of walleyes speared(while on their spawning beds in 2 feet of water at night with the use of high powered spotlights)Some lucky lakes do have a 2 fish per day limit.Alot of taxidermists will refuse to mount speared fish in protest to this practice.You can probably get an idea of my opinion by reading between the lines,but like I said,it's very controversial and everyone has a right to their opinion.
It is legel in Wisconsin to use a spear, above the water & under the water, for certain species of rough fish and pan fish during the open seasons. Make sure you read the regulations, which break it down to when and where you can use a spear. Most trout streams do not allow any spearing.
With your question on if it would be a hard mount. Im newer at this but i dont think it would be alot different then a regular fish mount. Just put the spear in like the middle of the body form and then put the skin on over it making a hole in it to thread the spear through. It shouldnt be much different then a normal fish.
JOE
I was curious about the puncture hole but I supose you could just rebuild it with some apoxy sculpt.
It was just an idea whos knows if I'll ever try it. The only spearable fish wouldn't be that impressive anyways. Would be Damn funny to my Flordia friends though!