i am tackling my first musky,.and my question is ,do i soak in mineral spirits ,..then soak in tanning solution?,or other way around?,..and how long to leave in mineral spirits?
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Overnight, maybe a bit longer - but not TOO long or your skin will begin to degrade. After M.S., Soak a bit in water w/Dawn and rub the skin gently with your hand to remove the M.S.'s. Rinse/New Dawn/Rinse?New Dawn/Rinse (unitl it doesn't feel greasy anymore.) Then, put it into the Denatured Alcohol or whatever "tanning" you use. The D.A. will not only act as a preservative, but it will also do a little bit of degreasing as well. Soak the skin in fresh cold water for about a half hour to losen up prior to mounting.
P.S. IF you get all the meat out and rinse the skin cleanly BEFORE soaking in the M.S., your M.S. will last a lot longer before it begins to smell and you'll have to change it out...
and what works for me. Others may do something differently. And I do a good number of muskies as some of the best musky fishing the world is in my area of Indiana believe it or not. We have sevral natural lakes where a few dozen hooks ups a day is possible with fish up to 40 + pounds.
After skinning and scraping, which includes the use of several fresh scalpel blades to cut and scrape stubborn tissue and connective ribbons, I soak overmight in mineral sprits, as they do have some grease. I know this because I see grease blobs in the bottom of the bucket after degreasing. The next morning I allow the skin to drain over one side of my double stainless steel sink for a few minutes.(I have dry wall screws mounted above the sink and hang the skin by the eye orbits to drain).
Next I mix up a very soapy solution of dawn dishwashing liquid in cold water and submerge the skin in that for up to 20 minutes. It takes off the mineral sprits residue and any grease that is clinging to the skin. I work the skin around in it for a few minutes. Then it's a rinse in clear cold water and a soak overnight again in a borax/lysol solution. After that it's ready to mount. If I'm not ready to mount, then I roll the skin, head, and fins up in a large ziplock freeer bag or garbage bag and freeze until I'm ready to mount.
I also remove the chunk of meat in the lower jaw on each side from an outside incision when skinning, and cut out the free part of the tongue when skinning. If the incision is made correctly from the ouside along the hard bone of the lower jaw no filling or sewing is necessary. The tongue can be built back up with apoxie sculpt.
It's imperative you squeegie out the water that builds up under the scale skin after you mount the skin to the mannikin (I use commericial mannikins). I do that by running the dull edge of a large rapala knife from head to tail. Wear a slicker and googgles or you're in for a shower! Believe it or not you won't hurt the skin or loose scales if your fish was not spoiled when you took it in. Be sure not to use too much glue under your skin as that will make a mess when you squeegie and you'll end up with a lot of glue under teh skin on the anterior end of the fish. Also if you have any holes near the fins bases etc. stick a piece of paper towel over that while the skin is drying to keep any glue from running out onto the fish surface.
I air dry from the rafters over night and then the mouth area goes in front of a fan for a couple of days and back to hanging from the rafters to allow air to circulate around the fish.
You may want to babysit a musky a little as it dries as they have a tendency to do do some raised warped areas on top of the back and in the belly area. If it looks uneven I smooth it out with some pressure or gentle persuation with a hammer while it is semi-dry.
Hope this helps!
BTT I finised my post his was already there. Not disagreeing with you Marty.
...posting Cecil. How about I'll take 10 am to 10 pm and you can have 10:01 pm to 9:59 am? LOL!
The only real difference I do is I squeegee the water pockets BEFORE mounting the musky or pike up. Head to tail of course. I use either a roller or a tongue depressor and sometimes my fingers in the areas tough to get to. Either way will work...
thanks guys for all your advise,i appreciate it dearly