Repro King Salmon

Big J, is the King you are going to replicate lake caught or a pre spawner river run fish? There is a big difference when it comes to color and scale detail

 

send it back, you paid good money for a blank that isnt what you expected.

 

As stated in the two threads
First question is what time of year is the fish caught in ?
Second is does the fish you got represent the fish your doing.
Spring through very early fall you’ll have scales but after that fat deposits come to play and you’ll have pits and very little scales to deal with. Make sure of this and then decide if it’s the company, you etc etc. If anything then call the company. I did the same width a barracuda. It was a fresh pour not even totally hard yet and they wrapped it and sent it. Lol nothing but wrapper marks and a totally shitty fish. Same thing big company sent it back!

 

As I stated and backed up by Frank's reply, there is a huge difference between a lake run fish and a river spawner. Lake run fish will have very small scales that are appropriate for scale tipping. A fall river run pre spawner's scales turn into a thick protective skin with indented pockets along the back and above the lateral line with a very heavy coat of body slime. This is a normal change in the skin when they enter the river to reproduce. If it is a river run fish, then there really aren't any scales to tip and trying to scale tip would be inaccurate for this species phase. If that is the case, then the supplier molded one of the transition choices and you should have requested that when ordering. Suppliers should give better descriptions for species that go through anatomical changes like Salmon and certain Trout. Large river run Brown Trout always have many deep pockets on the back, that is often blamed as the molder's fault as a bad blank, when it is not. The taxidermist should know those difference's and ask for those details at the time of order. Even some of the best blank suppliers send inaccurate parts. Case in point are Sailfish blanks that always come with Marlin feeler's. With that said, if this King is a river run fish, then there is no scale tipping that needs to be done

 

Big J, if it had a big Kype, then the blank was from a river run fish. Great Lakes salmon and Brown Trout develop that during the spawning transition. Rainbow and Steelhead can have some kype development even before the spring spawn prior to entering the river since they don't spawn and die like King's and large Brown trout. It is fairly easy to add or remove the kype if needed. I can see your issue with a lake bound king's scales if your blank is a river run fish. Scale tipping surely would cause issues on a blank in the fall phase.

 

It's possible to sculpt a kype with Apoxie Sculpt to the exact specs you desire. I add kypes to brown trout and salmon all the time to match photos of particular males with hooked jaws. I also add a lot of detail to heads, fins, tails, etc that aren't present on repros! You would be amazed what you can do with Apoxie Sculpt!

 

Forgot to mention that it’s possible to scale tip even though scales aren’t present. Salmon usually have tiny scales so you barely see them but look fantastic if you put in the time and tip them.

 

If you seen my barracuda I shown in Ricks month fish that had practically no scales . I painted it dark grey and hand painted them in like this