Warm-water fish (Bass/Crappie)

_______Have customer fill out and sign the top part of taxidermy reporting form.

_______Before customer leaves, and while he is watching, examine fish for damage or distinctive markings.  Look for damage to fins and tail to

                determine whether mount would be best if turned right, left, or pedestal.  If damage is noted, suggest alternate-side mount.  If specimen

                is frozen  and examination is not practical, ask customer whether they have a preference for a right or left turn (ie to match or contrast

                with currently-owned mounts) or whether he would rather have you choose the “best side”, to be determined when fish is thawed and

                skinned.  The explanation for “best side” is understood to be, either the side with the least damage (worst case scenario), or the side

                with the most beautiful markings (best case scenario).

_______Write up order on taxidermy reporting form.  Thank your customer.  Tag fish with identifying information, and put him promptly into the freezer.

_______When you have time to mount him, lay him out several hours beforehand to thaw before skinning.

_______Put on gloves. 

_______Roll out a sheet of waxed paper to skin him on.  (If a crappie, paint with Elmer’s glue or soak in denatured alcohol before skinning to help hold onto the scales.)

_______Place fish on paper in curve that is desired (crescent shape).

_______Use a permanent marker to trace the shape of the fish.  Leave gaps (to fill in later) where fins are.   Record length of fish, head to tail.  Mark

                 inside traced fish “tail up”  or “tail down”.

_______Take and record measurements as follows in order to hand-carve a form:  Using calipers, measure the thickness of the body  (from side to

             side, not top to bottom) of the bass

                         1) behind the gills,

                         2) dorsal fin

                         3) at middle of body above vent, and

                         4) at tail.

_______Cut around gill plate on cut side.  Do not cut throat latch or across top of head. 

_______Use scissors to cut along lateral line.  Stop 1/4” from tail.

_______Cut tail bone and back bone at head. 

_______Skin the cut side of fish up to, and down to, fins.

_______Cut fins with scissors, keeping fingers firm on other side of fish to be sure you don’t snip through to the front of the   fish.

_______Cut esophagus long.  Remove body.

_______Snap off vertebrae by brain cavity with scissors. 

_______Break out top of skull to get out meat  with scissors.

_______Get meat out of throat latch.  Remove bone in middle of throat latch to take meat out of other side, leaving the gill bone on the show side. 

_______Scrape out all meat. 

_______Remove eyes.   Cut around eye.  Pry out with paper towel.

_______Remove cheek meat through eye socket with Josh Tool.

_______Cut tip off tongue with scissors.

_______Take jaw meat out from inside on big fish.   (Double check after tanning to be sure all meat is removed.)

_______Tanning solution:  1 gallon water to 1 cup of Borax to 1 cap of Concentrated Lysol Original. 

_______Carve body.

_______Copy traced fish body on block of fish foam from Van Dykes, or on blue or orange dock foam.  Use a block 5” thick. 

_______Cut with band saw to general shape of fish.

_______Cut square edges with knife and then shave with rasp until close in size.  Smooth with sanding block.  Keep trying skin until it fits. 

                 Never make fish body too small.  You want to end up with a slightly larger fish for aesthetic purposes.

_______Carve groove for fins and gill bone and fill with clay.

_______Put clay on tail of form, top of head of body and in brain cavity.  (Don’t put clay on throat latch of body.)

_______Make a hold in body for esophagus.  Stitch esophagus. 

_______Put brown hide paste on show side.

_______Lay skin over form.   Baseball stitch, starting at tail, with loose stitches about  1/2” apart. 

_______Set fins.

_______Use cardboard and hardware cloth to card fins, if you let dry for 12 hours or less.  If you let dry longer, use plastic  on front.  Paperclip in place.

_______Gills and gill flap.  Cut cardboard.  Curve.  Place between gills.  Card bottom of gill flap. 

_______Fill cheeks with paper mache.  Overfill and squeeze out.  Use finger to make eye socket.

_______Open mouth with _____/———   bent wire.  Stick in mouth and adjust. 

_______Trace tail on cardboard, rounding the inside of the tail.  Cut hardware cloth to match cardboard.  Paperclip in place. 

_______Look at reference for adipose fins to rebuild.

_______Bottom fin.  Short side sets against body, then pull away from body to spread fins before carding. 

_______Fin fin.  As soon as you pull off cards after drying, coat with fin fin.  (Van Dykes can’t ship fin fin sometimes.  Can use sobo glue, if necessary.)

_______Fixing fins.

_______Do all repairs on back side, first aid tape or clear plastic.  Repair with imperfections.  Notch or slit to simulate natural fin shape and wear and tear. 

_______Trace tail on plastic and cut out, making tail a little larger than fish.  Trim to fit.  Glue with contact cement. 

_______Texture with fin-backing crème or clear, paintable, acrylic caulk.  (Small repairs, you can use fin fin.)  Spread caulk.  Texture with brush. 

                 Caulk back of tail.  Rough up clear plastic before applying caulk. 

_______Replacing fins.  Cut from plastic in shape of fin.  Or order in fin sets.  Glue pectoral fin by reference. 

_______Use epoxy to fix throat latch and to build tongue and to fix low spots on fish is scales are missing. 

_______Set eyes.  Point to front. 

_______Paint bass.

_______1.  Off white or bass belly white.  Paint belly white.  Fade up.

_______2.  Yellow ochre.  Paint yellow on back.  Fade down.

_______3.  Silver metallic.  Paint silver down from head at strong angle.

_______4.  Bass green metallic.  Paint from back, fade down sides to bottom.

_______5.  Black green.  Paint around epoxy on eye.  Paint down top of fish.  Paint stripe down side with pattern of random spots. 

                         Paint spots on gill.  Shoot from tail at strong angle from stripe up.  Shoot across tail spines at strong angle and top fin. 

                        Put pattern between stripe and back. 

_______6.  Silver eye shadow.  Brush on belly spots. 

_______7.  Pearl gold pigment.  Put a little on finger and touch across back where light shines on show side. 

_______8.  Gloss.  Master fish gloss—watery, but works in damp weather.  Super fish gloss—doesn’t work in damp weather