I took a 20" walleye to the taxidermist.

[Spin]

OK Lets review the posts in this thread and sort the fact from fiction. Trapper and Fishfins you are both way off base so lets straighten this out. wise up and don't make up fictitious things for me to have said. It's record, in black and white. If you think my meaning was unclear say so and I'll try and lay it out for you and the rest of the list but skip the little flights into fantasy land reading in some fictitious meaning into what you say I said or thought to try and support your positions. There's a quote function, second from the right on the bottom line,give it a try. Now' Here we go

1   COMES HERE TO SHARE  HIS EXCITEMENT AND  SOMEONE HAS TO USE  HIS POST TO PREACH THE RELIGION OF FRIENDS OF ANIMALS ,
     preach the religion of Friends Of Animals? show me!  I've got a reply on another list right now that states  how I feel about PETA this statement is wrong, I did no such thing Trapper but here's another quote from you

you want a reproduction   that's ok with me [end quote] then maybe you might take up this "Fight"with your buddy FishFins, he seems to have a big problem. FishFins

My dog in this "fight" is the condemnation of skin mounting fish. It's pretty obvious that the source of the criticism is poor skills on the part of the taxidermist. Shrinkage is inevitable in a skin mount, but skilled taxidermists routinely rebuild such areas back to a lifelike appearance. Traditional skin mounting of fish is a skill that is being lost because of the mass production of faux fish. Just about any kind and size of fake fish can be bought. About all that the taxidermist does is some grinding, sanding, and painting.....hardly "taxidermy" in the true sense. The trained eye can almost always tell a fiberglass fish from a skin mount. The fins and tails of replicas are usually very thick and opaque. The undercuts of the lips and gill cover are necessarily obscure because molding cannot capture that kind of detail. Gills are either not included or are something else unrealistic like pressed plastic or painted craft chenille. Of course knocking a skin mount off of the wall will probably damage it badly. Do the same to a replica and guess what? Get the broom and dustpan! [end quote] Dust pan! Sorry Fins I've hung around, grew up with fished and hunted with some very respected and award winning taxidermist's They don't share your opinion. I don't really know but suspect you may be a part time taxidermist yourself. Anyway here's a few links, suppose we let the readers of this thread decide on their own. http://www.jeffsfishmounts.com/
http://www.fibertechproductions.com/ http://www.fishreplicas.com/  http://www.americanfishtaxidermy.com/
http://www.advancedtaxidermy.com/gallery/fish-gallery.html  http://www.flyfishingonline.com/pages/reproductions.html

2  Trapper

what you have really done is lose  sight  of the  true  meaning of  being a sportsmen  and that is  wishing  someone well and  congratulating them. [end quote]   Are you blind? the very first word I said to the man was congratulations Here try again  C-O-N-G-G-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S maybe you'd understand it better if I wrote it out in crayola.  That's your idea of a true sports sportsman guess I made the grade then. Me I'd add appreciating the resource and trying to see it continue and improve. Yes I'm one of those Old crazy
guys that's out busting I disagree doing stream work, recreational land and easement acquisition so you guys have  places to fish(and hunt). BTW I missed seeing the post where you mention being a flyfisherman. You delete it?

3 Trapper

i did  notice  you bragging about  the  almost record  brown ..... you decided  to kill that brown ,,,no different then him !!!!!(sounds  a little  hypocritical) [end quote] Bragging no, I mentioned the brown because it was a good example to point out an advantage of a fiberglass mount this fish mount was obviously valued. Hippocrate I don't think so. I stated I had 25 fish mounted and do take fish to eat. Next I did try to revive that fish, 3 times. I knew it was a very big brown so instead of letting the crawdads eat it it took it to a taxidermist. HE checked and found out that it was a record fish and mounting a world record is a big deal to any taxidermist so I let him. Hypocritical? you and Fins several time say I've a right to my opinions and C&R is OK with the both of you( You generally ignore I stated I try to use and think highly of intelligent harvest) but in the next breath you say I'm spouting BS, and

PREACH THE RELIGION OF FRIENDS OF ANIMALS.
phead lakeman said

little small for taxidermy,lol. and  Drifter 016 said

I would have dredged it in an egg wash and flour, before dropping it in a pan of melted butter.[end quote] Both posted beforeme, neither congratulated the guy(I did) and both expressed opinions other than husb0023, the poster, and neither of you jumped on them. If you two want to point your fingers at someone and cry hippocrate the best thing the two of you could do is look in the nearest mirror.

4  Fins said

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.  "Spin" seems to be pretty good at doing both. [end quote]  Fins do you even know what the definition of "fact" something true and accurate or "truth" is?
you know- that which conforms to reality, maybe not because all you've presented was unsubstantiated opinion. You haven't referenced or presented any corroboration to backup any of your claims - nothing.
Forget any rational debate, and God help you in any legal action that you try to represent yourself in. Ditto
defending any theory in any institute of higher learning. Everday working guys want facts too not just hot air.
Now and then they call your bluff and you get stuck looking like a fool
 
5   I could go on but I think I should mention that husb0023 you know the guy that made the original post
     seemed to have no trouble expressing his own opinion and answering me. They didn't all jive with mine
     But that's OK( I mentioned I did much the same thing only it was a 23" eye and the Kankakee river not
     monster walleye water) Mounting the fish was fine by me, remember I said have 25 fish mounted and I
     nothing against taking fish - just try to do it responsibly.

      And a shout out and apology to Skipper. I'm sorry partner but I confused Mille Lacs with Winibagosh. I knew  something wasn't clicking and googled reduced perch limit and Perch Train and Bingo! Sorry about the mix up
I didn't doubt you just couldn't figure where I made the wrong turn. P.S. Winnebago where I live is a hell of a walleye and perch factory too, more so eyes. No closed season and no size limit. Was fantastic sauger water
 but they crashed. We're 8 years into a 10 year restoration program. this is the first year we're allowed to keep sauger. 1 per day and that's counted in a 5 a day aggregate with walleye.

                                                                                                                                               Spin

[trapper2000]

spin if one person misunderstands you,well thats possiable when 10 people basicly misunderstand you then perhaps you better listen! perhaps you  don't even know  how crude you talk? so i'm being honest you belittled the  man his fish  and  the way people  eat and  questioned there ethics,period , you don't have that right ,i see the reason for the  name "SPIN" as thats what your tring to do here. no reason for me to waste  my time i won't be responding to you  any more i much rather be ENJOYING the company and storys of  other anglers!in closing spin either you really don't get it, or you just like reaction and are  more interested in preaching your own beliefs then fishing, or your a rude person. no matter what when 10 people tell you basicly the same thing it's time to do some thinking!you have a good day and good luck

[brokenline]

serioulsy lets be men about this he took it to the taxi.. its over n done with no need to try and smoke ashes..

[Skipper]

I have never seen a PILE of quotes before. I for one have seen the light, and have no need to argue this any more.

I wonder if a 20'' skin mounted HOUSE CAT would draw this much attention.

[Grumpyoldman]

Who told you about the cat? I've been passing it off as a small mountain lion.

[Madpuppy]

Sorry Drift, I don't drink anymore. I'll have a Coors N/A with ya though

[double-aught]

wow...

congrats on the walleye!!
i'd have done the same. i have a couple of "smaller" trout mounted-18-22" range. they are less expensive, and i think they look better than a big ole hog, and they take up less room, and are more representitive of what you're more likely to actually catch.

who p'd in spins' cornflakes?
a dude writing lenghty manifestos berating a man he doesn't know  for doing something widely accepted as a normal practice? methinks he doth protest too much...

[fishfins]

spin if one person misunderstands you,well thats possiable when 10 people basicly misunderstand you then perhaps you better listen! perhaps you  don't even know  how crude you talk? so i'm being honest you belittled the  man his fish  and  the way people  eat and  questioned there ethics,period , you don't have that right ,i see the reason for the  name "SPIN" as thats what your tring to do here. no reason for me to waste  my time i won't be responding to you  any more i much rather be ENJOYING the company and storys of  other anglers!in closing spin either you really don't get it, or you just like reaction and are  more interested in preaching your own beliefs then fishing, or your a rude person. no matter what when 10 people tell you basicly the same thing it's time to do some thinking!you have a good day and good luck

    X2   Links to a business that  makes and sells ONLY replicas and to a taxidermy studio who apparently ONLY does replicas really gives an unbiased comparison of fiberglass clones and skin mounts...eh?    It's a given that a fake fish will withstand more abuse than a skin mount, but when it comes to realism and details, even the untrained can tell repros aren't real fish. Apparently the taxidermy profession thinks so too because the Best in  the World fish at the WTC was a smallmouth bass....SKIN MOUNT.    On the assumption that the fisherman who is having his 20" walleye done as a skin mount chose a taxidermist based on excellent quality rather than cheap price, he will get a beautiful mount that will last a lifetime.  Great choice!