Fish

[Might Mite]

How do you tend to a fish if you know you want it mounted. I have heard some say wrap it in a wet dish towel and freeze it to preserve the colors. What do you do?

[nctaxi]

Wrap in soaking wet towel, with fins tucked to body, put in bag and freeze. The very best way is to vaccuum seal them, they'll last about forever. The towel method will last for a while but not years

[Elkshed]

A good way to preserve a fish for mounting especially if you are a long way from home,backpacking,etc.is to put the fish in a pillow case with salt on the fish gently rubbed in the gill area,mouth and underneath the fins.The salt will help retain much of the natural color of the fish and absolutely prevent any faded streaks on the body.Also the salt process is extremely important as it will kill bacteria and help set the scales until the fish can be skinned,mounted or frozen.
another temporary method is to store in freezer.After measurements,color notations,an tagging,the fins and tail should be individually wrapped with damp paper towels or tissue and then carded with milk cartons and paper clips to prevent damage while in freezer.Wrap the fish in a 1 1/2" to 2" layer of wet newspaper,tape with 2" masking paper,and then put in at least one plastic garbage bag,two are better one over the head facing the tail, one over the tail facing the head.Use a twist tie to seal,then wrap the bag with 2" masking tape.Then write on the tape species,date etc.
A fish treated such as this can be stored a "long" time and will produce a much higher quality mount.Hope this helps.
Elkshed

[jmbuckhunter]

Take its picture and do a fiberglass reproduction. They are awsome.

[nctaxi]

jm - I agree to some extent. But not all repro's are created equal.

[mauser06]

i was told make sure the cloth is white. i used a "wife beater" "white muscle shirt" i wet it and wrapped it in that. fins tucked close to body as said. pictures are a MUST if you want real colors. ive watched fish turn colors in a matter of minutes. the one i caught and had mounted was wrapped in the wet shirt in minutes, and i kept it wet till i got home. probably 2 hours max. it lost all its color by then. you could tell it had color in some spots but it looked nothing near what it did..good thing i had pics!