Tom Buckmeier, owner of Hunter Fisher Taxidermy in Anchorage, explains the differences between a traditional skin mount of a king salmon and a fiberglass reproduction. A skin mount hangs on the wall behind him; a fiberglass reproduction is in the foreground. (EVAN R. STEINHAUSER / Anchorage Daily News)

Turn that keeper into a trophy
Taxidermists can craft a prize, even if the big one gets away

By DWAYNE ATWOOD
Daily News reporter

So you have finally landed a lunker, and you think it might look good as a trophy. Maybe you could hang that red-streaked rainbow over the mantle, frozen mid leap and furious. Perhaps that chrome-sided king salmon could grace a wall of the den, a proud reminder of a rod-bending battle.

OK, forget about that certain somebody who might cringe at the idea of a stuffed fish on the wall and tell you to, well, stuff it. Or at least hang it in the garage.

There are other things to keep in mind if you end up mounting your fish. The first question you need to consider is whether you want a skin mount or a fiberglass reproduction.

If you opt for a traditional skin mount, you obviously need to keep the fish. That means you have to take care of it so a taxidermist can make the best possible mount.

But don’t despair if you release the fish. Some taxidermists offer fiberglass replicas. Snap a color photo, measure the length and girth of the fish, and you’ll have all the information needed to order a realistic look-alike.

"Fiberglass came along when catch and release started," said Tom Buckmeier, owner of Hunter Fisher Taxidermy in Anchorage. For that reason, many of his rainbow trout mounts in recent years have been fiberglass reproductions, he said.

But reproductions don’t appeal to everybody. "A lot of people prefer the skin mount," Buckmeier said, " because they want to look at the fish and say, ‘That is my fish. I caught it.’"

While purists might want their prize to be more like an original painting, many anglers don’t care if they get the equivalent of a color print. And taxidermists say the fiberglass is easier to care for; the synthetic material outlasts real skin and fins.

If you are going to keep the fish for a trophy, treat it gently. When a salmon flops madly in the bottom of a boat or on the beach, it loses scales. That’s a problem if you want a skin mount, Buckmeier said. If the fish sits too long in the open air, the fins can start to split. So wrap it in a damp towel or find another way to keep it moist.

If you can’t bring your fish to a taxidermist within a day or two, lay it on a sheet of cardboard and freeze it. It does not hurt to wrap the fish in plastic before freezing it. And remember not to gut the fish – a taxidermist will skin the fish to make a traditional mount, but the cut will be hidden.

Hunter Fisher’s rate is $17 per inch for a skin mount and $15 for a fiberglass reproduction, Buckmeier said. A skin mount – which includes a fiberglass head – will take six months or longer to complete. A replica can sometimes be completed in a month, Buckmeier said.

Not all of the fish Buckmeier works on are lunkers. Some anglers want to preserve their first catch of a certain species – in some cases that has been a dainty, 10-inch rainbow.

At Fantasies in Fiberglass in Kenai, bringing in the fish is optional, said owner Ken Johnson. King salmon are popular at Johnson’s shop, and about half of his customers come in with little more than general instructions.

If an angler remembers to take a couple of measurements and snap a color photo, so much the better. But it doesn’t matter if that whopper is dropped back into the water or into a frying pan. Johnson has hundreds of molds from previous works – from wolf eels to chum salmon – and he can usually find one about the right size.

Before setting up shop in Alaska, Johnson worked in the Los Angeles area mounting marlin, sailfish and other big game species hooked off Mexico and southern California. Fiberglass reproductions are more popular and accepted than they were just a half dozen years ago, Johnson said.

"When I first came up here, people would not give me the time of day."

Increasing catch and release regulations and the popularity of the practice among fly fishers has given fiberglass replicas an added cachet. But if you do want to bring in a fish for an accurate mold, you do need to take care of it, Johnson said.

Again, don’t gut the fish. He also suggested laying the fish on a sheet of smooth cardboard and freezing it.

Fantasies in Fiberglass can get a mount back to the customer in about five months, at a cost of $12 per inch. Johnson said he can sometimes handle rush jobs as well. "It depends on the time of year," he said. "We can speed things up to a few weeks for a birthday, for example."

But you could have yourself a trophy in the amount of time it takes to open your wallet if you like one of the mounts Johnson keeps on display, he said.

"A lot of people come in and they just want to buy fish off the wall."