88 How To Make Fish Mounts 



Bend the head down and finish separating it from the body. 

 Continue skinning until the entire body is free. Dispose of 

 the body. Cut the throat skin where it meets the head as in- 

 dicated in Fig. 85. It is possible, but more difficult, to skin out 

 the flesh in this area while leaving the skin attached to the head. 



Return to the head; snip the gills at their extremities and 

 remove them entirely (Fig. 87). Some taxidermists recom- 

 mend leaving the gills within the head. Why, I don't know. 

 The less flesh, bone, and tissue remaining in the skin the better 

 the mount will be. Remove as much flesh and bone from the 

 head as possible. Gouge out the eyes. Cut into the cheeks from 

 the inside and scrape out all the meat; cut the tongue at its base 

 and remove. Cut into the skull— of course from the inside- 

 many times with heavy shears or scissors and gouge away as 

 much of the bony structure as possible. If small pieces of the 

 head skin are damaged, they can be repaired in the mounted 

 fish. Return to the base of the fins and cut and scrape away all 

 the flesh clinging to the base of the spines. Then skin the tail 

 to the base of the rays and remove the inch or two of body 

 which remains ( Fig. 88 ) . Go over the entire fish and carefully 

 scrape away all bits of flesh from the skin. 



Skinning can be interrupted at any time after the body is 

 removed for almost any period of time if the skin is placed in a 

 saturated salt solution. Simply fill a pan with water and add 

 salt until it will no longer disappear. Be sure no part of the 

 fish skin remains out of the water. 



Preserving the Skin 



If the skin is greasy, wipe it thoroughly and soak it in water 

 containing a strong detergent. There are many good household 

 soap fluids on the market today; or you can use a strong brown 

 soap. I do not recommend that the amateur use gasoline or 

 carbon tetrachloride to remove grease because it is too danger- 

 ous. If an adult angler feels he must use gasoline as a grease 

 remover, he should do it outdoors a good distance from home. 

 Under no circumstances should young boys use it. 



