539 
December, 1922 
belly to vent and draw out the entrails 
by the gills, wrapping the body up in 
paper to be washed when you cook it. 
if the fish is a large one, say, over 
three pounds, you must break open the 
skull from the inside to dig out the white 
brainy substance, filling the cavity with 
cotton wadding well mixed with salt- 
petre, powdered fine. If any blood is 
on the outside skin, wipe it off ; don’t 
immerse the skin in water. Should the 
work be done at the riverside, some dis- 
tance from home, you should well grease 
the outside skin with muchlin, then fold 
it and wrap it in paper or cloth so that 
no flies get at it till you get home. 
When there, stretch out t’ne skin to its 
proper shape, scattering powdered salt- 
petre all over the inside, then place a 
piece of oiled paper or cloth, cut to 
shape, between the skin so that the two 
sides do not stick together. The out- 
side skin will take care of itself and 
soon dry, but the skin trophy should 
be placed in a box tight enough to pre- 
vent flies from getting on the skin. The 
box may be kept in your room or closet ; 
it won’t smell, but gradually dry up in a 
fairly warm, dry situation. Of course. 
Mount denoting action 
it is far better to have the skin stretched 
on the artificial body as soon as it is 
possible. In any event, if you desire to 
have the jaws open instead of shut you 
should at once prop it open with a stick 
before the skull begins to harden, which 
it does in a day or two. 
'^HE next procedure is to make a body 
upon which to stretch the skin. Va- 
rious methods for this have been used 
and are still in use. Bodies are made of 
wire frame, wrapped round with cotton 
w'ool, furniture hair stuffing and other 
soft materials built to shape. Another 
method is to shape out a plaster cast; 
in my opinion, a very bad method, be- 
cause, in time, the plaster crumbles and 
falls away, the skin will not stick; then 
again, it makes the trophy very heavy 
unless the cast is hollow, and when so 
the slightest knock breaks it. 
My own method, which has proved 
satisfactory, is to get a piece of balsa 
wood, wEich is twice as light as cork 
and twenty times easier to carve. This 
same wood is used for life rafts and 
belts. The wood is so easily cut that 
the shape may be made to fit the skin 
in less than an hour, taking care to mea- 
sure and carve from diagram here given. 
The wood is very reasonable in price 
and may be ordered from American 
Balsa Co., 50 East 42d Street, New York 
City. To order a piece, say, for fish 
that measures twenty inches in length, 
it should be 25 inches long by 6 inches 
high by 4 inches wide. 
When the wooden body is done you 
stretch over the skin to get a perfect 
fit. If the skin is stiff and does not fit 
snug and tight, you will have to immerse 
it in water till the skin is soft and pli- 
able, then stretch it tight over the wood 
till you get it right. The skin should 
then be removed and the wood given a 
coat of white shellac; when dry put on 
a coat of glue to make fast the skin. 
After it is properly dry the trophy is 
complete, ready to be nailed or screwed 
on the board mount of whatever shape 
is desired — round, oval or square. The 
body should be fastened by long screws 
through a small block of wood from 
the back of the board mount. When 
the skin has thoroughly dried the red 
and blue spots have become somewhat 
dim and they should be just touched and 
brightened up with artists’ tube colors. 
Cobalt-blue mixed with a little flake- 
white for the blue spots, and deep orange 
crome for the red spots. In three or 
four days the paint will dry, then you 
apply a coat of velspar varnish over the 
entire body. 
Any taxidermist will supply a pair of 
glass eyes for the kind of fish you de- 
sire if you send the eye socket size. 
Don’t varnish over the glass eyes, but 
get quite close up so as to set them well 
in the cavity. Before the varnish is 
applied and while the skin and fins are 
soft it is wise to tie on a piece of card- 
board, lined with oiled paper over both 
sides of the fins and tail to stop them 
from curling up out of shape, to be re- 
moved when dry, which will be in a day 
or two. If you have the mouth open it 
should be varnished inside. The same 
method may be used for any other fish — 
bass, pike or salmon — each of their skins 
will give you the base on which to form 
size and shape. 
Instead of a plain, simple flat fish, the 
ingenious angler may carve the body 
bent in any attitude he prefers, either 
rising up to a fly or curved with head 
up or down in a fighting position. If the 
wood is cut to the right size that will 
fit, the skin will go on the wood just the 
same as if it were cut flat. 
'^HE final result of my studies is here 
shown in the accompanying illus- 
tration, which, of course, a photo does 
not begin to show the beauty of the 
painted background — its blue, rippling 
wavelets through which the fish is run- 
ning. But it does show a lifelike atti- 
tude that carries the angler’s thoughts 
back with vivid realism 'to the most 
supreme moment of the fight — as I think. 
no other mounted trophies have hereto- 
fore done, to make a real combination 
of the fish in its watery element painted 
with fidelity and truth. 
The skin of this beautiful rainbow 
{Continued on page 576) 
