i dont get the major drawl to get a fiberglass rather than the real thing ,what makes em so much better :-?

I have always been told that real skin mounts shrink and (no disrespect meant to taxidermists) most do stink and begin to rot in only a few years.  I can't remember a single fish mount that is real and over 10 yrs. old that looks good still.  

Besides, the cost of a replica is as cheap or cheaper, looks better IMO, and will not rot.  All reasons to get a replica and not mount a real fish.

And if none of that works for you... ask Fish Chris how many of the giant Cali fish have been positively ID'd as one previously caught and released.  Which gave multiple anglers a fish of a lifetime.

i dont get the major drawl to get a fiberglass rather than the real thing ,what makes em so much better :-?, personally i tthink that most/many fisherman take C an R way to far(ryme not intended) and in a sense worship it and think the killing of a fish for any reason is wrong when to me its not :-/

It's easy when you are young to possibly be short sighted, for after all, you have only had your sight for a short time. As time passes however you become less dogmatic in your approach to the many facets of life, as you get the chances to observe and learn more and more.

Life is full of mimicry, and many will mimic the words of those more learned, however we that have lived a bit longer and learned a bit more have learned that the only way to conserve what we enjoy is catch and release.

Remember this: the next time you have a bass big enough to eat, or big enough to consider it your personal trophy catch, it is bacause those that caught that fish prior to you put it back. A bass that is three pounds has been caught several times prior to you catching it unless you are fishing somewhere in this world that no one has fished, (not very likely), and a bass that is eight pounds and up has been caught many times. Thank those that came before you because if they didn't practice C&R, you would have nothing in the bass family to catch.

hey flechero, im not sure if its plain luck or a good taxadermist but back in the 80's my grandfather caught a 33 or 35 pound striper had a mount made and its still fine to this day

I have always been told that real skin mounts shrink and (no disrespect meant to taxidermists) most do stink and begin to rot in only a few years. I can't remember a single fish mount that is real and over 10 yrs. old that looks good still.

Besides, the cost of a replica is as cheap or cheaper, looks better IMO, and will not rot. All reasons to get a replica and not mount a real fish.

I have seen many fish mounts that were made long before replicas became available and they still look pretty good. I can't really say if they shrank though. One exception to this is catfish (and other fish without scales). Mounts of these fish don't last long at all and start to look pretty ugly after less than a year.

The quotes I have seen show replicas being similar in price to a mount. If I don't have to kill the fish for my trophy (and I hate eating fish), why kill it?

For the most part it is personal preference.

You guys will probably hate me for this one.. but..

I was fishing at night about two years ago, one of my first times night fishing. I had a scum frog tied on and was just leisurely walking about the bank (private lake in a subdivision) casting and retrieving. Then it sounded like someone dropped a bowling ball in the water.  When I got the fish up to the bank blood was pouring out the gills.. and the fish was gut hooked. It swallowed the hook whole. Since I didn't really expect to catch anything on a green scumfrog at night, I was completely unprepared and didn't have any tools or anything with me. The fish died while I was trying to get the hook out. So I decided to mount the fish and honor it that way. It was only right at 6 pounds though. 6.2 if I remember right.

Needless to say, I always put more preperation into my fishing now.

You guys will probably hate me for this one.. but..

I was fishing at night about two years ago, one of my first times night fishing. I had a scum frog tied on and was just leisurely walking about the bank (private lake in a subdivision) casting and retrieving. Then it sounded like someone dropped a bowling ball in the water. When I got the fish up to the bank blood was pouring out the gills.. and the fish was gut hooked. It swallowed the hook whole. Since I didn't really expect to catch anything on a green scumfrog at night, I was completely unprepared and didn't have any tools or anything with me. The fish died while I was trying to get the hook out. So I decided to mount the fish and honor it that way. It was only right at 6 pounds though. 6.2 if I remember right.

Needless to say, I always put more preperation into my fishing now.

I don't hate you at all for it. With the fish bleeding that badly, there wasn't much you could do even if you had the tooks with you.

And a 6.2 is probably a mount-worthy fish from those waters.

I tried as hard as I could to save it. I had my entire hand in the mouth of the fish trying to get the lure out. By the time I got it out and put the fish back in, it was just kinda floating around :/ The biggest bass taken out of this particular lake was right at 12 pounds. This 6 is/was the biggest fish we have seen there in about 5 years.