Need Help With Replica Mount 2025

MO_TightLines reply :

Alright guys, I need your help. So last year on April 22nd I caught my Personal Best Largemouth Bass weighing in at 7.7lbs. I told myself I would fish the rest of the year to see if I could better it and if not i would do a replica. Well, the year came to an end and I didn't catch anything bigger, so today I called the place I've been looking at and gave them all the dimensions and pictures of my fish.

Well, they got back with me and here in lies my problem. The fish was short and had a massive belly. She measured 21 3/4 inches in length and 17 1/2 inches in girth. Well, they don't have any molds that can replicate the belly sag that "MY" fish had. So I don't feel like it's an accurate representation of my fish. The closest they can come is 22" length and 16.5" girth. So here's my question. Am I being to picky and particular here or do I have valid concern? I am almost of the mindset to just print some pictures off, frame them and hang them up.

This is my first wall hanger and was really wanting it to represent the fish I caught. I hope a bigger one come's along, but you just never know.

Jig Man reply :

I'd contact another company.

Vilas15 reply :

Do they have an example of one from that mold they can show you to compare? The 1/4" of length shouldn't matter at all but an inch of girth might make a difference in how it looks. If it's not close enough then look at some other companies.

MO_TightLines reply :

On 1/23/2019 at 7:43 AM, Vilas15 said:

Do they have an example of one from that mold they can show you to compare? The 1/4" of length shouldn't matter at all but an inch of girth might make a difference in how it looks. If it's not close enough then look at some other companies.

Yeah I'm not worried about the 1/4 of length, but the almost 1' of girth makes the belly of the replica mold look much different than the belly of my fish. That is what I'm just not sure i can live with.

Mobasser reply :

Nice fish! Before you give up in frustration, I would shop around. I'll bet someone can make your fish look correct for you

Bluebasser86 reply :

You can get some really cool pictures done of your fish. Have it blown up and framed in a nice frame. Replicas are neat, but a picture captures the whole moment too.

WRB reply :

try contacting Lyons and O'Haver in San Diego, out bass are heavy body and your bass is a common shape.

Tom

MO_TightLines reply :

On 1/23/2019 at 9:57 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

You can get some really cool pictures done of your fish. Have it blown up and framed in a nice frame. Replicas are neat, but a picture captures the whole moment too.

I do agree with this Bluebasser.

On 1/23/2019 at 10:16 AM, WRB said:

try contacting Lyons and O'Haver in San Diego, out bass are heavy body and your bass is a common shape.

Tom

Thanks Tom, I plan on contacting them tomorrow and explain what I’m running into.

Craigholland reply :

A good taxidermist can build extra w bondo I think. I like Joe fittante out of Wisconsin. I would be shocked if he couldnt do that. I think he's the best , but there are other good ones out there. Id shop around and get one to your specs. If it were me I wouldn't want it if it wasn't to spec.

TnRiver46 reply :

I'm personally not a fan of a replica. My opinion (which I'm not pushing on anyone, just stating), is that if you are going to hang the fish on the wall, then hang the doggone fish on the wall. If you are going to hang a recreation from a photo, why not just hang the photo. Thats just me, not saying its correct. Just a preference I have . As to your dilemma, I would agree with earlier posts to shop around and see if anyone can make an exact mold

MAN reply :

Pretty sure a good taxidermist can use a hardening putty to create the unique features of a persons particular fish.

I am not a replica person myself. I want the fish I caught hanging on my wall skin and all. Otherwise I guess I could just grab a pre-painted fish that matches the weight of the one I caught and be in and out in 5 minutes with my mount. Just doesn't have the same feeling. To each his own

MO_TightLines reply :

On 1/23/2019 at 10:16 AM, WRB said:

try contacting Lyons and O'Haver in San Diego, out bass are heavy body and your bass is a common shape.

Tom

Tom, I contacted them today and they are closing their business down.

WRB reply :

On 1/24/2019 at 9:41 AM, MO_TightLines said:

Tom, I contacted them today and they are closing their business down.

That is too bad, we will no longer have a good local taxidermist in So Cal, it's difficult to run a profitable business in California. Roberts Trophy Fish Mounts was the best we had for fresh water bass mounts, Lyons was next best. Wonder what they will do with all the molds?

Tom

MAN reply :

On 1/24/2019 at 10:04 AM, WRB said:

it's difficult to run a profitable business in California.

Tom

You mean as a taxidermist or a business in general?

WRB reply :

On 1/25/2019 at 1:15 AM, MAN said:

You mean as a taxidermist or a business in general?

In general, ask Gary Dobyns!

California has nearly ideal weather climate with a horrible business climate that punishes any business that manufactures products with high taxes, unreasonable regulations and litigation.

Tom

Dwight Hottle reply :

If the replica doesn't match the dimensions of the fish you caught keep shopping until you find someone who can. You caught a greatly proportioned fish which deserves a mount that replicates your accomplishment.

jeffo21 reply :

I caught my PB back in May and it measured 24 1/4 long and 18 1/4 girth and weighed 10.52 the guy that did mine had no problems with anything here is a pic what he made for me.

MAN reply :

Thats awesome Jeff ...can post a picture of the actual fish?

jeffo21 reply :

yes

18RangerZ520L reply :

Give Dave Campbell a try... He did both of my PB's, a 12lb 8oz largemouth and a 6lb 4oz smallie. I did hours of research online before I went with him. He modified both of my mounts to better match my actual fish. He paints each scale individually, not just the generic "air brush" paint job many of the other $500 replica companies do like Lake Fork Taxidermy, etc. Let me know if you have any questions about Dave or my mounts. Below are pics of my two PB's and their respective replica mounts. Good luck in your search.

www.davecampbellfish.com

12lb 8oz largemouth:

6lb 4oz smallie:

MO_TightLines reply :

On 1/26/2019 at 10:21 AM, 18RangerZ520L said:

Give Dave Campbell a try... He did both of my PB's, a 12lb 8oz largemouth and a 6lb 4oz smallie. I did hours of research online before I went with him. He modified both of my mounts to better match my actual fish. He paints each scale individually, not just the generic "air brush" paint job many of the other $500 replica companies do like Lake Fork Taxidermy, etc. Let me know if you have any questions about Dave or my mounts. Below are pics of my two PB's and their respective replica mounts. Good luck in your search.

www.davecampbellfish.com

12lb 8oz largemouth:

6lb 4oz smallie:

OMG, those are unbelievable

18RangerZ520L reply :

On 1/26/2019 at 3:32 PM, MO_TightLines said:

OMG, those are unbelievable

Thanks

Craigholland reply :

Yeah that's a good paint job. Looks amazing. Nice job for sure.

MO_TightLines reply :

So, Coast to Coast Fish Mount’s got in touch with me and they had almost the exact size. 22” Length x 17.2” Girth.

I’ve conversed with them for a couple days now & researched their process and believe they do reputable work and take pride in it. I placed my order and my mount should arrive in 8-10 weeks.

Now, with that being said I believe my next mount will most definitely come from Dave Campbell by way of recommendation from 18RangerZ520L. I visited his website and his attention to detail is unmatched to anyone else I’ve seen out there.

18RangerZ520L reply :

On 1/27/2019 at 1:25 AM, Craigholland said:

Yeah that's a good paint job. Looks amazing. Nice job for sure.

Appreciate it.

On 1/27/2019 at 9:15 AM, MO_TightLines said:

So, Coast to Coast Fish Mount’s got in touch with me and they had almost the exact size. 22” Length x 17.2” Girth.

I’ve conversed with them for a couple days now & researched their process and believe they do reputable work and take pride in it. I placed my order and my mount should arrive in 8-10 weeks.

Now, with that being said I believe my next mount will most definitely come from Dave Campbell by way of recommendation from 18RangerZ520L. I visited his website and his attention to detail is unmatched to anyone else I’ve seen out there.

tracker01 reply :

I have my PB hanging on the wall. Maybe it’s just a head game, but it’s the bass “I” caught, put in the live well, had weighted (local tournament), and brought home to be mounted. No regrets here. It’s a beauty.

18RangerZ520L reply :

On 1/27/2019 at 9:50 PM, tracker01 said:

I have my PB hanging on the wall. Maybe it’s just a head game, but it’s the bass “I” caught, put in the live well, had weighted (local tournament), and brought home to be mounted. No regrets here. It’s a beauty.

And that's your right to do that!

I just have too much respect for the trophy sized fish to kill them. I'd rather release the trophies and have them reproduce and spread those genetics for future generation fishermen to hopefully enjoy their offspring or even have another angler catch my same fish again to get their PB's too, rather than them collecting dust on my wall. If they are still alive, my PB smallie is probably in the high 7lb - low 8lb range and my largemouth is probably around the 14lb mark. I have a 7lb skin mount on my wall that I caught back in high school and both of my replica's blow it out of the water as far as looks and long term durability. My replicas will never crack, fade, peel or yellow. I weighed both of my PB's on my IGFA certified Boga Grip scale, took a ton of pics and did a release video of both so I will always have those memories to go along with the replicas.

I'll never keep a bass again. CPR for me.

roadwarrior reply :

Well, I'm right there with you, but when I catch that 12 lb 1 oz smallmouth she's going on the wall!

18RangerZ520L reply :

On 1/28/2019 at 2:32 AM, roadwarrior said:

Well, I'm right there with you, but when I catch that 12 lb 1 oz smallmouth she's going on the wall!

Yeah, there's not a mold out there for a 12lb smallie....

TnRiver46 reply :

I know where that 12 lber lives but it will break your line. I’ll narrow it down to several thousand acres......... it’s in watts bar lake .........

NorthernBasser reply :

On 1/26/2019 at 10:21 AM, 18RangerZ520L said:

Give Dave Campbell a try... He did both of my PB's, a 12lb 8oz largemouth and a 6lb 4oz smallie. I did hours of research online before I went with him. He modified both of my mounts to better match my actual fish. He paints each scale individually, not just the generic "air brush" paint job many of the other $500 replica companies do like Lake Fork Taxidermy, etc. Let me know if you have any questions about Dave or my mounts. Below are pics of my two PB's and their respective replica mounts. Good luck in your search.

www.davecampbellfish.com

12lb 8oz largemouth:

Those are incredible!

18RangerZ520L reply :

On 1/28/2019 at 9:10 AM, TnRiver46 said:

I know where that 12 lber lives but it will break your line. I’ll narrow it down to several thousand acres......... it’s in watts bar lake .........

I agree that if there is a 12lb smallie out there, she's in the TN river system somewhere or up north in the Great Lakes...

On 1/29/2019 at 12:09 PM, NorthernBasser said:

Those are incredible!

Thanks!

While I was doing all my research on a replica mount it was crazy how many people wanted to get a "bargain" mount verses spending the extra money to get a true work of art. We spend thousands of dollars on our trucks, boats, rods, reels, tackle, lodging and gas chasing these bass! So when you run into a fish of a lifetime, why would you want to "cut corners" on a replica mount of a fish you spent all that money trying to catch?!?! Just my .02

12poundbass reply :

On 1/29/2019 at 9:15 PM, 18RangerZ520L said:

I agree that if there is a 12lb smallie out there, she's in the TN river system somewhere or up north in the Great Lakes...

Thanks!

While I was doing all my research on a replica mount it was crazy how many people wanted to get a "bargain" mount verses spending the extra money to get a true work of art. We spend thousands of dollars on our trucks, boats, rods, reels, tackle, lodging and gas chasing these bass! So when you run into a fish of a lifetime, why would you want to "cut corners" on a replica mount of a fish you spent all that money trying to catch?!?! Just my .02

After looking over yours a ton and seeing 'others' there's a noticeable difference and many of the 'others' I've seen almost look cartoonish or just a random cookie cutter mount that someone did in a few hours. It's not just replicas. I have a huge pike skin mount on my wall that my BIL caught that lacks any true detail that makes it come alive. My step dad has walleye and perch that have some detail, but look like they have an inch of clear on them to bring that little bit of detail out. I've only seen a couple others that have the detail that Dave's have, so he truly is in a very very small league of true artists.

MO_TightLines reply :

On 1/29/2019 at 9:15 PM, 18RangerZ520L said:

I agree that if there is a 12lb smallie out there, she's in the TN river system somewhere or up north in the Great Lakes...

Thanks!

While I was doing all my research on a replica mount it was crazy how many people wanted to get a "bargain" mount verses spending the extra money to get a true work of art. We spend thousands of dollars on our trucks, boats, rods, reels, tackle, lodging and gas chasing these bass! So when you run into a fish of a lifetime, why would you want to "cut corners" on a replica mount of a fish you spent all that money trying to catch?!?! Just my .02

Well I was most certainly not looking for a bargain. It took me 25 years to catch this fish, so I was looking for quality. I had already started the process with Coast to Coast before 18RangerZ suggested Dave. And being a man of my word I felt I should go ahead and proceed with them since i had already given a deposit. Plus, they had almost the "exact" scale and size of the fish i caught. But, after looking at Dave's page I know beyond a doubt I will be giving him a call on my next mount. I'm hoping this year produce's my trophy Smallie.

Has anyone seen any of Joe Pitruzzello's work of Coast to Coast Fish Mounts or had them do anything for them? The reviews i read and work i could see online seemed to be good, but I will admit not to the detail of Dave Campbell's.

soflabasser reply :

I am not sure if I want replicas of some of the trophy bass I have caught anymore. From what I see the taxidermist might not be able to get the exact dimensions of the bass I want replicas of and that is big no for me. Another big no is getting a replica that does not have the exact coloration of my catches. Some replicas look poorly painted but I know for a fact it cost several hundred dollars even if the paint job is off. I think I am going to stick with large prints of my trophy bass that I will hang on my wall at this moment in time.

18RangerZ520L reply :

On 1/30/2019 at 12:56 PM, soflabasser said:

I am not sure if I want replicas of some of the trophy bass I have caught anymore. From what I see the taxidermist might not be able to get the exact dimensions of the bass I want replicas of and that is big no for me. Another big no is getting a replica that does not have the exact coloration of my catches. Some replicas look poorly painted but I know for a fact it cost several hundred dollars even if the paint job is off. I think I am going to stick with large prints of my trophy bass that I will hang on my wall at this moment in time.

Yeah, I have seen a bunch of poor paint jobs on replicas. I think Dave did an excellent job on my two mounts, if you look close at my the pics he has a pic in the background on both fish where he made everything black and white besides my fish so that he could get the color and color pattern as close as possible without background colors throwing him off. And yes, the OP had an odd shaped (in a good way) largemouth so it's tougher to find a mold out there with his exact dimensions.

WRB reply :

Last word on skin mounts, they deteriorate and are a replica of your bass using the skin stretched over a commercial manakin form close to the size of your fish. The skin is cured and grey color and must be painted just like a replica. You have a replica with a skin verses a molded fish with all the details that is painted and doesn't deteriorate.

I have both skin and replica mounts and no comparison to a high quality replica.

No reason to kill the fish for a mount today with 1 exception; a all tackle world record bass needs to die to be examined and authenticated to meet IGFA requirements, the fish will never survive all the handling unfortunitly.

Tom

PS, the mount I am holding in my avatar was my 18.6 lb LMB caught in 1981, the bass didn't survive and Robert Munoz used it for a mold to make replica's. This mount represents all my giant bass caught since '81 including 19.3 lb that was released alive like every big bass since that time.

Craigholland reply :

On 2/1/2019 at 6:40 AM, WRB said:

Last word on skin mounts, they deteriorate and are a replica of your bass using the skin stretched over a commercial manakin form close to the size of your fish. The skin is cured and grey color and must be painted just like a replica. You have a replica with a skin verses a molded fish with all the details that is painted and doesn't deteriorate.

I have both skin and replica mounts and no comparison to a high quality replica.

No reason to kill the fish for a mount today with 1 exception; a all tackle world record bass needs to die to be examined and authenticated to meet IGFA requirements, the fish will never survive all the handling unfortunitly.

Tom

PS, the mount I am holding in my avatar was my 18.6 lb LMB caught in 1981, the bass didn't survive and Robert Munoz used it for a mold to make replica's. This mount represents all my giant bass caught since '81 including 19.3 lb that was released alive like every big bass since that time.

This. Skin mounts stretch, shrink and deteriorate. I have a few good ones from fish caught 20 years ago. They look decent but an awesome replica is my vote. All taxidermy and paint job s are not equal.

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Need Help With Replica Mount 2025

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