Can taxidermy and conservation go together? In fact they can. Taxidermy, “the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the skins of animals for display,” can serve anglers who want a tangible memory of the big one that didn’t get away — both those who adhere to the ethics of catch-and-release angling and those who have killed and kept a fish.
I see no conflict with a conservation ethic if a fly fisher wishes to preserve and mount a large nonnative fish, such as a brown, brook, or lake trout. Removing such fish often helps the native trout fishery. The same goes for a hatchery specimen such as an Eagle Lake rainbow from Lake Crowley or an Alpers rainbow stocked in many eastern Sierra waters.
And if it’s a native fish or a wild introduced species that the fly fisher chooses to release? An enduring 3-D image is still possible. Anyone who takes measurements and pictures of the trophy before letting it go back into the water can have a replica of it made later.
All of this of course also applies to warmwater game species, which are all exotic to California’s waters, except for the Sacramento perch.
In addition to making a faithful representation of the fish itself, taxidermists strive to capture its true, often brilliant coloration, just as when it is first taken from the water. One artist who excels in this craft is Tony Davidson, who resides in Big Pine, a small town south of Bishop on Highway 395. Born in Texarkana, Texas, in 1956, Tony started fly fishing as a youngster for bluegills with flies he made from a Boy Scout kit. He continued through adulthood with an abiding interest in preserving and painting wildlife. It wasn’t until 1998, however, that he became a full-time taxidermist. After marrying his wife, Sharon, in 2002, the two moved to Big Pine, where he carries out his vocation today.
What inspires Tony is the beauty of the eastern Sierra Nevada and of the multiple fish species found there. (Only the California golden trout is native to the region; Lahontan cutthroats are native in waters from Bridgeport north.) His artistry is expressed in the use of natural materials such as driftwood and in the story often conveyed by his mounts.
Tony has won many fish taxidermy awards, including the 2012 National Champion Coldwater Reproduction award, won with a brook trout; the 2013 Best Fish award, also won with a brook trout; and the 2014 Best Reproduction Fish award, which he won with a brown trout. To bring an actual fish to a taxidermist, Tony advises the angler not to gut the fish. If it can’t be delivered to the artist immediately, the fish should be wrapped in plastic such as a clean heavy trash bag, sealed tight, and frozen. It can be kept in a freezer for many months, if necessary, and shipped in that condition — no ice is necessary — with two day shipping in cool weather or overnight when the weather is hot. Tony then strips off the skin and uses it to cover a facsimile of the fish, usually reconstructed out of foam. This is called a “skin mount.”
For a reproduction of a released catch, the fly fisher should provide as much information on it as possible, such as length and girth measurements, along with multiple pictures. The specimen should be nicely proportioned, not oddly shaped in any way. Tony then tries to find a duplicative mold from those he either possesses or can locate. Such molds are made from fiberglass resin and replicate actual fish that were once caught. A more exacting variation of this technique is to make a precise mold of a real specimen — “a custom-molded reproduction.”
As Tony states, “every fish is unique.” So once he has an accurate cast, he uses the client’s pictures to get its coloring and spotting correct. To do this, he airbrushes the cast — a spraying process that mixes air and paint. He then uses a small brush or paint pen for scales and other details. (A skin mount is also similarly painted.)
The majority of Tony’s pieces are reproductions, rather than skin mounts. He states: “I can usually duplicate the fish the angler has caught. I have found when in doubt about size, I go an inch or two bigger. I have never had a complaint about a fish being a little bigger, but if it’s even a half inch shorter, I hear about it.”
Tony’s work can be viewed at his Web site, www.fishmount.com.
