When a fish is skinned for a mount they are soaked in a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and water for about 2 weeks minimum. During this time period the fish loses all of it's color and turns a brown color. Once the fish is mounted and dry and all epoxy work and fin work is done the fish is painted. I use a total of 12 to 16 different colors on a Bass and about 14 colors on a Bream.
The first picture is of the fish mounted and the next 2 are the referance pictures I sed to paint the fish. This is a picture of a Bream caught up in Georgia. Their looks like their is way to much white on the belly because the flash reflected off of the Wet Look Gloss. This is the Skin Mounted Fish.
Here are the pictures I took of the fish when the customer brought it to me to have mounted. I took these pictures for referance and used them when I painted the fish for the customer.
