Shoot2Kill

Can anyone recommend a quality fish taxidermist in the St Cloud or meteo area? Looking to get a 10.5" pumpkinseed cross mounted - very cool looking fish! Thx!

I did it as a whole tail for a long time too but then I saw an online tutorial on separating the sections and gave it a shot and have always been glad I did. You don't need any special tools or a lot of experience. Next time shoot one look at the tail after you cut it off, it's very easy to tell the difference in the 3 sections and you just run the knife down between them and cut them apart. Nothing to it. Some 2 part apoxy you can get at walmart or hot glue is all you need to put it back together. It really does not take that much skill....next time you shoot a pheasant take apart the tail (2 sections there) and give it a shot, it's the same on a turkey only bigger. You'll be much happier with the results for years to come and you don't have to worry about any rot. I'm going to take pics of the process this year and will post it up after I'm done.

I would be very cautious doing a fan like what is shown in the video unless you don't mind the tail rotting and stinking a few years down the road - even with the borax. A turkey fan has 3 sections. The long tail feathers, the mid length ones, and the smaller ones that come off the turkeys back. If you cut the fan off the body correctly you will end up with these 3 sections - they are very easy to tell the difference in when you are looking at them...simply cut each section apart and set them out individually. -EACH section needs to be cut apart so you can remove ALL of the meat/fat/etc and then borax is applied. -Remove the small misc feathers on the backside of the main fan and discard them - you'll never see them once the fan is dry and this allows you to clean the butt of the main fan much easier. -Pin each section individually and re-apply borax and work it in every few days for about 2 weeks. A fan actually dries faster doing it like this because you've removed nearly every piece of flesh. You would be surprised how much flesh is left inside the butt of a fan that the borax can't reach if you are drying it as one piece. -Once they are dry, unpin them, and glue them back together with hot glue or a 2 part 5 min apoxy. I like apoxy because there is no chance that it will EVER come apart. Doing it this way also gets you a much nicer final product because the feathers lay much flatter/nicer on each other - the difference in the 2 methods (drying the fan as a whole vs drying each section) is very noticeable.

Yikes, just drove from Hawley to Fargo, I think its wishful thinking at this point for Saturday. Launches stand a good chance of being frozen shut by then at this rate. My wife thinks Im crazy....big fall fatties make us all insane I told her.

Brought my boat to Fargo for the long weekend hoping I could get out on Saturday - weather permitting, anyone want to hop in? Mostly be sucker fishing. Probably DL or Beers, I'll decide that morning based on the wind.

Thx for the info - I've yet to make it down there. Something about the river just intrigues me, just want to give it a go at some point, most likely this fall.

Looking for info about the Ford plant dam...I work 2 miles from there and it's been eating at me to give it a shot for a while. Water looks plenty low there now. I've got a 16 foot aluminum Lund with a 25 on it...will this work in there? What do I need to look out for? Is it smart to go in there without someone who has been in there? I guess any info about what to do/what not to do in there would be appreciated. Thanks!

Nicely done man and congrats! I did the same thing my first time out and have not been right in the head since!!!! It's weird you talk about the fish jumping and finning - we had one circle our boat yesterday like a shark on and off for about 15 minutes, she probably surfaced a dozen times within 20-30 yards of the boat and on all sides of us! A few hours later one jumped right in front of us like a dolphin - crazy fish. Good luck with this new found obsession called muskie fishing! I've seen it posted before that it would be cheaper to just take up drugs!! Haha.

Every fish we saw yesterday afternoon/evening was on blades. We both threw the sink at them but one of us always had blades on and the only thing that moved fish were 10s - couple big mommas too. Now if they'd just eat the stupid thing!!

You can pick up your own reflective tape at Northern Tool, Fleet Farm, order it on Amazaon, and even TB has a versio of it and just put it on the blades you already have. They posted on FB the other dat that 2 guys got 13 fish in 14 hours with 7 over 50"....I waived the [PoorWordUsage] flag and they then put up some pics...but they both were wearing diffeent shirts in most of the pics so it wasn't the same stint on the water...and if you're going to say you caught seven 50s in one outing you better have the proof to back it up if you're trying to sell the baits they supposedly ate.

I have guard drill this weekend in the cities and am thinking about pulling my boat down for the weekend and taking a total rookie out with me Friday night who's been dying to get out. He lives close to Waconia so I thought I'd start there. I've been on it a couple times (not this year), not looking for spots, just thoughts on how this lake has been recently and what it could possibly be like with this front. I'm trying to consider if it's worth it to bring my truck down and tote my boat around for 3 days vs my car and spend triple the gas. Honestly I shouldn't even really be considering not bringing the boat...the wife is taking the kids out of town so I have nothing to be home for which means I should fish my arse off no matter what. Any thoughts on the lake would be appreciated.

Son of a gun....flat calm and not a cloud in the sky....that is a great picture and a beautiful fish! Nicely done man and congrats!

Ha! Nobody called...didn't miss much....other than a double follow! 4 hours of nothing and then I thought I was delusional when I had what appeared to be an 8 foot follow! It was 2 fish! First one was hot on the bait, 2nd was right behind the first and flared its gills just as I realized what I was seeing. Pretty sure I shat myself and jacked it all up....haha. First fish went half an 8, 2nd went straight under the boat. Both were gone nearly as fast as they came in. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Sat down in disbelief about what I just saw....and that I didn't get either of them in the net!

Short notice today.....I'm heading to ML as soon as I get the kids in the van with mom and on the way to daycare...leave my house by 7 in St Cloud, I can only fish until about 4:30....open spot for anyone that wants to hop in. Can meet you along the way or at the launch. Call me and we can talk details. 320-241-3563 Disclaimer....this is my 2nd time on ML but have some good direction on where to go today from another member here so don't think you're getting in with Hammernick or anyone like that.

So I’m confused Brian, in your 2 previous posts you said he kills them all, now you are saying “some” of them, and he actually eats them when there are lakes full of walleyes and crappies he could take home. You’re stories and allegations are a bit sketchy and like the whole fish story itself, have as many holes in them as my net.