Mounting a blue gill

[grke]

I recently caught a large blue gill and was wondering if anyone had any good ideas on how to mount it?

[harvey lee]

You will get many replies and I would suggest you mount it the way you like as in direction. Sometimes one of the sides of the fish are also in better shape than the other for a better looking mount and whom ever you take it to can tell if either side will be ok.

Typically a sunfish will be mounted with their mouth open and the gill palte also with the painted gills showing some. There again, ask the taxidermist what he might suggest.

One can also search some taxidermists HSOforum's for suggestions.

Now, your other choices would be on driftwood, by itself or in a diaroma.

The more you go with a setting, the higher the cost will be of course.

Personally for me, driftwood looks nice.

[Brad B]

if it is a large fish just shop around for a taxidermist that does good work. go and see their work if you can. Be prepared to pay $8 to $15 per inch for mounting the fish. remember the drift wood will add about another $20.00 to the total price. doing it yourself will never give you good results especially if it is your first time trying to mount a fish. I tried doing a small walleye once and it didn't turn out good.

[ANYFISH2]

If you are looking to take it to a taxidermist, shop around and look at samples of thier work. Most Bluegills I have seen are not painted very accuratly, usually to much orange. It can be difficult to find a good/realistic paint job, but they are out there. I really like a setting of driftwood and weeds.

[grke]

thanks for the ideas. I am kinding thinking of doing some sort of pedestal mount.

[muc33]

Brian has done some nice Gill work, he is a sponsor here and very good and has done work for quite a few here on HSO/FM.

www.almbergtaxidermy.com

[jwhjr]

Brian did this replica for me, I'm very pleased with the work.

[harvey lee]

I have 2 deer heads going to Brian soon.

Dude does great work.

[BartmanMN]

Nice mount jwhjr. I would love to have a BG mount like that in my house.

[jwhjr]

Nice mount jwhjr. I would love to have a BG mount like that in my house.

I just sent him a few pictures for an estimate and he did the mount from those. It took awhile to find a replica the size of my fish, but it was well worth the wait. Brian is great to work with.

[RJMOEN]

jwhjr what size is that and about how much did it cost if you dont mind me asking?

[jwhjr]

jwhjr what size is that and about how much did it cost if you dont mind me asking?

10" and $160

[JBone]

$145 grand total for this 10.25in 1lb 3oz Bluegill

Olson Taxidermy Redwood Falls, MN

[ac777]

$145 grand total for this 10.25in 1lb 3oz Bluegill

Olson Taxidermy Redwood Falls, MN

Nice fish, but wheres the color?

[Gordie]

I have three nice gills a the taxidermist now and the color was faded from being in the cooler on the way home but I snapped a couple of picks before the batterys went dead in the camera of the fish for the taxidermist so he could get a idea of the colors they had. I also had a bunch of pictures of panfish from earlier in the year for him to look at so he could get an idea of colors.

[JBone]

Yeah it is almost a must to have a picture! That Gill I posted above looks about exactly the way it came out of the water.

[BartmanMN]

Man, that thing is like a dinner plate. Huge

[kyleharty]

I haven't done much panfishing but I've never noticed a gut like that on a bluegill, very nice fish!

[Acemac]

mounting a blue gill is easy

if you can find a small enough saddle....