A musky guide in the area offers a free musky replica for any of his clients that catch a 50 inch or larger musky. This was his first client with a 50 1/2 inch musky released. I assembled and painted a replica of our state record (which I had a mold made of and also mounted a few years back) which came closest to the 50 1/2 inch fish.

I never went to bed the other night so he could have it for an upcoming sport show.

Here is how the blank came and after I grinded down the flashing, filled in the seams, and added the pectoral fins.I also whited out any filler, added eyes, and did some alterations on the head to body transition.



Here are a couple of pictures of the finished product. Looks like a real fish eh?

The peanuts in the box are how he transported it to the show and how the original blank came.

Beautiful..!

WOW! That is Awesome!

That's the best Musky I've ever seen. Jaw-dropping.

Outstanding, as always, Cecil!

Do I have to catch one to get one?

Perfect Fish, Want One? Call Cecil!!!!!

Incredible job!

Cecil, that is incredible. Once I get my farm house renovated I might want one! Any chance you would post a price or PM me?

Very nice, Cecil. Just like always.

Cecil, even the picture of the fish in white looks a whole lot different than when it arrived to your place. I remember seeing it right after you filled in some of the mold lines.

That looks great!

I'll bet the guy in Wi. would like one too. I'll be meeting wtih him this week for lunch, PM me a price if you want and I'll ask him.

The best Taxi's, like Cecil, are artists.

First of all thanks for the kind words.

Answers to questions:

You don't have to catch one to have one. That goes for any replica of most sizes for just about any species although I'm not crazy about salt water fish as I don't do many. Definitely not set up to do big sailfish, swordfish, marlin etc.

I charge $15.00 per inch for replicas plus shipping and handling. Just the blank shipped to me from Texas costs in the mid 200 range plus $70.00 for shipping.

Shipping is the real deal killer for producing large finished replicas that have to be shipped, but it can be done if you're willing to pay the shipping. UPS has a penchant for destroying replicas and mounted fish regardless of how you pack them, and when you try to collect on the insurance they try everything they can to get out of it. Fed Ex is no different. My brother who has two business degrees says they have an "oligopoly" -- mutual monopoly -- so they don't care.

Cecil, I'm meeting with the guy that has the place in Wi. tomorrow, so I'll ask. I can hand deliver the fish if he wants any, so you don't have to worry about shipping.

What happens if the only evidence a fisherman has is a fairly pad pic? Like i have an older catch that I wanted a replica made of ages ago, but the fish is pretty much covered in mud, obscuring how vibrantly green it actually was in some spots. How much artistic licence do you take?

I can paint a replica anyway you want. I'm familiar with very green largemouths. Was it out of a pond? Typically the pond largemouths are greener than the lake fish. Some of the lake fish are almost silver metallic in color.

Sure. I'd just need a deposit to order the blank. The wife hates it when I use the C.C.

Nah, pretty big lake, an old mississippi oxbow, i think.

It was, in general, more metallic and pale than small pond bass, but had a very dark lateral stripe that isnt seen in the pic, and the area above it (between it and the black dorsal coloring on top) was much more vibrantly green than can be seen in the pic.

Anyhow, I'll PM with a link to the image, maybe you could tell me how much it would be to get the replica done?

Thanks
Mike

skinny:

Cecil is pretty durn good. Here's a pic of the smallie that I caught that he did for me:

Stunning.

skinny, if you talk to Cecil nice, maybe he'd deliver it to the Pond Boss Conference this Fall.....

If not, I could be talked to driving it down for him. It'd save shipping costs on a finished mount.

Or, maybe meet somewhere near St. Louis when I go thru on my way down............

Well, I'm not in the market as of right now, but it would be nice to know how much of my annual-new-lures fund i should be saving if i do want it in the next year or so.

Thanks for the offer to drive it down. And if you do come through st louis, you must take a small detour to Alton, IL to hit Fast Eddies.

You haven't lived until you've chased down a hot chick on a stick, two big elwood on a sticks and a fat eddie burger with beer that is kept a half a degree above its freezing point.

they dont joke when they say it is the best bar in the midwest. According to alton brown on the food network or whatever channel you find him on, hot chick on a stick are the only hot wings in the world that "are worth eating."

Edit:
My new years resolution was diet and exercize. I appologize that every thread i comment on comes back to food. I am desperately hungry. Always.

Those days are long gone I'm afraid...

Sorry couldn't resist. Mods do what you must.

Cecil, my wife was walking by and I told her to look at the musky. I said "I'm going to get one." She said "You're going to put it in your guitar room."

Poor girl.

Very nice work Cecil... Absolutely amazing!

Here is a whole tank full of Cecil’s work. It resides at SDSU’s Fisheries Dept

Nice work Cecil, I had one done by Joe Fittante in the eagle river area of Wisconsin and can't be happier to let her swim to grow and reproduce for many more years. You guys are true artists!!

Nice to see you wear the pants in the family Sunil. If I had a nickel for every wife that came in with the husband to pick up his deer mount, and said, "You're not hanging that in my house," I'd be a rich man. Many of these whimps hung a $400.00 deer mount in the damp basement or garage.

I'm sure glad the wife and I don't dominate each other. It's so much nicer that way.

How big was the musky? Looks like between 30 and 40 lbs.?

Thanks Eric. Lots of fish species there!

There is a reason we have a basement. All trophies go in the basement. But great looking fish!

Cecil's diorama is prominently displayed, and the glass is even clean! :-)

She's my largest and third one over 30#. This fish weighed 43# and measured 50 1/2" caught on an old wooden suick on a series of figure eights at the boat. Worth every day and week on the water in late October before freeze up. Can't wait till next year!

My wife fishes, so the fish on the livingroom wall were not a hard sell. She likes the deer,antelope etc. but still wants me to take the turkey feet and beard to the shop. I caught a good one in Renee'.....lucky

Yeah that's what happened to my cousins 13 pointer, it's collecting dust in the basement.

Hey Cecil, that's a fantastic paint job on that Musky, do you think you could do a Tiger trout, or would that require taking special classes.

I've done tiger trout. No different than painting anything else with an air brush. Repro would be easier than a skin mount but I've done skin mounts.

Here's peepaw's musky:




My wife might try to say a potential new musky mount has to be contained in my guitar room, but that's just talk. I have a Man's Room on the second floor, or I'll put it in the master bedroom.

Say, are we sure peepaw is not Chuck Norris??

We're all still breathing after PBIV aren't we?

If that's your choice and the basement is dry and possibly a finished one that's fine. But some of these guys let their wife's lead then around on a nose ring and the expensive mounts go into a damp dingy basement or garage. I just can't see it.

The only oriental art I know is eating Chinese food, finished up of coarse, with some home smoked venison jerky for desert.

I would think that the decision to have a mount made, and then where to hang it, would surely best be discussed with your spouse BEFORE driving to the taxidermist's shop.

I mean honestly, shouldn't these kinds of decisions be reached together, long before arriving with your spouse to pick up the finished product?

Absolutely! My bone of contention was when the wife call the shots completely. Conversely I used to work with a guy that called the shots completely to the extent he treated his wife like a little girl. I found that disturbing.

My wise old dad told me to both expect to do 90% of the work in a marrige and reality would put you closer to 50/50....none of us are perfect!

The basement is completely finished. Just like the upper story of a two-story house only underground. Extra measures were taken to make sure the basement would be dry.

Compromise...it's all about the compromise. I think that anyone who gets married and doesn't expect to give up some of whatever it is that makes them who they are, is headed for trouble. You give up part of yourself, and your spouse gives up part of him/herself.

Then, if kids enter the picture, you each give up still more of who you are, or perhaps who you used to be. I believe that it is the unwillingness to do so, on one or both sides, that causes many problems within a relationship.

Bingo!

I have to say that I read this forum every single day. I know with utmost certainty that there is an incredible amount of collective wisdom here on the forum. Not just the type of knowledge that comes from a life of studying books or specimens, but also the culmination of days spent turning wrenches, fixing things that dont need to be, breaking them, and then finally settling for putting it back the way it was(some things really are as good as they're gonna get). I've seen threads where someone can post a grainy cell phone pic of a "green weedy thing" and people will jump at the chance to ID it for them. I admire that excitement because I am not analytical in the same way. I've seen a thread where a man fabricated his own barn doors that roll on tracks! Ya know, no big deal I'm just gonna break out the welder and get at this...I admire this because I just don't have the skillset to do that either. I have seen people design and build their own FREAKIN' HOUSE on this forum! While their safety record may be questionable (don't make me tisk tisk you on ladder safety boys, I'm 28 and you should know better) I am astounded at the perseverance, determination and level of knowledge that is exhibited everyday, in everyway on this forum.
This- "My wise old dad told me to both expect to do 90% of the work in a marrige and reality would put you closer to 50/50....none of us are perfect!" is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about. What a profound tidbit to have found in a thread about Cecil's BEAUTIFUL muskie mount!
Relationships require work and I'll be the first to admit that "my" generation expects everything to be easy. Thanks for setting the examples that you do to the young men in your lives and reminding us that the most important things in life aren't meant to be easy.
*hijack off*

A guy I have high respect for told me about this couples counseling program called Family Dynamic.

The program stated that to achieve true intimacy with your spouse, you had to talk with each other, without distraction, for at least 2 hours a day. That's over 14 hours a week, just talking!!!

No wonder you'd get intimacy....you would have exhausted all possible subject matter!

I listen to my wife every day but that doesn't mean I could relay back to you what she said during the whole time.

And I'm sure it works both ways, especially when I talk fish.

maashkinoozhe thanks for the well deserved praise for those here. Great post and thanks - by-the-way - for taking the time to write it well (doing things the right way is multi-generational).

Cecil your work speaks for its self – that is earned praise my friend. You don’t need to thank me – it’s the other way around.

There is an element to the marriage discussion beyond give and take, commitment, and intimacy that is often neglected (no, it isn’t Musky-love ). Spouses have to genuinely like each other. Truly liking each other can change "give and take" to "give and give".

Somewhere along the marriage time line; the give and give, the genuine liking, and the love of each other it is possible that you and your spouse become soul mates. You won't actually know when you become soul mates. You’ll know that it happened when for no apparent reason you will think to yourself, “I can’t imagine life without her/him”.

I am now turning off my mushiness switch for the duration of the weekend… .

Did all y'all see American Pickers a few weeks ago when Frank bought a "musky" from a taxidermist for their retail shop. It was a large northern pike. I pictured several hundred Pond Boss subscribers jumping up and yelling at the TV.

Okay, you had to be there.

Let me add a mild translation to Dwight's comment as follows:

Gail (Dwight's much better half) realizes that while her husband is a total freak and computer geek, he's really caring and cuddly. Hence the give and take. Plus, he can fix her computer like nobody else can.

I was yelling!

I even tried to see if there was a quick way to send them a note telling them that it wasn't a Musky, but couldn't so I gave up.

That kinda taints the show for me, if they make that mistake, how many other mistakes have they made that I didn't catch?

Probably quite a few! No further comment!, but it is a stupid real show, go Think!

Kinda interested to find out if one of the Moonshiners is in the slammer. Get real, on A&E, Evidence! Like Video and verbiage!!!

Anyway, one whacked himself looking at 18 months, after 72 years of practicing his craft and skills.

Kinda selfish to do your own self in!!!

JKB,

Are you mixing vodka with lake effect snow again?

Speaking of wives in control:

How in the world did a thread on fish mounts turn into a marriage advice symposium ???? Talk about the ultimate hijack.

That mag cover is priceless - ROFLOL !

I don't know Eric but we all know it happens all the time here. That's what makes it so fun around here at times.

Cecil just how long did you subscribe to that Mag., and was it helpful?

What I've learned from this thread so far:

1) Cecil's talents are truly extraordinary.
2) Alton, ILL. may or may not be the home of the best bar in the midwest.
3) The glass in the case that houses the fish diorama at SDSU is cleaned regularly.
4) Not every wife appreciates a deer mount hung on the living room wall.
5) jludwig has a dry basement.
6) AP's cousin bagged a 13 pointer.
7) Peepaw likes to fish for giant Muskie while eating Chinese food.
8) maashkinoozhe is younger than me.
9) ewest is a connoisseur of fine writing skills.
10)When Dwight and sunil mention intimacy, It makes me uneasy.
11)Frank and Mike can't tell a musky from a pike.
12)JKB takes a dim view of reality television.
13)Back to Cecil, who has questionable tastes in magazines.

I don't like to fight! My Wife does.

However I have found a couple of statements that can escalate a disagreement into a full scale blowout.

1. feeling a little hormonal today?
2. Honey, I respect your feelings but really believe you could use some professional help.

Agreed, but we can' be experts on everything. It is one of the few shows worth watching. They are pretty knowledgeable about bikes and 'cycles.

Na, just a Molson Ice. We don't have any ice up here, so I had to improvise

Snow should all be gone here in a couple of days

Sniper said, "We can't be experts on everything."

One's ego will quickly atrophy with that attitude!!

I think we should expand this list to help the younger guys who are newlyweds or thinking of marriage.

3. That's womens work.
4. I decided to spend the money on a UTV.

"I'm stuck" was only said once, but I'm reminded of it on a regular basis.

The one I don't say anymore is, "It could be worse." For some reason that doesn't make her feel better.

I work like 5 miles from fast eddies.. Good and bad when it comes to the ball and chain.. She gets mad I go to fast eddies after work, she's not mad I go to fast eddies after work

Hey, Happy Birthday Bluegillerkiller.

Cecil I have to agree with you on the "it could be worse" scenario. I've found the hard way that sometimes all I'm meant to be is a pair of ears to listen and strong arms to comfort. I ruin/complicate things when I open my mouth...

Thanks Ad

Yeah; Happy Birthday

A day late, but Happy Birthday BGK!

Same here, Happy B'day!

There is a huge difference between ego and self image.

Hey thanks guys.. Big 30