Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Musky replica I did for Musky guide

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.