Personally, I think Skin mounts look much better. But maybe it's just the replica's i have seen.

I have a couple of beautiful skin mounts(before i get flamed to death, the last one that was made was 1989 or 90 i beleive).

Now I WONT ever have another skin mounted bass, unless like in the OP's case the fish were to die anyway.

I have caught some very nice fish on good trips i wanted to have replica's made of, got the measurements, weight , pictures etc. And just never have pulled the trigger on one. I looked at a bunch of reps on different sites and just didn't act soon enough.

Without to much of a tyraid going on here, i guess my point is I can see why some would prefer a skin mount, however, I won't have anymore done. And possibly no replica's ever either..

This is another misnomer as it pertains to fish or any animal for that matter. Your GENETIC code is decided and written at conception. The second my fish was conceived its genetic code was WRITTEN, same for every other fish in the lake. So that 3 pounder that dies in your live well during a tournament or gets gut hooked or whatever just might have had the GENETICS to become a world record bass but no body cries about genetics until they have seen one that actually got big. This particular day after catching that fish I continued up the river and saw a bank fisherman catch a 3.5lb bass on a minnow under a bobber. He reeled her in as excited as could be and threw that fish in his cooler. I would be lying if I said that after seeing that I wasn't leaning toward putting this fish on my wall whether she made it to the scale or not. So please dont cry genetics...the only thing that changes about an animals genetics as it ages are mutations to genes that are more often than not growth stunting or life threatening. So if want to cry about genetics then pine away for the millions of fry that die every year that had SHARELUNKER genes!!

Next time you go deer hunting just take a picture of the buck and have a replica made...Mount looks sweet.

You are correct, the genetics are written at conception. That is why I choose not to remove any bass from a body of water unless it is to cull a private body. But by willingly taking a fish that obviously has the genetics to produce large offspring from a body of water you in essence have killed that genetic strain from that particular fish. I understand that your fish didn't make it, as sad as that may be, but in general by taking big fish genetics from public waters we in theory could eventually drop the percentage of big fish in said waters.

You shouldn't need to explain yourself to anyone. Do you see people releasing deer and elk?

You caught it, it's your mount. Nice work and it looks awesome!

Skin mount of ours and goint to try to post a compairsion.
Skin



Replica of ours to compair the both as finished product.
Replica

You are never gonna get it....my fish was a female...it weighed 9lbs which means she has spawned what 6-10 times before I caught and killed her...animals just like humans dont live forever and the older they get the more mutated their genes become I think you would have a better argument for protecting the gene pool of a fishery by intentionally removing the older larger bass but that is not my point. This fish has spawned many times before and her genetic lineage is more than intact!!

Raptrap, quit wasting your time. Nice mount btw.

Both look good but the skin mount looks real and there is no doubt the replica is a replica. Replicas have perfect fins and I have rarely if ever pulled a fish from the lake without imperfections.

P.s. Good was and understatement. That skin mount looks fantastic!!!!

I'm sorry rap trap, I had no idea you were a aquatic biology expert. I stand corrected. As long as the fish has spawned then we can take all of the big fish from a certain body of water and never have to worry about the loss of those genes. My point is, the longer we can leave those genes intact the better off as sport fishermen we are. I understand your fish died, but had she not, you said yourself that your intention was to release her back. Ask the tuna fishermen what happens when you remove to many of the big fish genes from the waters you fish. I'm not persecuting you for taking the fish, I'm just making a generalized comment. It amazes me how so many people on here go into defensive attack mode when someone disagrees with them.

No worries, I'm glad I could straighten you out and thanks for my new TFF Signature I just knew something fruitful was going to come of this

HAHAHA, I think the mount looks awesome. Congrats on the fish. BTW all of these guys giving you [censored] have never gut hooked or accidentally killed a fish in there lives.

Dude that looks bada$$. I bet Adam thought that was the coolest thing to see it mounted