Fish Mounts

From an article in Field and Stream by Joe Cermele: The first skin mount I ever bought was a dusty 22-inch brown trout hanging in the corner of an antiques store in Columbus, N.J. The shop owner told me the fish was caught near Punxsutawney, Pa., but that's all he knew. What I knew was that whoever hooked this trout must have been extremely proud of the catch and felt a strong connection to the fish. I knew this because I felt the same thing when I picked up the first fish I ever had mounted. As far as I was concerned, this forgotten brown trout deserved to be on the wall of an angler who still appreciated its meaning. So for fear of its ending up next to a neon Stella sign in a hipster bar, I pulled out my wallet and came to its rescue.

To date, there are 14 skin mounts in my collection, the most prized of which are a 10- pound bonefish and a 20-inch palomino trout. Based on the bone's aqua paint job and heavy plaster core, and the fact that it's no longer PC to kill a gray ghost, I figure the mount is from the '50s or '60s, and I know I'll probably never find another like it. The palomino, while being one of the worst mount jobs I've ever seen, was a must-have for a guy who grew up in Jersey where the "golden trout" was such a coveted ­opening- day prize. If you're not from the Northeast, you may not understand. Every time I see that gaudy orange fish hanging in the garage with the others, I wonder if the person who caught it was the lucky one standing around a hole with 20 other fishermen, bombarding the poor glowing trout with corn, worms, and spinners.