Over six years ago I read an article in B&B mag about mounting fish jaws, I was really impressed by how they came up so kept the Mag for future reference. As it happens the article was written by Heath from on here.
Years went by and I really didn't catch anything of great note or forgot about it when I did until I was out on the Norval last year and a Punter Simon (also a member of A/F) caught a very nice trout in the last minutes of the last drop for the trip.
I just had to give these jaws a go so cut them out of the head and gave the head to the Tongan punter on board to cook up into a soup (was bloody beautiful too)
so for starters I wrapped up the jaws in foil and put in the pre warmed but turned off hooded BBQ to soften the majority of the flesh, after picking most of the flesh away I then put in very slow simmering water for short periods to soften more flesh but not cook the bones. I used a tooth brush to help clean away the flesh but found as I got them clean a squirt with compressed air got rid of all the little bits stuck in the holes everywhere
I then let them dry for a few weeks (don't know if this is really necessary but I had other things on) before putting them into a mild bleach solution overnight (Heath I have lost the Mag mate so step in please with times and solution ratios haha)
Horse also mentioned about Shellite to get the fats out of the bones so they don't yellow with age so I gave them a good scrubbing up with that too before starting to look at what they would look like on a mount
When I took Jarrah Jacks boat down to the Mornington Peninsula for him he had a great piece of old wharf Jarrah pylon that he quickly cut up into the right size for me
a bit of JJ woodworking skill and some West system epoxy resin and backing board was complete with a couple of extra shells I picked up at JJ's boat launching beach
I used the clear grade Araldite to glue all the bones together so it didn't yellow with time using rubber bands and blue tac to hold in place
a few coats of an artists clear cote protector in a spray can then found a book rack style of rack for them to sit on and Simon is very happy I believe
now Horse is going to do a big Green Jobfish and add to this any steps I have missed haha
cheers Murf