Roger That! - A legend in his own right

While we would love to get every charter captain and their crew to stop by and visit our facility, we know this may not always be possible. However, if you are ever in the area, please stop by and check us out and get a personal tour,  you are always welcome at Gray's!

Until you can  visit us to see the process  up close and  personal, we thought we would give you a brief look inside and see how a trophy  mount is made.

Captains and  Mates know it all starts with the fishing trip and by you catching that  beautiful fish. But after the decision to get a trophy mount, what is the actual  process to having it made?  Well at  Gray's it literally starts with Roger, one of our Molding Experts! Roger who  originally is from Bay Shore, NY started working for Gray in 1981 and he just  celebrated his 30th year with Gray Taxidermy. He holds a degree in Veterinary  Science as well as Biology.  On  Graduation day he decided to visit Ft. Lauderdale for Spring Break and luckily  for Gray, he never went back.  After  exploring Florida on his bike – it came time to go to work, and in through our  doors he came.

Over the  years Roger has done it all, cleaning the fish, cutting fins and bills,  silvering, touch-up and of course the actual molding.  It has taken years to perfect the process of  getting the highest quality product but Roger is a true expert and now considered  “The Man” when it comes to his craft.  We  can proudly say that Roger has utilized and perfected the technique we invented  50 years ago and he has arguably molded more fish than anyone in the world!   This is a bold statement, but considering his devotion and history we are  confident that no one else can state the same.

At Gray we  have the privilege to see the results that our specialists create on a daily  basis.  Needless to say that Roger, and all our artists take pride in  their craft. Our entire organization has the same mindset, that only perfection  is good enough and a repeat customer is our greatest reward.

It takes a  quality fish to get the best quality mold.  At Gray we only make a mold from a fish that is  in 100% perfect  condition.  In order to ensure the mount on your wall will  look the very best and resemble the trophy fish that you once caught, we do not  accept a fish with even a minor imperfection.

The entire  process is a very meticulous task. You cannot overlook any step or rush through  any of the procedures.  As mentioned  earlier it starts with a fish in perfect condition, followed by cleaning it  thoroughly, placing it in the sandbox in a realistic position, setting the  fins, filling the belly, positioning the mouth, etc. Then comes one of the most  important steps, the application of the gel coat, which is applied in order to pick  up every detail of the surface of the fish, including each scale right down to the  lateral line. This also means that any imperfection or dust particle can  be picked  up by the gel-coat, which is why every fish caught is not a candidate for a  mold.

After it is cured, several layers of fiberglass are applied. When it’s  all set, the entire fish is turned over and the process is repeated on the  other side. Once left to set the mold is opened and thoroughly cleaned. We now  have a new model that can be used to start making custom trophy mounts.

You can  learn more about the molding process on the Gray Taxidermy website. For  more information, please explore the site or stop by anytime!