People, man....

[briansnat]

Back in the 70's when my dad would catch a big fish that he kept he would clean it and cut off the head, heavily salt it and nail it to a tree in the woods. After a month or two he'd take it off and lacquer it and mount it. They actually came out pretty nice. The 9 lb bass he caught at Lake Gerard around 1974 graced our lake house wall for many years.

Perhaps someone was doing something similar.

[iraevski]

Originally Posted by briansnat

Back in the 70's when my dad would catch a big fish that he kept he would clean it and cut off the head, heavily salt it and nail it to a tree in the woods. After a month or two he'd take it off and lacquer it and mount it. They actually came out pretty nice. The 9 lb bass he caught at Lake Gerard around 1974 graced our lake house wall for many years.

Perhaps someone was doing something similar.

how can this be? wouldn't bears, raccoons and other critters eat the fish long before it had a chance to dry? if i left a salted fish in my backyard nailed to a tree it would be gone in 24 hours guaranteed

[FASTEDDIE29]

I am guilty of leaving catfish carcasses nailed to trees on some of NJ's finest rivers. Skin em and fillet em! Not sure I would do it to a toothy critter, but hey, to each his own.

[justin1982]

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

I am guilty of leaving catfish carcasses nailed to trees on some of NJ's finest rivers. Skin em and fillet em! Not sure I would do it to a toothy critter, but hey, to each his own.

That's just the thing, I've seen guys filet fish nailed to trees, sometimes they get left, oh well, something will eat it... This was a head on stake, no body, no guts on the ground, just a head chillen on a branch, I think it's terrible

[briansnat]

Originally Posted by iraevski

how can this be? wouldn't bears, raccoons and other critters eat the fish long before it had a chance to dry? if i left a salted fish in my backyard nailed to a tree it would be gone in 24 hours guaranteed

It never was an issue, not sure why. There were few if any bear around back then. Coons obviously, but they never bothered the fish heads. The flies had a field day but in the end the head was intact, if a bit shrunken.

[Lard Almighty]

As long as the rest of the fish was used constructively, seeing its head on a pike (pun intended) doesn't bother me that much.