2024 Fish Carvings and some from 2023...

[MathFish]

It has been a while since I have posted some of my little fish carvings on here. Seeing Dave_W's awesome fly with a painted trout on a feather inspired me to share some of my carvings that I made this past year. I'm not sure if Dave_W realizes or not, but he was helpful in getting me to improve on my carvings by pointing out some details on how the fins of a trout are related in positioning to one another and by also pointing out some proportions too. Thank you for the insight, it has help me improve on my work by getting me to see the way a trout looks a lot better than I was seeing them before.

I had the opportunity to visit Pisgah National Forest in 2023 and to do some fishing in that absolutely beautiful area. I caught some beautiful wild brown trout there and it inspired me to make the following carving. I redesigned my trout pattern using the tips from Dave_W and this was the result.

I also had an experience to go fishing at Cape Cod with a good friend and we caught bluefish and flounder. As a thank you, I decided to try making some carvings of those fish. I found the bluefish to be a challenging fish to carve but the flounder was surprisingly easier even though they are very odd looking fish.

I'll add the flounder in a following post...

 

[MathFish]

Here is how the flounder turned out. I attempted to make the bases look like sand since they basically hang out on the ocean floor as I understand it.

 

[Ewanflyfish]

Dang, those look really nice. At first glance I thought that brown trout was real! I’m thoroughly impressed.

 

[MathFish]

I also was asked to make a largemouth bass and a smallmouth bass. I had made some smallmouths before, but never a largemouth. I was able to improve my ability to carve the belly of these and I was happy with how they turned out.

Here are the unpainted largemouth carvings.

Here they are after painting.

Here is one mounted on a piece of driftwood.

I was very pleased with how these largemouth turned out. But I was also made a smallmouth and I was able to carve the pointed dorsal fins a little better on this one than I did on the largemouth's dorsal fin. I think that the smallmouth was harder to paint too...

 

[MathFish]

And my most recent one have been some trout that I have made for some friends. I used the pattern that I made from the Pisgah brown trout pattern I made.

Here are the six unpainted carvings.

Here are the painted trout before I coated them with a gloss clear coat.

Here is a brown with the gloss coat. I am very happy with how it turned out.

I'll post some photos of the finished mounted trout in the next post.

 

[krayfish2]

Super nice. Got some skills brother. Do you collect them or sell them?

 

[MathFish]

Here are some final pictures of the finished trout mounted on some flat river rocks. I think that the rainbow turned out the best in the photos.

Here is one of the three brookies.

Here is one of the browns.

And here is the rainbow.

In the process of making the six trout carvings, I got two very nasty cuts on my left pointer finger from my carving knives. The first gash, almost ran down the entire length of my finger - I used 4 butterfly bandages to keep it closed... The second gash actually required that I go to the emergency room and get stitches, I lost a decent amount of blood from that one! But, now, to cut back on my clumsiness, I got a chainmail glove for my left hand and I also wear two cut resistant gloves while carving. So, I am improving in my carving, but I am still managing to find ways to be stupid... Hopefully the gloves will help reduce the stupidity some.

Thanks for your time and I apologize for taking so much of it! I felt it's been too long since I shared my work especially since I have kind of shown my progression of carving from the first pinewood derby trout car that i shared on here probably 8 years ago now.

 

[MathFish]

I do carve some for myself. I have made 56 little wooden fish since I started making these back in 2019. I was selling them when I started, but looking back, those were not nearly as good as what I have been making lately. I think I sold about 6 or so...

But now, I just give them away as gifts to friends, coworkers, students and acquaintances. I figure when I retire, if I still enjoy making these, I may sell them at fly fishing shows or outdoor shows. Who knows...

 

[jeffroey]

Truly amazing craftsmanship. Impressive work.

 

[LLR]

Very impressive final projects

You have absolutely incredible skills

Well done!

Please keep posting these types of pictures

Maybe it is just me, but when you are in the middle of the winter with a temp of 9 degrees outside; it seems like one even appreciates such work more

 

[wildtrout2]

Amazing craftsmanship, you're very talented!

 

[Forestfishin]

Very nice 👍

 

[DaveKile]

The detail you have been doing is fantastic. I remember the post from a couple years back and you have continued to enhance your skills with a lot more detail. Some really incredible work. Thanks for sharing!

 

[brookiefan]

Really nice, love the brookies, my favorite.

 

[FarmerDave]

Here is one of those early ones for comparison. I keep it on display in the living room. BTW this one is smaller per request which no doubt made it harder to carve. I like it a lot. Not for sale unless you take the piano, too.😉

 

[Dave_W]

Love it!
Fly fishing and "fly fishing art" tend to reinforce themselves in our mind. When I'm out fishing, I often think about my next painting or see something inspiring; when painting I think about fishing.

 

[Wrestlecoach3]

Wow!!!

 

[Paul6.5]

Very nice!

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

These are all great!

 

[Harry3]

As a fish carver myself, i enjoyed seeing your work. I find it harder working on smaller carvings.