Preserving fish teeth and skulls - #3

After the 2nd water change and 2 weeks of maceration, this is the result.

The water is not so cloudy anymore but you can still see bits and pieces of flesh/fat on the surface.

I threw away the water and removed the bones from the bottle. Rinsed the bones in water and used my long needle to scrape out any other visible specks of flesh.

As you can see, the bone is rather yellowish and slightly sticky to the touch. After cleaning the bones thoroughly, a final rinse and put out in the sun to dry.

Going to dry them for about 2 days.

Sport Fishing Explorer Trip #11 - Slow trip

Joined this trip at the last minute. Weather in the past week has been rather unpredictable.

We set off late this time and by the time we began collecting some supply of fresh squid bait for fishing, it was already 9pm. Took another 2hrs to get a decent supply before we headed to our first fishing spot.

Fishing was super slow throughout the night. I didn't even get a single bite so I went to sleep.

Boat changed a few places till morning. Other anglers did manage to catch some Ang Chor last night but very little. 

Boat captain decided to try to fish near some anchored ships. We threw every type of jigs near it, sabiki too but nothing was there. This is getting frustrating!

After lunch we anchored up again and down went the live prawns. Was using an Apollo setup with 4/0 VMC Circle hooks and holding the rod. Then came a tap on the bait. Got ready to free spool and finally the fish took the bait and ran. Free spooled for 5 secs before engaging the drag and swept the rod up slowly. Rod loaded up and FISH ON! Fish was running deep so I let the drag do its thing. Then started to reel up. Mid-way, the fish decided to run across the back of the boat, which had me scrambling over and under other anglers but alas, the lines all got tangled up. The deckies then helped 'hand-line' the fish to the surface and netted it. It was a good sized Chermin.

Circle hook nicely pinned at the side of the mouth. 

Had to cut a section of my main line braid as it has chaffed due to the entanglement with all the other lines. It also helped the deckies to undo the 'birds nests' quicker.....

I love catching this fish. Good fighters and real drag screamers!

My other kakis were also having some action, catching some nice Golden Trevally and Chermins too. And they were using running sinker rigs. Switched mine to running sinker too but all was quiet again.

Just around sunset, I had a hookup again but it was only a table-sized Russel's Snapper aka Tanda. 

After dark, we began catching squid as bait again. After the bait wells were full, we went to the next spot.

Current wasn't moving that much so I stuck to using my running sinker rig. Then some anglers began catching stingrays. Big and small! This is one fish that I've not caught yet personally. So I was quietly wishing that one of the stingrays would find my bait.

Was holding the rod with the reel in free spool when suddenly just felt line peeling away. Let it take the bait a bit more before setting the drag. Engaged the drag and rod loaded up instantly! FISH ON!

Fella was taking out line still and with every wind, the stingray would take out more line. Waited till the line stopped peeling out then began reeling back. I must say, fighting a stingray is totally different from other fish. At one point, I thought it had plastered itself to the seafloor as I couldn't lift the rod up and felt stuck! Changed to low gear setting on my reel to better fight the stingray. Finally felt it 'come off' and quickly began reeling. Finally it reached the surface and was gaffed by the deckies. Wasn't very big but have one helluva fight!! Loved it!!

About an hour later, the current began to pick up. Continued with my running sinker rig but stuck it on the rod holder. Then the rod bent over violently and I quickly grabbed it and began reeling. Felt the fish and swept the rod up just to make sure. FISH ON! Good fight but finally surfaced and it was a nice Ang Chor! Nice!

That was the last fish for me for the trip.

One of my kaki hooked up one big mama of a Queenfish. Fella weighed at least 10kg. Awesome size!

Didn't wake up when the deckies were cleaning the fish but my group of kakis evenly divided the catch and this is what I got.

Pretty poor catch rate but since nobody wanted the Queenfish, I took the whole fish! 

Filleted the Queenfish back home and gave it to some neighbours.

Gear used:
Rod - Blackmarket Slow Jig PE3-5
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - live prawn / live squid
Rig - Apollo style / running sinker

Fish ID  - Chermin aka Diamond Trevally (Alectics indicus)
              - Ang Chor aka John's Snapper (Lutjanus johnii)
              - Queenfish (Scomberoides commerson)
              - Brown Stingray (Dasyatis Latus) 

Preserving fish teeth and skulls - #2

This is the result after about 1 week of maceration. The water is very cloudy and stinky! You can see some flesh and fats floating at the surface.

Threw away the water and re-filled it with fresh tap water again. Macerate for another week!

Check back for the results!

Preserving fish teeth and skulls - #1

After doing some test specimens, now I'm ready to try to do a whole fish skull. You can follow my blog as I've just started on a new specimen.

Tools:

Tweezers, long needle, glass bottles, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, glue (I use Duco cement)

Step 1
Removed the head of the fish at one of the vertebrae. Chose a nice sized head of Coral Trout. Looks to have a pretty nice set of teeth!

Step 2 - Maceration (2 options)

Cold maceration - This means you have to try to remove all the meat and flesh on the fish head with a knife. Remove as much as you can and then place the head in a bottle. Fill it with tap water and place it in a warm place. This slow maceration might take up to a month to complete. Change the water every week or so until the water runs clear.

Fast maceration - This method requires you to place the fish head into a saucepan filled with water. Slowly heat up the water but NOT to boiling point. Just hot enough for the flesh on the head to be easily separated.

I choose Fast maceration!

At this point, I just try to remove as much meat as I can from the fish

After removing all the flesh that I can, I put it in a glass bottle and fill it with water.

Let's wait for a week!