Local man preserves fishing memories

What started as a hobby for Mark Etherington, a local Morgan City resident for 30 years, has become his retirement job or retirement “fun” as he calls it.  Ethington, who was first introduced to taxidermy by a middle school teacher in his childhood town of Payson, Utah, loves his opportunity to capture special memories people create while fishing.

“It’s all about the memories that go along with the mount,” he shared.  “There is a story behind every mount.”

 “I’ve done a 9 ½ foot Pacific Blue Marlin that took the man an hour to land in Cabo San Lucas, and I’ve also done a 13 inch fish for a grandpa to give to his granddaughter as a special reminder of the first fish she caught.”

Growing up in Payson, Etherington spent most of his time hunting and fishing, but he recalls those weeks that he got up at 6 a.m. to learn how to taxidermy a bird from his teacher.  He enjoyed the process, but “bird skin is so thin and hard to work with.” 

Throughout his later schooling, family life, and working career, Etherington never really had time to return to taxidermy, but when he retired and he and his wife Patty served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denver, Colorado, he became acquainted with an 84-year-old man who was a taxidermist.  

“I would go over on Saturdays and help him with his pond and land, and he would share his knowledge about taxidermy.  Fish taxidermyreally caught my eye,” Etherington explained.  

“From that time I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos, experimented, and come up with my own methods. I practiced on 15-20 fish in my garage, and then in 2019, I advertised on KSL and got my first order.  I’ve been constant since then.”

“A lot of taxidermists don’t do fish, and if they do, there is a long wait.  Most taxidermists have over a year wait right now.  I only do fish. It takes me about 8-10 weeks to complete a fish,” he detailed.

After two years in business, Etherington’s son helped him set up a website, utahfishtaxidermy.com, and Etherington is now 8-10 weeks out for orders.  Through his website and referrals, most of his orders are from Utah, but he has shipped to Florida, Arizona, and Wyoming.  The man from Florida was fishing in Utah and wanted to preserve his memories of the trip and brought the fish to Etherington before he left that state.

Etherington does two types of mounts: skin and replica.  Full skin mounts use the original skin, head, tail and fins of the fish.  They give fishermen the “most authentic mount of [his or her] fish.”

On his website, Etherington details how anglers should preserve their fish for the best possible chance for a skin mount. 

“Getting some good pictures is a good thing to start with. Most people have at least one good picture which is adequate, but getting some close ups of the head, mid-section and tail section helps me replicate the patterns and colors in better detail. After pictures, don't let the fish dry out. Wrap the fish up tightly in a wet terry cloth towel. Then wrap that up tightly in a plastic garbage can liner. Make sure the fins are tucked up tightly against the body and the tail stays straight. Now keep the fish cool or better yet, get it in a freezer until it can be delivered to the taxidermist.”

Once he receives the fish for skin mounts, Etherington stores them in his freezer.  He joked, “My wife Patty is a good sport. She doesn’t mind my fish being in the freezer along with her raspberries.”

For those who were not able to preserve their fish or who may only have a photograph of the trophy fish, Etherington also does replica mounts.  Detailed pictures and measurements are the most helpful for excellent replica mounts, he explained.

“I can do replicas from pictures with some standard measurements. The length of the fish is important to have. Also, if possible, a girth measurement around the fish just in front of the dorsal fin helps get the fish as close to authentic as possible. When you land that trophy fish and you know you are going to have a replica made, take some pictures. A picture of the entire fish with some close ups of the head, mid-section and tail section helps me to duplicate the colors and patterns as closely as possible.”

Etherington did a replica mount for a daughter to give her father for his birthday of a fish he caught 15 years ago.  “She gave me a picture of the fish, and I scaled it from the picture.  It was wonderful for her to give her dad this memory from the past.”

In his business, Etherington does about half skin mounts and half replicas.  “People do replicas for a number of reasons. Some just like to catch and release, others can’t get the fish to me, and others only have photographs from the past.”

Etherington is rare as a taxidermist in that he creates his own “bodies” or fish forms.  “They have fish forms you can order, but I make my own forms with materials and a horseshoe rasp.  It allows me to shape my fish and pose them my own way.”

He shared that the most challenging part of the job is the artistry to get the colors and patterns right on each of the fish.  “Each fish has its own pattern, even though species have similar patterns and colors. It is very hard to match the colors. It can take me over five hours to paint a fish depending on the size. I have a lot of reference patterns (pictures of fish) to help me. I mainly use an airbrush to paint my fish, but I’ve used a number of unique items to get a pattern just right: a marker, a Qtip, and a variety of paint brushes.”

“My most challenging fish recently has been a tiger trout,” he related.  “They have a lot of different patterns.”  

Over the past four years, Etherington has completed  and sold 70-100 fish mounts, but he still finds time to fish the local waters, especially Echo Reservoir.  “I’m a spin cast fisher, “ he openly admitted. “I love to catch trout.  I don’t need to travel outside our local waters to catch the fish I love.”

Etherington also enjoys spending time walking the shores of lakes to pick up driftwood for his mounts.  "I use authentic driftwood.  We go to Island Park as a family,  and I take the kids and grandkids on  ‘wood hunts,’ so I'll have plenty of driftwood to mount my fish.”

In November, Etherington moved his taxidermy operation from his garage into his new facility, a remodeled pigeon coop in his backyard, that rivals any man cave and boasts a woodburning stove that is stamped 1898, cupboards full of paints, walls decorated with fish mounts and a cozy area around the stove to swap fish stories.  When asked about how much hard work each fish takes, he replies, “It’s not a burden, not a lot of hard work.  It’s a lot of fun work.  I love being creative!”

So if you have a fish and memory that you’d like preserved, give Etherington a call, and he’ll “keep working on your mount until you’re happy.”  His favorite part of his “job” is the satisfaction that comes with creativity.  “I love to hear my clients say, ‘That looks amazing!’’ λ