By Joe Cermele

If you live in an area where winter generally means slow fishing, there's a good chance you assuage your cabin fever by dreaming up plans for next season. Some may be as simple as new lures you intend to try. Others might be as complex as new rigging styles you think will work on your home waters. You may even try building a boat. By this time of year, I've got a laundry list of schemes ready for spring, but some of them aren't exactly tactical.

As an example, I recently ran across the video below on making gyotaku fish prints. The process is nothing new. It's actually a form of ancient Japanese folkart. I've seen such prints hanging in foo-foo galleries where pieces are mostly afforded by people named Muffy or Biff. What I did not know is that making one of these prints is actually pretty easy...at least it looks that way. So the wheels started cranking.

All of my mounted fish are shut up in one room. Frankly, my wife hates them. Perhaps yours does, too. But gyotaku prints are pure art. Fine art at that. At least that should be your approach when you make one and want to hang it in the dining room instead of the garage next to the Miller High Life poster. If she won't hang yours, have the kids make one. They'll totally dig it, and the lady of the house may not be able to refuse display in a prominent location. I'm going to give this a shot come spring. I figure it's perfect for those fish that you wouldn't pay hundreds to have mounted, but are nice enough to commemorate with more than a photo. I would also guess that you could safely rinse of non-toxic water-based paints after rolling the print and still cook the catch. - JC

Comments (16)

from Bryan01 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

That's great - I think I may have to try it also. BTW, the recent posts with an "art" angle like this one have been great - keep them coming.

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from mutt wrote 2 years 1 week ago

defiantly worth trying

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from hengst wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Thats pretty cool. My wife would kick my tail if I spent hundreds on a fish mount, but she would be down with this. She would probably even help make a print and like you said, the fish can be eaten afterwards.

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from Brian W. Thair wrote 2 years 1 week ago

On our fishing trips, gyotaku fish printing was done just before the shore lunch. Besides some paper towel and some stones to support the fins, you need sheets of Japanese rice paper, a brush and a bottle of India Ink.
That's it. Once dry, the prints go back into the mailing tube of paper sheets and the fish go into the lunch. Fish species with obvious scales look best.

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from dneaster3 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

okay, that was cool.... but does it work for ducks? :)

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from rjw wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Will be trying that for sure.

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from squirrelgirl wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I saw Martha Stewart do this once, looks fun but I wonder if I could use my daughter's finger paints and make a tie dye version?

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from GaFisherman wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Being a student I cannot really afford to get anything mounted but this seems like it would be a good alternative. I agree with the cabin fever though I've been at college all winter and been itching to hit the lake again to try some new tactics.

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from fliphuntr14 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

is that just black paint and how long do u let the fish sit for?

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from TJ wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I'm not that artisticly gifted.

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from buckhunter wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I have tried this before. The film makes it look easy but I know I had trouble with the paper sticking to the fish and not getting all the texture. Maybe I had the wrong type of paper or ink. We were in a cabin up in the mountains and supplies were limited.

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from jamesti wrote 2 years 1 week ago

if i ever catch a fish, i'm gonna try it!

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from Brian W. Thair wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Get the fish sort of damp-dried off. Paint on the india ink and immediately lay the print paper on the fish. Tamp it down gently (that's why you have to support the fins.) If you don't get the print you want, wipe off the fish with a wet paper towel and go again.
squirrelgirl: I think that fingerpaint would be too gooey unless they could be diluted with water. . . sort of milk-consistency.

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from Sneaky wrote 2 years 1 week ago

This is to fish what European mounts are to deer. Simple, inexpensive, and do-it-yourself. My family and I will have a lot of fun with this.

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from tbogg10 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

well im gonna try it this spring, sounds pretty interesting

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from Brian W. Thair wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Plan B: Ink the fish and roll it on stiffer paper.

Don't forget that india ink is more-or-less waterproof. Once the original prints are dry, add some color washes like the actual fish. Think of the fun kids could have with painting prints of Bluegills/Sunfish/Crappies.

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from Bryan01 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

That's great - I think I may have to try it also. BTW, the recent posts with an "art" angle like this one have been great - keep them coming.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from mutt wrote 2 years 1 week ago

defiantly worth trying

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from hengst wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Thats pretty cool. My wife would kick my tail if I spent hundreds on a fish mount, but she would be down with this. She would probably even help make a print and like you said, the fish can be eaten afterwards.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Brian W. Thair wrote 2 years 1 week ago

On our fishing trips, gyotaku fish printing was done just before the shore lunch. Besides some paper towel and some stones to support the fins, you need sheets of Japanese rice paper, a brush and a bottle of India Ink.
That's it. Once dry, the prints go back into the mailing tube of paper sheets and the fish go into the lunch. Fish species with obvious scales look best.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from dneaster3 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

okay, that was cool.... but does it work for ducks? :)

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from rjw wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Will be trying that for sure.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from squirrelgirl wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I saw Martha Stewart do this once, looks fun but I wonder if I could use my daughter's finger paints and make a tie dye version?

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from GaFisherman wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Being a student I cannot really afford to get anything mounted but this seems like it would be a good alternative. I agree with the cabin fever though I've been at college all winter and been itching to hit the lake again to try some new tactics.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from fliphuntr14 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

is that just black paint and how long do u let the fish sit for?

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Brian W. Thair wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Get the fish sort of damp-dried off. Paint on the india ink and immediately lay the print paper on the fish. Tamp it down gently (that's why you have to support the fins.) If you don't get the print you want, wipe off the fish with a wet paper towel and go again.
squirrelgirl: I think that fingerpaint would be too gooey unless they could be diluted with water. . . sort of milk-consistency.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Sneaky wrote 2 years 1 week ago

This is to fish what European mounts are to deer. Simple, inexpensive, and do-it-yourself. My family and I will have a lot of fun with this.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from TJ wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I'm not that artisticly gifted.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from buckhunter wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I have tried this before. The film makes it look easy but I know I had trouble with the paper sticking to the fish and not getting all the texture. Maybe I had the wrong type of paper or ink. We were in a cabin up in the mountains and supplies were limited.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jamesti wrote 2 years 1 week ago

if i ever catch a fish, i'm gonna try it!

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from tbogg10 wrote 2 years 1 week ago

well im gonna try it this spring, sounds pretty interesting

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Brian W. Thair wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Plan B: Ink the fish and roll it on stiffer paper.

Don't forget that india ink is more-or-less waterproof. Once the original prints are dry, add some color washes like the actual fish. Think of the fun kids could have with painting prints of Bluegills/Sunfish/Crappies.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.