How to repair a badly damaged fish fin

[cecil]

Step by step repair of a badly damaged northern pike caudal fin where silkspan is not enough. This can also apply to other fish species.



The fin that needs to be repaired before painting



First step. Back with clear packing tape. Note: The cardboard is just the background to make the fin appear clearer in the photo.



The tape is trimed to the final shape of the fin.



Apoxie sculpt is filled into the gaps.



Apoxie Sculpt is leveled out with a tongue depressor and/or modeling tool. Then rays are modeled back in with some type of pin like an upholstery pin. Use reference! If you spend enough time at this state one cannot tell the fin was repaired after it is painted!



Here a tongue depressor is taped onto the back of the fin due to the fact that enough of the fin is missing that the tape and apoxie sculpt wants to droop before it sets up. I would suggest using a tape that does not stick excessively. If you touch the tape to the floor or something before use it shouldn't stick too badly.



Here a light coating of dark brown is used to blend the tail together before final painting.



Final painting of the caudal fin.

[Todd B]

Hey Cecil,
Good information, this will come in handy. I actually never thought of doing it this way.

Todd B

[fesekula]

I have made repairs on fins with the apoxie but never thought of backing with clear tape to keep the apoxie from dropping. I have 3 or 4 walleyes that will need repair so Cecil this was a timely post. Now who ever said you cannot teach a old dog new tricks.

[cecil]

Welcome aboard Frank. Now how about you teaching us something? Your imput would be greatly welcomed.

[fesekula]

Your impute would be greatly welcomed.

Now Cecil you do really think I could teach you much. You are 2 years older then me with a lot more of fish slim under your belt. LOL, but I will try to teach a old dog new tricks my friend. You just keep on posting all of the tricks of your's from a master fishhead or is that fish slime?. I know it is stinky fingers on my side. Lemon juice will cover up the smell, my first tip of the day.

[tetaxidermy]

Thanks for the post I've looking for a good way to repair fins

[beckyp]

WOW Cecil, it looks great! Never thought about that. THANKS.

[Steve Atkins]

many thanks .this is going to be very helpfull to me i have around forty fish that need fin repairs. i have been collecting these to give me something to do in my retirement many thanks steve.

[captkev]

So I was "googling" fin repairs and came across this page! WOW! I spent $6,800.00 on taxidermy school last year, and this is the best method I've ever seen! Can't wait to try it out on a perch I'm working on now!

[frnknfngr]

I will use this on my next repairs.seems a whole lot easier than the last repair I did. Was wondering if you could use blue painters tape for the younger depressor thing?

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