When I started to remove the packing peanuts, the first thing I saw was the eye staring back at me. I was so realistic, and I could only imagine how the rest of the fish would look. Photos can not do justice to this thing. It's absolutely amazing to see in person. Rick Lax does great work. His communication during the whole process was lacking. By that I mean I couldn't get many responses to my emails, but he did answer the phone when I called and was plenty helpful. If you decide to have him do a mount, make sure you tell him that you want the mount to look like "Your" fish. A friend had one done and it was beautiful. It just didn't look like his fish. Lax is now in the process of getting him a new fish done. Lax told him to be sure to tell him he wants any further mounts to look like the fish he caught. I assumed that would happen but didn't take any chances. I spoke with him on the phone and told him what I wanted, and he delivered.
Having the mount done was a good decision. Having it done at Lax, was a great decision.
The actual fish was 45 1/2". I had him print the length as 46" on the plaque. I say it's ok to "Round Up" when discussing fish size.
![[thumbup]](./images/smilies/msp_thumbup.gif "ThumpUp"){kind=small}
![[woot]](./images/smilies/msp_w00t.gif "Woot"){kind=small}