Molding a World Record

Ensuring that the memory of a world record fish lives forever is the job entrusted to a skilled taxidermist.  Making a mold of the largest Peacock Bass ever caught, officially weighed and documented, means covering the fish in encasing agents that heat the fish as they cure and pretty much destroy the surface of the fish in the process.   You don’t get second chances in this game!  After being named Director of Sales and Marketing for Capt. Peacock Yachts and Expeditions, I knew just the man I wanted for this job.   I put a call into Ron Kelly, long time Dallas area taxidermist and friend that has made well over 1,000 Peacock Bass replicas over the last 15 years.  Ron had molded Doc Lawson’s 27 lb Speckled Peacock Bass caught in 1994 that had held the IGFA All Tackle World Record honor for the last 16 years.  Ron has also molded  a good number of the largest Black Bass ever caught in the state of Texas. 

When I called Ron in early May of 2010 and asked him if he would be interested in traveling with me to Manaus, Brazil to make a mold of the new IGFA certified World Record Peacock Bass, he jumped at the chance.  We then started the process of putting together the materials he would need to build molds of the fish, as in today’s world of strict airline regulations, there was no way he was going to be able to transport the flammable materials he uses in his studio to Brazil to make the molds.  After sending down lists of materials he needed, there ensued a number of phone calls between our people looking for materials at auto supply & fiberglass boat repair shops in Manaus and Ron in the US.  When we arrived in Manaus the 3rd week of June Ron was still not sure just what materials he would find waiting for him.  And to top everything else off, the 28 lb fish had been laying in a freezer since caught by Bill Gassmann while fishing with Captain Peacock Expeditions on February 9.  To say Ron felt like he was walking into a blind alley in the dark was an understatement!

Upon our arrival in Manaus, Leonardo Leao & Nasser Fraxe, owners of Captain Peacock Yachts and Expeditions, transported Ron and me to their latest acquisition, TIWA Eco Resort across from Manaus on the south bank of the Rio Negro River.  The necessary materials, though not exactly what he was used to using, were waiting for Ron and the monster peacock was thawed, ready to become immortalized.  Watching Ron mold the fish outside in the sand in the middle of Brazil’s rain forest with improvised material was an experience I will never forget.  Once  the new molds were separated from the fish, the fine detail of each and every scale on the mold showed that we had selected the right man for the job.  Transporting the molds, which could not be replaced at any cost, on the plane in the baggage compartment makes one nervous in itself.  The enclosed photo of Ron holding a mold at the Dallas Ft. Worth Airport shows they made it home safe and sound.  Replicas of Peacock Bass fishing’s newest world record will be available thru Capt. Peacock’s new Texas marketing office by contacting it’s new Director of Sales and Marketing, Jim Kern at info@captpeacock.com or at 817-471-2716.  And what became of the biggest fish ever documented in  Peacock Bass fishing history?  It has been given to the Federal Government of Brazil for Genetic and Biological research.