Our seventh replica took a while to get here, but it was worth the wait. The fiberglass smallmouth bass from Advanced Taxidermy looks like it could flick its tail and swim away — and reminds me daily of that incredibly special catch.

If it’s not obvious by now, my goal is to fish as much as I can, travel as much as I can, and celebrate my most memorable catches with true-to-life fiberglass replicas. I’ve written about my love for taxidermy quite a bit. In case you missed them, here are 13 Half Past First Cast articles I’ve written that in some form deal with fish replicas.

Because of my dad’s job, most of my childhood summers were spent in the back seat of a sedan driving someplace across America. I’m not sure I appreciated spending so much time with my family and seeing our great country much at the time.