Just finished two prizes for this year's SPO. A 45" Aluminum Black Grouper and a 40" Hogfish.

Those are so cool- how do you do that?

They start as 5052 or 6061 aluminum alloy sheet. The grouper design came from a local artist named Fishbone who is best known for his work displayed at Bonefish Grills. The hogfish design was derived from pictures of the first fish I ever shot in the Grounds, a 17 pound hogfish. The hogfish fiberglass mount is at my house and I used digital photos projected onto the sheetmetal to trace the original pattern.

I then layout the interior cuts with a sharpee and pencil. I use a Hobart 625 Airforce Plasma Cutter to make the cuts. Then I move to the shaping, smoothing, de-burring, and finishing stages. This is done with an electric angle grinder and then a smaller pneumatic right angle die grinder. Then I hand file the interior cuts, put some bends in the metal to give it some shape, and then crimp the aluminum baitfish hangtag.

I also finished another hogfish today to donate to Make-A-Difference Foundation for an auction event. One of our club members is very involved in this charity and asked me to help out.

Wow very nice, those are cool as hell.!




Dago

awsome

Nice work

Excellent work Howie! I'm sure those will both be gone almost immediately.

Those are badazz, Howie!:smnotworthy:

Man I would love to have that hogfish, it would look SAAAWEET hangin in my den...

Can I call dibbs even if I place 311th???

Wow, That beats a piece of glass any day! Wish us non'florida guys could compete.

Wow, That beats a piece of glass any day! Wish us non'florida guys could compete.

Rob,
I'm sure you could find a ride after the year you have been having. Of course, you don't get to bring all those Carolina fish with you. You gotta dig around in the mud with us to find some.

Definitely top picks, nice work brother :toast:

I bought one of the hogs from Howie and they look great. I hung it on the patio by the pool and it looks great.