I sometimes think that a genetic defect is the reason I’m so fascinated with fish. My mother says that when I was a toddler, if I saw anyone fishing, she had trouble pulling me away. I took up fishing when I was very young but by the time I was 15, I wanted to try something new – preparing dead fish for display.

I prepared my first specimen in the laundry room of our house. My mother wasn’t too thrilled when she saw stinking pots of formalin next to her clean sheets. But since then, fish taxidermy has been my life’s passion.