Finally got my crappie back from the taxidermist.

[bigblue]

Nice fish we have that same light colour phase in the Niagara Peninsula watershed north of here they get darker. Good fish in my books congrates !

[simple1]

Both mounts on here look good. Nice fish guys.

Simple1

[TRZ II]

Now that is a great looking mount. The other one is not good. Not mean, just a fact.

[Scott M]

At least it wasn't a big one. 14" is a good eater.

You're only fooling yourself. Crappies don't get to 14 inches on a lot of Minnesota lakes, pretty tough to be eaten when they don't get there first! On the lakes that grow 14 inchers, those are your top end age classes so if you like decade old thick soggy fillets that's your business. I'd hope at least that you aren't taking home limits but that point is lost on some as well. 14 inches is no joke anywhere you go in Minnesota. 15 inches is considered a trophy in fisheries management stock indices formulated for all of North America. Here in the north country, I'd say 14+ is a trophy, but then again a trophy is different within everyone's own minds.

Stock Indices - See Page 3, Black Crappie, Memorable and Trophy

[nofishfisherman]

Now that is a great looking mount. The other one is not good. Not mean, just a fact.

And you're acting like a jerkbait. Not mean, just a fact.

[scott b]

I'm sorry and I have to agree with TRZ... This IS a poor mount. I wanted to say this two weeks ago but was trying to be nice.

After I got blasted off another thread (yesterday) I promised myself to stick it to the man and NEVER sugar coat any thing any more.

Nice catch but I hope you got a discount from your ill prepared/skilled taxidermist.

icefisker NICE MOUNT! You can plainly see the difference in color and definition from the O.P's.. Now that's money well spent!

Insert comment of camera or lighting here.._________

Walleyewess is still awesome!

[TRZ II]

Being nice and sugarcoating it won't help him. I told him the truth because in the future if he gets another big crappie he will not use the same poor taxidermist. By comparing the pictures he can see what a good mount looks like. I have 3 crappies mounted and if i got that one back I would tell the taxidermist to keep it.

[#fishhunt#]

IMO Looks to me like the first fish may be a white crappie and the second fish a black crappie. Plus, different lakes have different color fish. Always bring a picture of the fish in to the taxidermist so he knows what color the original fish looks like. I would be mad if I brought in a fish from Rainy lake to a taxidermist and he painted it to look like a fish from Mille Lacs. If the taxidermist matched the color of the fish to the actual color of it and he had a picture of it from the owner then he did a great job. Plus, pictures usually dont do mounts justice as the flash many times will shine out the colors of the fish depending on how the flash reflects off the fish.

Always wrap fish or pirds in plactic before you put anything else around them. Straight newspaper or towels (even wet towels will suck the moisture out of the skin)which makes it hards for the taxidermist to work with. Same issue with putting them in a regular refrigerator freezer.Frost free (most refridge freezers will dry out and shrink the skins of all animals. Deep freezes are always the best.