mountable fish

[FishOn!]

Looking for opinions...My friend and frequent fishing partner caught a 16 inch crappie tonight. I told him to get it mounted. What is everyones opinion on mountable sizes for different fish?

[PerchPounder]

16" crappie I would say absolutely. Assuming you can't throw it back now. You dont get them that big too often. I guess as far as other species go it would depend on the situation. For me it would be 16+ crappie, 11+ bluegill, 30+ walleye. Other than that im not too sure those are just the fish I am after most often.

[Corey Bechtold]

Personally, with the advent of digital camera's and long lasting quality of replica technology I would opt to go that route. Also there's a good feeling I get when I put back a big fish and think that there might be a small kid going fishing with their parents sometime and happen to catch that same big fish.

A 16" Crappie is still a trophy so taking it in for a mount is definately worthy of wall space.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[rauenhorst]

A trophy is a good memory and any qualifies

[FishOn!]

Thanks guys! My first question to him was did you put it back?! When he said no, I said mount it! Probably not very good to eat that big anyway! When I get the pics from him I'll try to get them up! Is a replica alot more expensive?

[maros91]

From the prices I have seen for Walleyes they are more expensive. Panfish I don't know.

[harvey lee]

I have numerous mounted fish and critters. I enjoy the pictures but I also enjoy the fish on the wall.

Nothing wrong with a 16" crappie and as soon as I catch one, it will be looking good on the wall. I keep very few fish so it really doesnt bother me to mount one or two.

[tisosy11]

Yeah, same as Harvey...i've been fishing hard for a while now and will rarely keep any fish, but if I get into that special size of a species I do plan on mounting it. Caught a 14.5 inch crappie this weekend and it was just short. 27" walleye about a week ago didn't make the cut.

Can't wait to catch one big enough to show off...i know the wife won't be pleased. "This is too expensive of a hobby."

[harvey lee]

Wait for a good sized fish and dont lower your standards. For years I thought I would never catch a 30" eye. So, I mounted a 29.75. I really enjoy the mount but this past year I was very fortunate and caught 4 over 10#'s with one going 11.5#. Now, where does one put all the fish?

[Bluegill1510]

 Quote:

Now, where does one put all the fish?

On a Big piece of drift wood Harvey or do a stringer mount I've seen those and I think they are pretty cool, especially this one stringer mount I seen of a limit (6) of walleyes, 10 pounds or more on the wall thats some dedication right there.

16" Crappie is huge, you don't hear to many people getting those anymore especially in Minnesota, so if he didn't throw it back might as well put it on the wall...thing is with panfish (bluegills, crappie, perch or even rock bass) its alot better looking IMO if you do 2 or 3 fish together on a piece of driftwood. So like for your buddy even though he got the 16" crappie if he gets say a couple more crappies in the 14-15" range he could put one or 2 with that huge 16" crappie on a nice piece of driftwood, or even if you get into a mess of bluegills and u get a few over 10" or close to 11" which is huge for gills, he could put one or two with that 16" crappie. My rule of thumb is if your going to mount fish try to do a small school for panfish, and for your bigger fish like bass, trout, northern, muskie, or walleye the single fish seems to work best with driftwood. Thats what I had done for my mount (2 crappies, 1 bluegill, 1 pumpkinseed) on one piece of driftwood, and I like how it turned out, and brings back alot of history for me too whenever I see it. Also, I do believe some taxidermist will give you a discount if you bring in 3 or more fish at once to them. But that may vary on their business also.

[FishOn!]

Great advice guys! Thanks! I agree with the logic of a small school of panfish. I dont know if we can get into another 16, but we have caught alot of 12's and 13's this year so perhaps persistence will pay!

[Bluegill1510]

yeah hopefully it does pay off for ya....just a thing I'd like to state is a buddy of mine caught a crappie close to 17" long, and he just got it mounted all by itself, and wishes he would of put with it a few crappeies smaller such as a 13 & 14"er because of the fact that then the 17"er would look even more massive along side the 13 and 14" crappies. Because your average person who doesn't fish or does fish alittle doesn't have a clue on how big crappies or bluegills or northerns, etc can get. So having a couple average fish next to the 16" for your buddy would look neat even if it they are just 13 or 14"ers. But its just up to your buddy and how he wants to have it done too, and IMO a 14" is huge anyways cuz you don't get them everyday either not even on Red.

[FishOn!]

Yeah they definately arent everyday crappies! Im getting concerned that my little pond i fish for them is going to have a winterkill this year. 4 years ago it had a kill and that is why the ones that remained got so darn big! I hiked out there during ice out and as the lake came into view I saw seagulls all over it. got to the shore and saw dead fish everywhere. I literally cried! Spent so many hours on that lake catching bass and crappies of great size. IT HURT!!

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

I got a 17" earlier in the year and that one is going on the wall shortly in the next week we will be handing it over to te Taxidermist..

Tell your friend i say congradualtions on the big one!

Later,

Ryan

[FishOn!]

I will do that! Im really happy for him seeing that its his first year on the ice! Im also a bit jealous because Ive given up all my best spots by taking him there with me! and my best is 14.5!

[Kyle Sandberg]

I read some of you guys will make a school of fish on the dirftwood, do you just keep the fish frozen until you have enough to make the mount and how do you freeze them. I'm sure a food saver would work best but if you stuck them in a bag, would that work. Thanks

[FishOn!]

Im thinking bread bag or something, then fill with water and freeze. just like the way i save fillets!

[Kyle Sandberg]

I was thinking that too. I was thinking that if you left it in the freezer too long the fish could get frostbitten and ruin it.

[rodmaker]

Agree 100 %. The graphite replicas are awesome. Matt from Artistic Anglers has done 3 fish for me. A 16" Crappie from Farm Lake, (Ely) 21" Smallie Farm lake (Ely), and a 27 lb Salmon from lake Michigan. I will never go elsewhere.

[rodmaker]

If you are going to get the fish mounted, usually taxidermists tell you to wrap in a bag and get as much air out of the bag as possible. (be careful if you try foodsaving ) you may crack the fins doing this. Lay flat in the freezer.

I know of people who wrap the fish in a plastic bag. They then take a old bath towel and wrap the fish up. They then tape the towel up. They take a garbage bag and put the fish in that. Then they lay it as flat as they can in the freezer.

[eyebjim]

When I got my walleye mounted the taxidermist told me to wrap it in a garbage bag tight to the fish so there was no air in it and tie it off. I'm not sure how long you can keep it that way without freezer burn.

[B@ssmaster]

BG1510 and others looking for display ideas, here's something my father and I came up with, just to be different. (I know it's a bit off topic, forgive me.) They are 15.5" to 16" fish (but shrunk a bit due to mounting processes..) Scavanged for old style equipment to complement the display. Since the pic was taken, we've added an old style cup auger and removed the blue corkscrew auger. Yes, that is an older Coleman lantern electrified to look like it is lit.... If you look close, you will see line from the ice stick coming down through the hole, with a bobber below the "ice" and leading to the jig in the lower fish's mouth.

Seemed to fit the general decor of a log home..

I have caught and released two 22" bucketmouths and one 22" smallie. Was tempted to add them to the display but could not kill them. Waiting for my next one that size, now that I have a digital camera, next one that size gets a replica on the wall below the log.....

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

How big on perch, I went earlier this year and my grnadpa and I both got big ones, him 14 1/4, me 13 1/4 both eaten and great, but maybe big enough for the wall, not so sure on perch.

[Scott K]

Thats an awsome picture. So cool

[rodmaker]

Nice fish If it were me, anything over 13" I would get done.