Fish mount or picture?

[Captain Ahab]

The funny part is if you are going off pounds or inches? You can get a pre-spawn 26-27" plump full of eggs that will outweigh a post-spawn 30". What was the better trophy? I got a 26" on Winnipeg that tickled 9lbs. You have decide what "YOUR" trophy is going to be. 30" eyes can be 13lbs or 8lbs.

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the guy who came home one night from yet another weekend of drunken debauchery... only to find them soldering in a burn pile on his front lawn along with the rest of his sporting goods

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or so I heard :;:smokin

Please don't think like a woman on a man's web-site. I mean a gender neutral site that includes people that don't associate with either.

 

[guywhofishes]

For some reason I like walleyes built like torpedoes - fat slobs don't really do it for me

I'd put a 9-9.5 lb 32" fish on the wall in a heartbeat

 

[johnr]

I have a picture of a nice big pike I caught up at Warroad 20+ years ago, its my favorite memory, and the fish itself is actually mounted and hanging next to it. I prefer looking at the picture, feels like yesterday.

 

[ranger150]

I like watching a big walleye slowly swim away after taking a picture. :;:thumbsup

 

[Norske]

There is a point in the age/size of a fish when the % of fertile eggs deposited goes 'way down. For walleye it's between 6# and 8#. Young females release fertile eggs and eat small forage. Big females release largely infertile eggs and when feeding don't discriminate between perch and walleye that can be 1/3 the length of the big fish in question. The female walleye no one should kill are those 4-5# females.

 

[martinslanding]

I think the next 10+pounder I catch I will fillet…pan fry cheeks then get the carcass mounted … can’t ask for much more of a conversation piece then a mounted fish carcass…I hear it’s what all the millennials are doing…

 

[Sum1]

Millennials are pretty neat!

 

[5575]

There are a couple replica companies out there that do a knockout job with their detail on the walleye forms, most do not.
The hard part is finding an artist that can paint them without any markings.
Some of the girthy egged up females do look odd since they get so big. We released one this year that was 29.5 and went almost 14 talk about a guppy belly on her! I released my first 34 incher, she was post spawn and didn't look the best. I think I might do a replica of her thou. My partner kept his 34, she had a girth of almost 22 inches! I would have kept her as well!
But I always say each to their own when it comes to keeping something or mounting it.
All good memories made!

 

[Big Iron]

Am I the only one that catches my "personal best" fish while solo?

 

[snow]

Did a few skin mounts years ago,later in life a good pic and a replica has been my goto,skin mounts yellow,fins curl and skin will crack,replica's look as good as the real thing and last a lifetime as long as you have a great artist that can paint the exact fish you caught....

Now that I'm an old fart with plenty of mounts and replica's all over my house,I'm done,best replicas I have along with memories is a stringer mount of crappies(15) all over 16"s and one walleye 34.5"s,memories of the days these fish were caught are still vived,little hazy but memories are still there none the less.

 

[JayKay]

Am I the only one that catches my "personal best" fish while solo?

Good Lord! That one in the livewell. Holy...

 

[westwolfone]

Am I the only one that catches my "personal best" fish while solo?

I like the Northern pic.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Out of curiosity, what did that tub in the livewell go?

 

[Big Iron]

Out of curiosity, what did that tub in the livewell go?

She missed the #10 magic mark by a few ounces. 30.5"

 

[guywhofishes]

ha ha ha - fishing alone results in dirty carpets in my boat too

it's worth it

 

[bigv]

I agree that mounting a fish...and I do mean on the wall, is in the eye of the beholder. I've never seen a rep that looked realistic or even good. By the way our local fisheries guy told me a few yrs ago that once the water temp is over 70 degrees walleye have an 80%mortality rate when released. Even if you catch them and toss back quick and they dart to bottom. Odds are they will die. He did a long study on that. He also said that the main healthy egg layers are eyes in the 17-25in range. Fish bigger usually don't have a lot of healthy eggs. Should prob eat them I guess...especially if caught mid summer in warm water.

 

[Rowdie]

I've never mounted a fish, well I tried to get a 7 lb large mouth, and it turned out so shitty i woulnt pay for it. So because I've no mounts or replicas on the wall I can't remember them at all. :::

 

[Sluggo]

Big Iron, get yourself one of these:

Which I used to hold my camera to take this when I was fishing solo:

 

[pluckem]

I don't have any fish mounted, but haven't ruled it out.

But honestly, if I do decide to get a mount I will look hard into replicas. Its all synthetic so they shouldn't be any issues with it looking old down the road, Just keep it out of the sun and UV light.

I want to pay once for it and be done. I don't want to have it touched up or fixed 10-15 years down the road.

I don't buy into the whole "its not your fish" thing. I have seen the traditional taxidermy process throughout the steps and they have to fix, fill, recreate, and paint so much on the fish that to me it is never really the same fish you caught anyway.

There are taxidermists that take your whole fish and make a custom mold out of it to make the replica. I have seen plenty of replica fish that are truly works of art and some of the most realistic mounts I have seen.

 

[ccarver80]

I agree that mounting a fish...and I do mean on the wall, is in the eye of the beholder. I've never seen a rep that looked realistic or even good. By the way our local fisheries guy told me a few yrs ago that once the water temp is over 70 degrees walleye have an 80%mortality rate when released. Even if you catch them and toss back quick and they dart to bottom. Odds are they will die. He did a long study on that. He also said that the main healthy egg layers are eyes in the 17-25in range. Fish bigger usually don't have a lot of healthy eggs. Should prob eat them I guess...especially if caught mid summer in warm water.

Huh crazy, do you know how he studied this? I'm just curious I read one article how the caught x amount of walleye and released them into a netted of section of water... to me if you limit a fish to a 50'x50' area of the lake I think the mortality rate would be high...

I always thought the most accurate way is to catch and gps tag them and monitor there movement over 10 days...20 days.. 50 days.. ect... I bet the fish know were to go in order to survive...