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Posts: 8866
| Thinking of having a few replicas done for some of my biggest fish (not musky)..
I'm on the fence about it, because they are all of a size that I may just beat some day. Or maybe not??
At what size, for each species, do you figure it's the biggest one you'll likely catch? Here are the ones I am thinking about.
Pike: 41"
Walleye: 30"
SMB: 20.5"
Black Crappie: 17"
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Posts: 1828
| In my opinion the 17" crappie is by far the hardest to beat. |
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Posts: 360
Location: Algonac, MI | Pike: 49"
Walleye: 12lbs or bigger
SMB: 25"
Perch: 16" |
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Posts: 299
| Why not just get another one if you break your PB? I have several Muskie and there all different in many ways. |
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Posts: 2389
Location: Chisholm, MN | Sounds a lot like my pbs , minus the giant crappie. I have the SMB on the wall. Depends on where you're fishing, but all those are wall worthy imo. Gotta take girth into consideration too. I've caught many walleyes in the 26-29.75 inch range that far outweighed my one 30"...thats why its not on the wall.
Edited by Kirby Budrow 11/21/2013 5:08 PM
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Posts: 310
Location: Lake St.Clair | Mount that crappie! |
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Posts: 8866
| Yeah, the crappie was something else. Would have been a state record back then. '93 I think? I ate it. Dumb ass. |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | Here are.mine:
green sunfish 8.5"
golden shiner 6.25"
sheepshead 24"
rainbow shark 3" (jumped out of the aquarium)
madtom cat 4"
hope this helps! |
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Posts: 242
| The Pike and Smallmouth i think will be beat. The Walleye is not a bad size, but that Crappie is a true trophy. Nice catch there! |
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Posts: 427
Location: Planet Meltdown | I once caught a 89" Sailfish in Florida and had a replica made. Five years later I caught a 109" Sailfish in Cabo. Wife says there is no more room on the wall. LOL Oh well....... |
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Posts: 247
Location: Grand Marais, MN | just go to a few antique stores and find your favorite old mount! I've thought about doing that but i think it would probably creep people out too much
I'd say mount your favorite of those.. some of my most memorable fish were not my pb, but have a memorable connection to the time and place. |
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Posts: 1297
Location: Walker, MN | I ordered a replica of myself from Madame Tussauds in a fish holding posture. That way I can put my 38#'r there now and hopefully get to 50# some day 
Seriously though, it depends on the water body that the fish was caught and the memory. I caught a fat 40" pike on leech lake this summer fishing with my brother. I doubt I'll ever top that on my home waters though I have done much "better" size wise in Canada.
Edited by Masqui-ninja 11/21/2013 9:41 PM
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Posts: 483
Location: NE PA | I agree that the story/memory to go along with it is more important than the side of the fish. Not to say I would get a replica of my first bluegill, but you get the point. |
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| the crappie!do you know if it reach a pound? |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Get that crappie replica. |
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Posts: 310
Location: Lake St.Clair | Shoot post a pic of that crappie!!! That's what we need a thread for pb small fish pic thread lol. |
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Posts: 415
| For sure the crappie. I have a buddy who has a skin mount of a 17" crappie from a N. MI lake and it is one of the more impressive fish I've seen. |
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Posts: 177
| Get a replica of the pike taking a swipe at the crappie with mouth open flared gills.Are they both caught in the same lake? |
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Posts: 1120
Location: West Chester, OH | Lucky Craft Man - 11/21/2013 9:52 PM
The Pike and Smallmouth i think will be beat. The Walleye is not a bad size, but that Crappie is a true trophy. Nice catch there!
Agree! |
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Posts: 157
Location: Lincoln, NE | I agree with Masqui-ninja about the home waters. This was my first serious season Musky fishing and my biggest was a 48.25 x 25 from Mille Lacs and my second biggest was a 47.5 x 22. I'm probably going to mount the slightly smaller one because it was from my home waters in Nebraska where it is way more rare than in MN. Also the coloring and pattern was way cooler and the 22" girth was the entire length and in July not November like the Mille Lacs fish. It also has more meaning because it was my first really big one and we slept in the boat all night 5 miles upstream in a swamp with my head in a plastic grocery bag because of the bugs just so we could wake up on the spot at sunrise and it paid off. So even though it was a few pounds smaller it has a much better story behind it even if it isn't my actual personal best. If your fish had meaning to it then mount it. But I agree with the rest mount that Black Crappie. |
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Posts: 283
| I think it also depends on if you still fish for those species or not. I know that I rarely fish for anything besides musky/tigers/pike now so my personal bests for other species will most likely stay where they are now unless there are some really confident "smaller species" (I got my pb walleye and tied my pb largemouth fishing for tigers). |
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Posts: 639
Location: Hudson, WI | This is just me, but I wouldn't get a replica made unless it was a special fish that you can't reasonably beat anywhere. So...
41" pike: That's rare stateside, but there are plenty of waters in Canada that routinely kick those out. I'd go bigger.
30" eye: They aren't that rare, but 30" is still the magic mark to me. Beautiful fish.
20.5" smallie: Nothing spectacular. You could do that in a summer of hard bass fishing. You would need a limit of those to finish top 20 in a tournament on some waters.
17" crappie: That's just sick. They don't get bigger than that up here. |
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Posts: 93
Location: Des Moines IA | I have a 51 and a 47 inch musky on the wall. The smaller fish always makes me smile because of the story and the other people involved. It's not all about inches...
I also have many deer, turkey, duck and pheasant mounts just make a little room for any future mounts later on...
I also say enjoy it now while you can life is short... |
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Location: Waukesha, WI, USA | Depends on where you fish or where you plan on fishing. And how much time your are putting in for each species. Everyone has different ideas depending on their own experiences. For me:
41" pike is no big deal
30" walleye used to be the mark, now it's a teenager.
Sm bass is only nice for sm bass waters, for up north, it's nice
But that crappie is very nice anywhere you go.
Having an office full of mounts from different species, makes me agree with others........ It's the story that ends up meaning the most.
My biggest musky was 52" caught in Canada. Always said that I would mount first 50. Released the fish because is was very old and ugly. If I got a mount, in my mind I would have seen that old fish on the decline of life.
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Posts: 58
| Don't think you can ever have too many memories on the wall, they're all nice fish, but if ya have to choose just one ya probably have to go back to the one that gave ya the best feeling! Which one did ya pull up out of the water n say " My God that's a monster" that's the one you should go with!!! |
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Posts: 182
| Travis A. - 11/22/2013 9:01 AM
I agree with Masqui-ninja about the home waters. This was my first serious season Musky fishing and my biggest was a 48.25 x 25 from Mille Lacs and my second biggest was a 47.5 x 22. I'm probably going to mount the slightly smaller one because it was from my home waters in Nebraska where it is way more rare than in MN. Also the coloring and pattern was way cooler and the 22" girth was the entire length and in July not November like the Mille Lacs fish. It also has more meaning because it was my first really big one and we slept in the boat all night 5 miles upstream in a swamp with my head in a plastic grocery bag because of the bugs just so we could wake up on the spot at sunrise and it paid off. So even though it was a few pounds smaller it has a much better story behind it even if it isn't my actual personal best. If your fish had meaning to it then mount it. But I agree with the rest mount that Black Crappie.
You slept with your head in a plastic grocery bag? My buddies would have put a rubber band around it. LOL! |
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Posts: 556
| CRAPPIE !!! I had the chance to see a 17" black crappie that a guy caught from a N.WI. lake. WOW !! That is some catch. I would get the replica of that on a piece of driftwood for sure..... All those others --- while nice catches-- you have a very realistic chance of catching larger at any time. Got to Love a HUGE CRAPPIE. |
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Posts: 33
| This is a good post. I struggle with the same dilemma, and is likely the reason I never put a fish on the wall. I got a 27" wild rainbow trout from a spring creek in PA and ALMOST pulled the trigger on that one... but didn't. I swear that my first 30" walleye will go on the wall, but i'll be surprised if I can do that either. If money wasn't an option, I guess I could just keep mounting fish and moving the old ones around... but taxidermy to me is like a piece of artwork that captures a special day in time for me. I would agree with the other folks here... if it makes you smile thinking about it, mount it.
But to answer your question directly, imo, that crappie will be the toughest to beat. Reminds me of my dad who caught a 16" yellow perch out of Port Clinton last year and ate it too... would have been a state record contender.
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Posts: 157
Location: Lincoln, NE | I don't want to derail the thread here but yeah we had 2 or 3 layers of Maxi-Deet on the face, hoodie pulled over head and drawstringed w/ hat over face and was still getting ate alive so in the bag I went. Had catfish rods out also that were getting hit by pike so between the clicker screaming and the bugs feasting, I woke up about every 5 minutes, it was miserable. |
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