20-inch smallie

[Dahitman44]

A buddy of mine is mounting a 20-inch smallie -- Is that a mountable fish?

The biggest I ever caught was an 18-incher.

Thoughts?

[Bobby Bass]

I have seen 6 inch gills mounted.. The big reason for mounting a fish is to preserve the memory just as much as the fish. A 20 inch smallie must have a good story behind it and your buddy will smile and remember it every time he looks at that mount. I know I do when I look at my mounts.

[Dahitman44]

Bass --

Is that a good sized one?

[Chuckster]

Thats pretty good, I have a 21 1/2 incher, (which the taxidermist totally screwed up on and now looks like a bullhead) done a few years ago. But that is a decent fish, I would compare it in trophy standards to about a 6 or 7 lb walleye, if thats any indicator.

[Dahitman44]

Excellent.

Thanks

Hitman

[Paul]

Hit everytime I walk past my 10.5 lb eye on the wall it reminds me of the good ol days on the Minnesota river below the Lac Qui Parle Dam as a kid. So mounting that fish must have some good meaning.

[Code-Man]

I have a 19.5 inch smally on the wall. I think it looks nice

[ibfishen1962]

I am from Illinois and don't often have the chance to see 2 pound plus crappie on the lakes that I fish. I always said that I would mount my 1st 2 pounder. My wife and I caught several over 2 in 2003 on South Lida below the old ski lodge. We each mounted one that we caught that were over 2. The memories associated with that are many. Getting my wife to come to Minnesota is #1 and #2 is catching those fish (5 in all and 2 got away). I smile everytime I talk about that night and am proud to show them off to people who visit the house. I am more proud of them then I am the 12 lb walleye, 9.2 pound largemouth and 19 pound striper that I caught on my home lake. The best part is that my wife caught the biggest crappie and was the one that lost the other 2 big ones. Simply put, there are much bigger crappie out there to be caught and mounted, but these two were special and I wouldn't think twice about the decision that we made.

Your friend made a decision, for whatever the reasons, and I hope he always looks at it and REMEMBERS why he did it. I would love to see a 20 inch smallie down here in redneck country.

[Skitterpop]

I have 21ish smallie done on my wall caught from Lac La Croix. The real one is still swimming as I took many pictures and measurements and put her back. It cost about $50 more to do it this way but definately worth the extra cost knowing she is still doing the spawning thing to make more piggies. The guy here in Fargo did an absolute fantastic job! I love looking at her, it is the only thing hanging in my house that even gives a hint that a man lives here. Man's wallpaper I say.

[Cicada]

Last summer I caught my first 20" smallmouth. I would loved to have mounted it but didn't have the money. I have a picture and it's still swimming in Lizzie, but I do have a empty spot on the wall and It would have looked awesome. Back when I did have the extra cash, I'd use North Dakota's Whopper Club qualifications to help decide if it was mountable. Smallmouth, 3lbs. in ND. 20" would be in the 4 lb range, so, yep, it's a trophy.

[Nymph]

I have a 20” smallie at the taxidermist and can’t wait to get it back. This fish will always remind me of the weekend trip when we caught about 100 smallies and about 20 of them were 17-20”. At the end of the trip I topped it off with a 13 pound pike that just smacked me and proceeded to hand me my A$$, just like my smallie did in the fast river current.

I also have an 8.5 pound eye on the wall that reminds me of the night we caught about 300 pounds of fish. Almost all the fish were in the slot and we had to let them go, but it was one heck of a night. You know it was a good trip when you say lets pack it up because your arms hurt.

A trophy fish doesn’t have to be the largest fish if it can carry the weight of a great fishing trip.

[scsavre]

I would say now a days a 20 inch smallie is when one becomes a trophy. You see many of them on the wall smaller. I caught a pig of a 21 last weekend, still thinking about a rep of it.

[Dahitman44]

Kind of sad. I recently heard that it was a 17.5 inch fish. He is still going to mount it -- can't blame him. He can do what he wants.

Still a nice fish. -- but I suppose that is like a 5 pound eye. Still hard to catch, but would not eat or put on the wall.

[fishin58]

I saw this discussion some where else on here before, for Minnesota most of them bass guys said 18 and up, my dad is getting a 19.5 inch mounted from last year. But like others have stated it's your memory.

[Dahitman44]

Exactly what I told my buddy.

[broodwich]

If your talking about a graphite mount I would say 19" and up, otherwise none. I personally wouldn't kill any fish for a mount or for memory. I look at this way I've met some great people in my life but I wouldn't kill them just to preserve a memory. Pictures and graphites it's the only option in my opinion.