# How big does it need to be?



## ACHY (Oct 18, 2007)

I've been curious about this and wondered what other people think. How big does your fish have to be before it gets hung on the wall? And what species would never be considered a "trophy" even if it is record size?


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## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

Me personally at least 20 inches, but it depends on the species. I would never hang a carp!


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## Nibble Nuts (Sep 12, 2007)

That is a great question. I will give my opinion on some fish. First let me say though that a trophy is in the eye of the one who caught it. Largemouth bass I would consider trophy size at 8 lbs unless you are in California, then it has to be at least 10 pounds. Walleye I would consider 8 lbs to be trophy unless in a place like Utah I would go down to 7 lbs. Small mouth I would consider a trophy at 5 or 6 lbs, but I would never mount a smallmouth, they just don't have the right look I would want on my wall. A 40 lb mac is a mounter in my eyes, and any pike over 40 inches or musky over 48 inches. Beyond that, I cannot think of many other freshwater species I would like to hang on the wall. I guess I would mount a wiper or a stripped bass to but don't know much about their sizes.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

I would also never mount a carp, or hang one on my wall (that didn't sound right). For trout species 6 LBS and up would be what I would be looking for.


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

It really depends on your reason for hanging a fish on your wall. If your reason for hanging is simply bragging rights then your fish should be bigger than your friends and neighbors. But if your intent is to decorate your wall, I don't think size really matters. Right now I have two bamboo flyrods fully rigged crossed on the wall of my living room with an old wicker creel and an old fishing hat hanging from the cross point. It looks great but that wall really needs a fish with a Royal Wolf in it's mouth from one of the rods. I don't think it would need to be a huge fish but I think it really needs to be a trout. I will see what I can do with my camera after hunting season.


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## FROGGER (Oct 1, 2007)

I would never mount a fish or even have one made. I personally would release any fish of substantial size (any size for that matter), after i took pics and measured it. IMO pictures do the bragging for me...


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## Yonni (Sep 7, 2007)

it all depends, color of the fish is a big factor to me. When the colors are vibrant, unigue, and just plain gorgeous then I wish to mount a fish. One day I will hook into the right one. Need to fish more!!


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

FROGGER said:


> I would never mount a fish or even have one made. I personally would release any fish of substantial size (any size for that matter), after i took pics and measured it. IMO pictures do the bragging for me...


Now a days you can have a very nice mount made from photos and measurements. You do not have to keep a fish to have it mounted!


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

FROGGER said:


> I would never mount a fish or even have one made. I personally would release any fish of substantial size (any size for that matter), after i took pics and measured it. IMO pictures do the bragging for me...


Now a days you can have a very nice mount made from photos and measurements. You do not have to keep a fish to have it mounted!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

I don't see myself ever getting one mounted, but that could change in the future. I just can't justify to myself how expensive it is for taxidermy. Maybe if I ran into a whole bunch of money, would I part with some for a mount. 

That fish would have to be really really big, though. And no, no a carp. I doubt it would be anything other than a trout or salmon.

That's just me, though. I think other people's mounts look pretty cool. Especially authentic ones. 

I would never have a mount made from pics. No matter how good the taxidermist is, it's not the fish. Plus I haven't seen any that didn't look fake to me. No offense to our taxidermists.


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## Jigz (Sep 30, 2007)

I mounted the first fish my son ever caught. A 9" brook trout, caught with a worm in Big Cottonwood Creek near Silver Lake. It is the most beautiful fish in the world to me, because it's his. 
A guy I know has a 50 or so pound Mac from the Gorge mounted. 1 1/2 lbs shy of the current record at the time. That deserves mounting IMO.
If I could, I would mount lots of fish. But the memory is more important to me than size or beauty. It's the instance of catching a fish that makes it special.


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

There you go, Jigz. Exactly right. I'm not much for putting fish on the wall, but I did have one done. It was only a 18" cutthroat, but it was caught on the Yellowstone during one of the best fishing trips of my life. Me and a special lady took packhorses for 11 days, caught so many fish that we got tired of catching fish and had a great adventure. That fish on the wall was a conversation piece and sparked many hours of tall tales.


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## SlapShot (Sep 25, 2007)

*Re: How big does it need to be?...10 lbs*

A 10 pounder is my magic number. My wife knows my first 10lb game fish is getting replicated and mounted on the wall. This includes the basses, trouts, pikes, or salmonoids. I have been close a couple of times.

HockeyMan


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## Nibble Nuts (Sep 12, 2007)

*Re: How big does it need to be?...10 lbs*



HockeyMan said:


> A 10 pounder is my magic number. My wife knows my first 10lb game fish is getting replicated and mounted on the wall. This includes the basses, trouts, pikes, or salmonoids. I have been close a couple of times.
> 
> HockeyMan


Now thats the spirit I like to see!


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

I don't have any fish mounted yet, but I would consider it if I caught one that I thought would look exceptionally nice on the wall!


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