Mounting Sauger

How large does a sauger need to be to be worthy of a mount or replica?

5lbs

24 is the number Im lookin for, it is a good represenitive of the above average Saug your gonna get, yes you could get bigger but over all it is really a BIG Sauger Weight is not a concern s Taxidermy can change things…

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24 is the number Im lookin for, it is a good represenitive of the above average Saug your gonna get, yes you could get bigger but over all it is really a BIG Sauger Weight is not a concern s Taxidermy can change things…

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I know I wouldn’t want a “doctored” replica mount. If it isn’t spot on size I want my money back.

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How large does a sauger need to be to be worthy of a mount or replica?

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Not a straight forward answer. However I’ve got some 20″ers to my name and they aren’t on the wall. So I’d have to think 23″ or so to be replica worthy. A fat pre-spawn 23″er would do it for me.

Would a 20 incher from LOTW get the nod? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that big up there.

If you have one mounted make sure the taxidermist has done saugers before. I have one mounted that was 3oz shy of the state record and was done by a good taxidermist, but he had only done walleyes.

Took a couple of times to get it right even with pictures. He kept making it look like a walleye when he painted it.

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How large does a sauger need to be to be worthy of a mount or replica?

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Whatever YOU think would look good on your wall

I personally wouldn’t go with anything under 4lbs.
Here’s a couple of 4+ lb’ers

Nice fish there

Don’t have a 24″ fish on the wall, but I caught a little 23.5″ fish one october and decided she was big enough. Fish weighed right at 5 pounds.

Depends where you are fishing. My biggest is on the wall and that was a 23″ 5 lber that I caught on pool 4 one November. Many other places ive fished a 20″er is almost unheard of.

This one was 23+ & a prespawn fatty. My nicest ever, but I don’t think I would spend the money on a sauger. Save it for that 10 lber…………………..

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This one was 23+ & a prespawn fatty. My nicest ever, but I don’t think I would spend the money on a sauger. Save it for that 10 lber…………………..

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I don’t know about that. All species are beautiful in their own right and deserve the respect. I’ve got a 13.5″ perch replica on the wall. Saugers have some awesome colorations. Not to mention we’ve got something special here on pool 4. As stated previously, a 20″ sauger elsewhere is almost unheard of.

Nice saugers Jesse!

Silly question but…do most people go with original fish mounted or a reproduction done off pictures and measurements?

I’ve never had one done either way…what are the costs of mounting a fish? I suppose it varies like all things…

I know that someday my kids will want to have their big fish mounted, and I want to be ready on what to do.

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Nice saugers Jesse!

Silly question but…do most people go with original fish mounted or a reproduction done off pictures and measurements?

I’ve never had one done either way…what are the costs of mounting a fish? I suppose it varies like all things…

I know that someday my kids will want to have their big fish mounted, and I want to be ready on what to do. [/quote.]…………………………………….If the fish is big E-NUFF to mount. .I want The REAL thing.!! Not plastic. Keeping a mounter is NOT going to hurt the fishery…. My 2 cents………rrr

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All species are beautiful in their own right and deserve the respect.

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I’m holding you to that Wade!

I’m not trying to be disagreeable to RRR but there are other things to consider besides “it’s not going to hurt the fishery”…and RRR’s right, it won’t.

IF the person is ok with having a replica (some people what the real thing and that’s all there is to it), and they have great photos (not good) along with measurements, I’ve seen some very nice carbon mounts that look exactly like the real thing.

They are less fragile and much easier to clean than a skin mount. If your skin mount is going to be in a smoky area, they will discolor. Replicas run a couple bucks more than skin last time I checked.

If you happened to see this mount in the Evert’s Bait Shop a few years ago, it was identical to the real thing right down to the red streaks in the tail fin.

After saying that, ‘sippi river saugers (and eyes) are shaped differently. Always see the work of your artist of choice before handing over your personal treasure when having a skin mount.

There’s three cents that no one asked for.

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Silly question but…do most people go with original fish mounted or a reproduction done off pictures and measurements?

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Not a silly question Scott. Reproduction for me. I don’t see any good reason to kill a fish for a skin mount. Reproductions don’t fade or have brittle fins. Price is actually pretty much the same as skin. Best of all the fish swims away. Whether it hurts the fishery or not, I just think it’s disrespectful of the animal to kill it just to mount it. Kind of like horn hunting and leaving the meat to rot.

Important thing to remember. The only real difference between a replica and a skin mount is the skin itself. The artist has to paint a skin mount the same as they do a replica. It’s not like a skin mount has the fish’s natural colors on it while it’s on the wall. A good artist should be able to paint both canvases identically (regardless of what it’s made of).

After all, all a mount is is a 3D picture.

BK, I’m still looking for that 100# Sturgeon. Other than wall space, not sure why I wouldn’t get a replica.

I just popped a limit off the Tippecanoe river and the biggest was 22 3/4 inch 4 pound 3 ounce pre spawn fatty. She is big enough for me to mount, but she is getting cooked today. If I decide to get her done, it will be a replica.

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I look at a replica and say….. riiiiiiiiiiiight. That’s just me

To each their own on replica v skin mount. I’ve got a couple skin mounts that I stare at once in a while. To me, a 5 x 7 photo (or bigger) in a nice frame makes more sense than a replica at a fraction of the cost.
5 lbs for a sauger mount, I’d say, or close.