I've got a 18 in. 3.5 lb crappie in my freezer thats almost 5 years old, intentions were to get it mounted but it hasn't happened yet. It is frozen wrapped in a wet towel, a taxidermist told me to do that if it was going to be in the freezer for any length of time. Anybody know if its too late to get it done?? Time to clean out the freezer and if its not any good than i'm gonna trash it..

A little background on the fish, I caught it in Feb. below the dam at Pines during high water. It didn't have any eggs, so I dont know if it was a male or what, females usually have eggs starting to develop already in Feb. I always wondered what it would have weighed full of eggs..

I would guess the only way of knowing would be to cut that towel off and see if it still looks good. As long as the skin is still intact I don't see why it couldn't be done.

Should be fine, go get it done, you will be glad you did years down the road.

Well if you have any pictures of it i know alot of fish taxadermy is done by fiberglass replica these days... thats always an option.

I don't have an answer to your question but I would like to say that is one heck of fish!!

In all likely hood it will be freezer burned (dried out from being frozen too long) The only way to know is have your Taxidermist take a look at it. Good luck.

The only way to know is to thaw it out. Like Dobro says there is a good chance that it is freezer burnt especially if you have a frost free freezer. Frost free freezers are only good for tv dinners and stuff you plan to eat within 3 months. You could take it to someone that does replicas and skinned fish. If bad they could just do the replica.

I used to do fish taxidermy several years ago and I would tell the customer to wrap the fish in a wet (soaked towel) completely covering every part of the fish, wrapped then in a plastic garbage bag which acts as a barrier to seal out the air.

As long as the fish is surrounded by ice, air can't get in drying it out, and cause it to be freezer burnt.

If it's freezer burnt then no it won't be able to be mounted. Freezer burnt is when the skin and fins have dried out, and you have that whitish or yellowish color almost looking like cardboard.

Good luck!

It would be close to freezer burning.

thaw it out and fry it up

lol...it is totally wrapped in a towel, but its been so long I figure its probably ruined. I'll find out when I try to get it done...

Here's a hint that may save you a trip to the taxidermist.

If the towel feels dry to the touch after you remove it from the freezer, the fish is more than likely gone also.

If the towel still feels like a block of ice, or damp after you've taken it out of the freezer, then the fish is probably ok.