I have been doing taxidermy part-time (mostly on fish) for almost a year now. I have a potential customer that has a 26" small mouth bass and a 28" large mouth bass in his freezer that he has had frozen in water for 6 years... would it be a risk to thaw and try to mount these fish? (Are the chances that the scales are going to fall out greater, could it be freezer burned, or even possibly rotted.) The fish I usually get are fresh and i skin them right away or they have only been frozen for a short period of time (not more than a month). I would appreciate any help at all with this situation.
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Having mounted a lot of fish, that with those measurents you are probably talking a 15 pound largemouth and at least an 8 pound smallie. Both sound like state record measurements. Fish should be Ok as being frozen in water will eliminate freezewr burn. Sounds like great Fish!
I just wasnt sure since I prefer to get the fish as fresh as possible from the customer. The fish are really nice ones, and I didn't want to take the chance of being the one that ruined them after being saved for 6 years... I had no idea of what to expect of them being frozen for so long. THANKS AGAIN!
This is how I preserve my fish until I have chance to mold them. Ive never had any problems with the skins or anything of that nature. The onlyt hing I have ever noticed in freezing whole fish like that is that the flesh goes really mushy because decomposition still happens in a frozen state - just at a much slower rate. Yer not eating them though - so you shouldnt notice any problems whatsoever. Have Fun!