Skinning Crappie Tips

Rodney Harper from Arkansas did a fish seminar at out convention this year. He mounts a lot of crappie. He taught us to use a sharp surgical scalpel to separate the flesh from the skin. Crappie scales are held in place by very strong tendons. You need to sever these tendons rather than tug at them. I've skinned several since the convention, and haven't lost a scale on the "show" side. No need for painting with glue or freezer burning them to toughen the skin. Be gentle, don't flex the skin. I start at the tail, and remove the carcass in 1 inch increments. Try this, it works!

 

Also skin them when there still at least half frozen,I take the body out in 3or4 chunks

 

Pat dry your fish with a towell then lay the show side down on a bed of borax and coat it good with borax. Let it lay in the borax through the whole process. From there as mentioned above remove the carcass in several increments then flesh from the tail towards the head. Works like a charm!

 

Also, on the incision side, if you cut from where the gill flap attaches around to the top of the head it will allow the skin to lay flat when you are removing flesh and cleaning out the head area. Since you will be using epoxy sculpt on top of the head after the fish is dried this step causes no extra work. It is winner winner chicken dinner!

 

https://www.taxidermyarts.com/documents/bt_preventingscaleloss.pdf

 

Never felt comfortable with the glue deal
Borax the outside
LOTS of borax, stops the bacteria
Keep skin tight when skinning
Many ways of doing a crappie. Not croppie
LOL

 

You tell'em Clew. That croppy crap is like the rednecks saying peKAHN instead of pecan. I give my sister hell about that. She was raised in the same dirt farm house I was and now tries to talk funny.

Who was the guy in West Columbia that won the World Show with a pair of crappie?

 

15pt, if he was from "Deleware" you'll have to forgive him. Dinky DelAware has 3 counties. The northern county (New Castle) is a Philadelphia suburb. The southern 2 (Kent and Sussex) have been infested by escapees from New York and New Jersey. In fact eastern Sussex Beach areas are called "New Castle South" by locals. You just found a Yankee claiming residency here.

 

The glue method works very well, I use the 1/2 cast method and remove the glue after it is mounted and dry. I place a damp cloth on the fish to soften the glue and peel it off like the skin of a red headed kid on the 5th of July. I use Borax (lots) when skinning. Seal the fish with a sanding sealer for wood working will keep the scales from lifting when painting with water based paints.

 

Hey George
I think your thinking of Keith crout

 

Hahahahahahaha