taxidermist ?

[RICK K]

hello all,
i have a perch wrapped in teri cloth in the freezer i was going to get mounted, it has been there since april 2001. honestly i forgot about it. has it been there to long to still have it mounted?it is a nice size perch 13.5 inches close to 2 lbs. caught at senaca lake ny,That day we caught 15 of them that size,If any of you like perch.you must come to new york and try out this lake. as far as i am concerned you can't get any bigger perch anywhere in the country.is this perch still ok to mount or did i make a big mistake keeping it so long. thanks for any help. sorry i would post some pictures but do not know how too on this board, can't wait for the ice. looks like it is going to be warm all next week here.

[perchjerker]

In my experience, you should be ok, as long as you took care in wrapping it. I had a big largemouth in the freezer once longer than that and it came out just fine. Just find a good taxidermist and tell him what you have.

[Sunshine]

You're fine,
Many taxidermists would have it in the freezer longer than that. The terry cloth thing kind of bother me though? Check the fish if you can to see if all fins are okay and there is no damage or coloring picked up from dyes in the cloth. If it's a white cloth and tightly wrapped you're okay. If the terry cloth is frozen to the fish you can forget everything that I said and take it in and let them examine it. You could partially thaw it out to look at it if you wanted to with no damage to the fish. Bottom line is if you took great care in wrapping it before freezing you're in great shape now. Congratulations!