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How can I mercifully kill freshwater fish that I catch?
B R asked:
I would like to begin keeping and eating the freshwater fish (bluegill and bass, mostly) that I catch.
How can I do this mercifully? Bashing them is not for me, putting them on ice is of questionable compassion, and I am not keen about opening their jaws to break their spine while they struggle.
I have read a bit about piercing their brain with a knife tip; how would the knife placement work?
Please. I realize many anglers don’t give a hoot about compassionate killing. I would prefer not to have endless bad joke responses.
I would like to begin keeping and eating the freshwater fish (bluegill and bass, mostly) that I catch.
How can I do this mercifully? Bashing them is not for me, putting them on ice is of questionable compassion, and I am not keen about opening their jaws to break their spine while they struggle.
I have read a bit about piercing their brain with a knife tip; how would the knife placement work?
Please. I realize many anglers don’t give a hoot about compassionate killing. I would prefer not to have endless bad joke responses.
I would like to begin keeping and eating the freshwater fish (bluegill and bass, mostly) that I catch.
How can I do this mercifully? Bashing them is not for me, putting them on ice is of questionable compassion, and I am not keen about opening their jaws to break their spine while they struggle.
I have read a bit about piercing their brain with a knife tip; how would the knife placement work?
Please. I realize many anglers don’t give a hoot about compassionate killing. I would prefer not to have endless bad joke responses.
I would like to begin keeping and eating the freshwater fish (bluegill and bass, mostly) that I catch.
How can I do this mercifully? Bashing them is not for me, putting them on ice is of questionable compassion, and I am not keen about opening their jaws to break their spine while they struggle.
I have read a bit about piercing their brain with a knife tip; how would the knife placement work?
Please. I realize many anglers don’t give a hoot about compassionate killing. I would prefer not to have endless bad joke responses.
Addendum: If I cut off their heads, won’t this make filleting difficult? Exactly what would one grab on to?
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30. July 2008 at 6:29 am :
Truely the best way is to just chop off the head. Fast and quick.
Piercing the brain can be a slow process and if you mess up you wont kill it, just cause brain damage and alot of pain.
30. July 2008 at 4:48 pm :
Well, I’m not really a fisherman, but I’ve kept fish in a tank, and when they seem to be past the point of no return, they recommend freezing them as a way to humanely end their lives.
I would think if you just had a cooler of ice that you laid them in, this would do the job… personally, I’d have an easier time doing that than piercing their brains. (ick!) And they’ll be wiggling… what if you have to do it a few times?
30. July 2008 at 8:32 pm :
Put the fish in the cooler. Have two bags of ice un-opened keeping your drinks cold. Pour both bags directly on the fish. This should numb the fish very fast. If your ice is already opened you might not get proper coverage of the fish. If you don’t buy your ice bring a seperate bucket. dump your ice from the cooler into the bucket. Put your fish in the cooler and then dump the ice on him. However, I prefer to filet my fish alive. jk.
If you prefer to use a nife then cut the head off and pull out the guts. This is the best method to keep the fish fresh. The guts also attract other fish if you are looking for sharks. A properly sharpened knife will have its head off before it knows whats going on.
I feel bad about killing the fish to. However, they taste good and are very good for you. Lots of protien. Free of charge. Immortilize them with a photo. Only keep what you and your dog can eat (throw a catfish in the cooler for the dog). Too many catfish in Daytona. Don’t tell others where and how you caught them. Send people on wild goose chases. You put the work in. Don’t feed your whole street or become someone’s fish mule.
31. July 2008 at 1:43 pm :
Many of the lakes in my area are “designated trout lakes.” On these lakes it’s illegal to fish with live bait (for example minnows) but legal to kill the live bait and fish with that. I use to buy minnows and freeze them the day before I planned to use them and I would thaw them out the next day. That was until I started noticing the occasional wiggle from some of the thawed out minnows. I once got stopped by a game warden and he mentioned he had issued citations to people that had frozen their bait but not all of it was dead after thawing out. He mentioned the most effective way to make sure the minnows would be dead was to salt them. I’ve started doing this and I’m surprised how quickly minnows die once salted. I’m not sure how practical it is to carry a bag of salt around thats big enough to euthanize the size fish you plan to keep, but salt will literally kill the fish (freshwater anyway) in just a few seconds.
3. August 2008 at 7:58 pm :
ok. i no bashing them is not for you. however, my way of bashing knocks them out. you take a flat rock, or plastic hammer, and whack on the side of the head, near the brain. they go out cold. (don’t hit too hard on bluegills, or their brains will splatter out! (trust me, i know)) i think that the knife placement would be like on the top of the head, a little more up than the middle.i like taking a hammer to drive the knife in. you could hold it inbetween yo feet to keep it upright.
6. August 2008 at 12:46 pm :
as a 5 year old child my pappy taught me that cutting off the head is best
7. August 2008 at 9:25 pm :
Your sympathy for the fish is a part of respecting it, but keep in mind that wasting the meat is the ultimate disprespect to an animal whose life you have taken.
Poking the fishes brain is not going to work well because it has such a small brain, it’s hard to hit. You can cut off their heads, that will work quickly. The thing about putting them on ice is they tend to come back to life while you’re filleting them later on, and it will freak out your family. If you freeze them, they will be very difficult to fillet, and that brings me back to the issue of wasting meat.
I prefer to use a stringer to keep them alive and fresh, and then fillet them at the lake. If you make sure your first cut goes through the tough spot between the 2 front fins under the gills, it will bleed out and die. If you ask me, that’s the most humane way. I ‘ve seen way too many smashed fish that keep going forever, even withiout their faces or brains. I suppose you could ditch the stringer so they don’t have to be chained up for the last hours of their lives, and fillet them or bleed them in the boat and then put on ice immediately.
Enjoy your fish, and don’t feel bad. That fish was trying to devour a smaller fish when you caught it, so it’s a killer and so are you. One day you will be eaten by worms or possibly a bear or lion. That’s the circle of life. cheers.
10. August 2008 at 5:21 am :
An icepick works far better than a knife. If you dont have an icepick use a very thin screwdriver.
10. August 2008 at 9:48 am :
Check w/ your local fish and game authority before cutting any heads off while out on the water. There may be fines for bringing in decapitated catches. Ice AND water would be a great alternative for you as they completely go into shock when they hit the ice-cold water.
10. August 2008 at 6:48 pm :
this is a very debated question in all fishing forums that i’m registered in both saltwater and freshwater. the most agreed on method is chopping its head off, rather than having it not able to breath.
11. August 2008 at 12:21 pm :
I do a lot of walleye fishing. I know you don’t want to hear it but we use a club on the top of the head. It kills them instantly. If you let the fish die slowly enzymes are released in the fish and the meat isn’t as tasty. Bluegill and crappie I would just put on a stringer until I went to clean them. Or put them on ice.
With the availability of crappie and bluegill and perch I wouldn’t eat much of the bass. they have a tendency to pick up surrounding flavors from the weeds and such. So I always catch and release bass.
14. August 2008 at 10:31 pm :
It happens, my wife is an animal LOVER, and we fish all the time, slowly driving a knife in their head sucks, you can hit bone and dig into it, and cause a fish to flop (fish don’t fell pain like we do, they have a very small part of their brain that feels pain, so when they flop it is out of nature of the species, not pain response) my chick will either bash them with a fish bat (kills the quickest) as opposed to leaving it in ice and having all the urea go into the bloodstream and into the meat making it nasty. Generally I use a fish billy or fillet them live, then bash’em.
15. August 2008 at 12:48 pm :
take a ice pick or knife and simply stab the fish right behind the eye this is where most fish brains are located…. i just put the knife right between their eyes about a quarter inch back on top of the head and sink it in to the bottom… this kills them instantly….. one stab in the top of the head and one behind the eyes… and their finished….
18. August 2008 at 12:22 am :
I don’t know where your fishing,but where Iam from you don’t want to eat a blue gill,really unless your on survivor,they are a dirty gross bottom feeder.
20. August 2008 at 1:33 am :
cut their head off
23. August 2008 at 6:24 am :
the best way to kill a fish quickly is to do what they call bleeding under the gills were they join the main body this is what u cut the fish will die instatky and will also taste better
just look up bleeding fish for a diagram
tight lines