Killing fish

corona

corona

Active member
what do people think is the best way to kill fish for eating? I don't often have very clean results and instant kills.

Mackerel fishing I've never had a problem, hold the fish and hit the head with a quick snap over something seemed to give an instant kill. But I've done this with other fish and have had no luck. A white sucker I did this with honestly didn't die for 10 minutes of bashing it's head. not fun.

Yesterday I was bass fishing and I had a Ka-Bar with me so I thought the fastest way would be to cut the spine above the gills in one quick cut then cut the rest of the head off with another cut. Well turns out the head was still moving (like the mouth opening and closing and gills moving) for easily 10 minutes after it was cut off. and the heart was still pumping for the same amount of time. we tried this with a few and the same thing happened.

So looking for better techniques to kill fish cleanly.
 
well that's the point. to gut them. but they need to be dead first or it's just cruel. letting them suffocate is pretty cruel too.
 
fish-punch-o.gif
 
More cruel than beating it over the head for ten minutes though? Im quite surprised going all Rodney King on it for 10 mins didn't kill it.
 
I wouldn't eat bass in the summer, they get all mushy and often get parasites making them not very good eating. Unless it's a type of saltwater bass, then I have no idea.

But usually when I keep walleye i'll give a few bashes on the head with the end of my fillet knife and they are good to go. But if you're not in a hurry or don't have the heart to do that putting them in a cooler on ice for a while will keep them fresh and they will be dead and ready to fillet.
 
smallmouth bass. some of them actually did have parasites. little yellow worms that were in the body cavity. they weren't in the meat though, so we ate em anyways. still pretty tasty. the yellow perch were better though, and no parasites. they also died fast when cutting off the head.

so bashing bass is best then. I'll do that next time.
 
I don't really eat fish much, but even if they had parasites, couldn't you just cook them really good and that would kill any disease?
 
Ya a few good bashes to the top of the head will do it. A lot of times they will still flop around but it's mostly just leftover nerves running through the body. After the first cut it will usually stop. And ya perch will definitely taste better, almost as good as walleye
 
I usually take my knife and poke a hole into its head between the eyes but a little back.

If you dont have a knife you could use a hook, or a pair of pliers and just jab at it.

You won't be able to hit the spine regularly. In fact, you can hook a fish right under its spine and when using it for bait.

 
can't poke something with molten glass now can ya

i suppose you could drip molten glass into its eyes
 
If it's a smaller fish, like a trout or most bass, grip it firmly with your less dominant hand over its back, then stick your index finger and middle finger in each gill with the palm of your hand over its face and head and pull back sharply to your other hand, snapping its neck quickly. The result is an insta-kill and is by far the most humane way to do it. It's not pretty with its head hanging mostly off and feels really disgusting, but its the most fair way to the fish.
 
I massacre white perch because they eat walleye and other fish eggs and they're invasive. Usually I just stick my finger in their mouth and pull back really far, but most of them are small. For trout and perch I usually bash their heads on a rock a few times.
 
why do you say to not eat bass? the smallmouth we had tasted pretty damn good. not quite as good as the perch, but no complaints at all.
 
A lot of people refrain from keeping bass because it is more of a sport fish and most serious bass fishermen practice catch and release. Because you can catch large quantities of them, it is pretty easy to deplete a population in smaller lakes. I have seen it happen to 3 lakes by my house, which is why they are now catch and release only lakes. Also, when you let them go you give them a chance to grow larger so you can catch bigger fish later on.
 
oh ok. yea not too concerned about that. nobody fishes this lake, so a dozen bass a year is probably doing it more good than harm considering it's the top predator.
 
Ya that's not bad for the lake at all. I would refrain from eating large trophy sized bass but otherwise you're perfectly fine.
 
no fucking way the heart was beating for 10 minutes after having the head cut off. the mouth moving i could understand ...that's just reflexive movement though...it's definitely not conscious.
 
I don't know honestly why the fuck you're eating bass but to each his own.

Catch and release all day
 
I hunt basses often. I find if you light them on fire it does the trick. Here is one I caught a few weeks ago:

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Every species of fish will have mercury in it. And yes bigger fish will have more mercury but number of fish you eat is also a factor.
 
Yeah def that's usually common knowledge about restricting the amount. But with the bigger bass in particular are known for being dirty. The bigger the trout though imo the better! Trout taste amazing
 
10 minutes may have been a bit of an exaggeration. but it was 100% more than 5 minutes. it was super strange.
 
no I've killed probably close to 1,000 mackerel and many perch and other panfish this way no problem. I've just had a problem with larger freshwater fish like bass and one troublesome white sucker that makes me question the method.

I was more looking for alternative methods people might know. like maybe there's an easy to cut blood vessel in the throat to bleed it super fast like you do with chickens.
 
the MNR guidelines for lakes in that area say you're fine with 4 smallmouth bass a month for the sizes we were eating. so not concerned at all.
 
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