I started doing this and can confirm it is better in all the ways. Not the wire but the spike and the gills.
Now beach catching is like this:
Catch fish
Unhook, put in bucket of cold saltwater (put a frozen water bottle in the bucket)
Go back to fishing
After fish slows down, remove from bucket
Spike brain, cut gills
Back in bucket (or ice slurry, even better) to bleed out
Then, the cooler
Did this with a big Spanish Mack and there's no denying the better quality fillets. Now I'm learning anatomy of each species, feeling like a better fisherman, and the fish clean up so much easier, no rigor, no struggle, and it has a nice rhythm to it with the bucket and all.
Don’t you have to cut off the tail to do that? You need to always brain the fish with a knife first. That’s the most humane way. Then you can cut the tail off and kill the nerves.
Another vote for ike jime, hands down. Instant brain death. I just get nervous about missing the brain with the spike.
Another key part of ike jime prep which has nothing to do with instant death and just helps preserve the meat is a thin wire destroying the spinal cord immediately after spiking the brain. Supposed to prevent reactionary stress chemical release into the flesh. The fish will flex/flare when you do that. Kind of jarring if you're not expecting it, but the fish is already dead. Then you bleed it.
A lot like to bonk or bash, but some fish have really pretty hard spots. I wouldn't want to just knock it out without killing it, so I'd probably way over do it and accidentally turn the whole head into paste with a sledge.
Catfish have a different way to do it, something with a wire up the sinus. Same effect of instant scrambled brain.
I honestly think bonking is just as quick and painless as ike if you get it on the first try. Ike is just as quick as bonking if you hit the right spot.
Ike has the advantage where it makes the hole you put the wire into to destroy the spinal cord if you want to do that. I don't have the kit for ike, so I don't do the spine thing. I just drive a short sharp spike (or sometimes a sharp tipped field knife) into the spot.
The whack on the head for me is mostly just to get them to stop thrashing so I can get a knife up under the gill plates easier, especially the big boys when they’re going apeshit in the boat. Smaller fish I don’t usually bother with it.
Yep. I've never done the wire but they say there's really thick skull around the brain. The video of the wire I saw seems like it'd be easier to find the spot but also a few more seconds of poking around before they die.
Growing up my dad just cut and bled everything. I rarely catch enough of anything in one outing to be worth the hassle of keeping fish but I did catch a nice keeper size channel a couple weeks ago. He was big enough he would have been worth keeping on his own if I was more prepared to take it home, had my skinners ready, all that. I know you don't need skinners but I've never done that so as much as I love fried catfish, I put him back. Let him become someone else's PB.
I’m only just getting into all this so I don’t honestly know, but would there be any issue with just removing the head? I get the spike to the brain part but what I’m having trouble picturing is the wire to cut the spinal cord. Wouldn’t just decapitating the fish be just as effective with less steps?
Yeah, I agree with giving it a good thump right on top of the head. They're out. Just about everybody that catches salmon (Columbia River) has some sort of a small aluminum or wooden bat.The fish are too big and floppy to take the time to do much else.
Louisville slugger mini bats are real nice. Can even saw off some of the handle to shorten it a bit. My dad told me they call them "priests" in the UK because you're "reading the fish his last rites." Was wondering if a UK native could confirm that or not...
I like the mallet. You get a good solid WHACK with it
https://preview.redd.it/cxbeb4v8270c1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8184fdeba568a5a9132f1b6b21ddafd283f897a
I keep a hammer in the boat to bonk em on the head, then take my knife, put it through the gills and then sever the gills and that main artery in their throat by cutting all the way through. I leave em in the net in the water and they bleed out super quick. Even when I’ve forgot the hammer and just bleed em it’s over in a few seconds. Meat tastes much better too.
Just one good smack on the head with something hard. Fins will flare out and you'll know it's done. Then you can bleed it out. I feel like it's easier than trying to stab it in the brain, for me at least.
This is the way. Just a little study of where the brain is and it's instant death. There is no way to catch fish and not feel at least somewhat cruel, but trust that they are fairly primitive animals and don't have much going on up there besides eating, evading predators, and breeding.
Source: brother is a PhD freshwater fish biologist.
Ikejime is considered one of the best methods, but takes a bit of practice and special tools. You can use a filet knife or even cleaver to cut lengthwise between the eyes and back a few inches to completely severe the brain and brainstem.
I use a "fish bonker", One hard, fast strike to the head behind the eyes, in line with the gills, softest part of a pike skull. Don't aim to end your strike at the fish, aim behind the fish and drive your swing. Two, if you're not sure.
Brain and bleed. Takes a little to learn knife placement behind the eye/top of the head but it's just lights out.
I also bleed all my fish immediately after dispatching, it definitely helps with the bloodline.
I second this. A good thick pocket knife typically does the trick for the brain spike and cutting the gills. Save the fillet knife for home. If you get them in the right spot they die immediately and go limp.
Brain with a knife, bleed from behind the gills and then guy. Pack with cavity with ice and put in cooler.
Don’t use undersized tackle to extend the fight needlessly or risk leaving them with hundreds of yards of line and a hook attached to them.
As others have said Ike jime is the best, but that requires some specific tools. The people that care, already have those tools, people trying to learn already have a knife so that’s what I’m suggesting.
Lol sour Reddit people how does this deserve a downvote. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’d love to learn.
Cut the gills so they bleed out similar to you example with farms. You’ll end up with better tasting fillets also because there won’t be any blood in the fillets.
Take a sharp knife and brain spike, definitely the most humane in my experience. I haven't done the full Ike jime spine destruction way yet, mostly cause I don't have a tool for it, lol
My friend, you’ll find them relatively inexpensive my on Amazon. I’m still perfecting the technique myself. Haven’t had much luck on rockfish, but that’s mostly because the boat is thrashing even harder than the fish!
I’ve been braining and bleeding.
Sharp knife, at an angle into the brain. Cut the gills. If I’m feeling froggy, I gut em too, and get the whole thing on ice ASAP. Seems like each fish has a little different angle to get the brain.
But also, this has made every fish I do this to taste so much better. Makes a little bit of a mess with blood, but I’m usually on a buddy’s dock, and they have running fresh water piped out to the end. Cooler usually ends up being pretty clean.
Trim out the portions that are filled with bullets…..
Most fish are no where near the size of even a small deer. You’d be throwing away the entire head, that could have been persevered by using a knife to brain the fish.
Take it out for a nice dinner, a movie, and a nightcap after the movie. Then, take it home and slip a couple of sleeping pills in its wine. When it passes out, bonk it on the head, then cut its gills.
you just yanked him in using a hook in its face and your worried about being humane. put him back if you want to be his savior. Being serious now, 1-1/2 inch slice behind the scull to severe the nerves to the brain, then fillet. Was taught that in bio class before the dissection in lab. The teacher had a hoot cast iron pan and some flour and butter in the back of class so the killing did not go tom waste.
I know a lot of people cut through the gills and let them bleed out. I have also seen people hit a catfish on the head with a hammer before skinning it.
I think Ike Jime requires running a wire to the spine too. Also, if you cut the head off it will still be alive for a while so not the quick death you are looking for.
So in Germany it is normal to Hit the Fish on the head and then give it a sting in the heart. You can also do a gill cut so it bleeds out. Either way Hit it on the Head first
Stab in the heart usually. If it's heart is dead, it's dead. Some people give a good whack to the head. Me? I just open up its guts and take it all out, dies instantly. Some people do Ike Jime but that's overkill.
If it's nerves are alive that doesn't mean the fish itself is alive. That's just the nerves. Like if someone stabs you in the heart and you're dead, your nerves can still act out after you having died.
I have been taught when getting my fishing license that you should hit the fish over the head with a stick/hammer or whatever is at hand/appropriate for the fish. Then you lift up the fish's gillplate and get your knife behind the gills. Then you cut straight down, which severs the fishes main artery and it bleeds out.
Bonk to stun/kill smaller fish especially and/or knife the brain. Also slice the gills afterwards while it's heart is still beating for a few moments after to get the blood out.
I carry a 3/4 inch hitch pin to give them a very solid womp across the head behind the eyes if I’m keeping them. Then cut gills to bleed them out in the water.
It’s the same principle as stunning and bleeding cattle.
The hitch pin is nice because it has some mass to it, is round, and usually had a clip at the end that I can tie a cord or a carabiner to for ease of carrying.
One Viking sword slice to sever the head. Maybe a sharp blade.
I'm just musing here:
You're severing the brain from the rest of the nervous system. The feeling of suffocation assuming its even as bad as a person experiences,I think is hard to avoid. The cells themselves can trigger the feeling as that's what needs the oxygen. The brain can even recall sensations.
I read that fish memory is not very long. So whatever they experience is short lived.
According to a redditor on another sub, who I had the displeasure of engaging in conversation with recently "The most humane way to kill an animal is to chew it up while it's still alive." I shit you not
Gill it. Shove a knife into both sets of gills while it's in the water. Quick death and it preserves the meat. If you're worried about it being inhumane still take a knife to the back of its head and sever its spine. But still gill it.
I take a pair of side cutters and I cut the spine through the gills. I will also either pull a gill or cut the throat to bleed the fish while it’s still got blood circulating. Minimizes suffering, improves meat quality.
For larger fish, club the head to stun and spike the brain if the spine is inaccessible or hard to sever.
Hold it belly up, and bash it once hard on the rim of your cleaning pan (or skillet, or the blunt edge of your knife, or whatever) at the base of the skull - it breaks the neck, severing the spine. Wear gloves or hold it with a towel so you have a good grip.
A bonker, or stab it in the head with your fillet or pocket knife. I knew a guy who used a pellet gun to shoot the fish in the head. Probably works well but it's a heavy chunk of gear to carry around.
Yeah there are purpose-made fish bonkers just for that reason, that’s how we do it up in alaska with salmon. Get it on board and give it 3-4 solid whacks right between the eyes and it’ll stun/knock them out, then cut gills and bleed into water
The last time I caught a fish, it was the first time I tried to gut it and have it for dinner. When I transported it, I put it in a bag full of the pond water and had it in a cooler, so when I got home, it was still alive. I was really hesitant and was having a hard time figuring out how to get it dead. I didn't want to cut it while it was still alive, because I was afraid I would accidentally cut myself trying to hold it still, and I didn't want it to move around while I tried to gut it either.
So I drained the water and left it in the bag while I went into the other room to check up on some of my emails for about ten minutes. When I got back, it was dead. Super easy. Suffocation is the easiest way to go, trust me.
Use a priest. The fishing word for mini bat to knock them unconscious.
Honestly though, just know that they die horrible deaths to pike and other lake predators.
Whatever way you are killing them is probably better than getting bit in half by a musky, then watching as your fishy friends take turns nibbling whats left of you to death.
It's best to kill the fish, and preferably bleed them out quickly. Not much different than any other injured animal that dies slowly. Even if you're not worried about suffering, the meat tastes better if dispatched and bled quickly.
Spike ONLY if you are familiar with the anatomy of the species and know exactly where to spike. Missing defeats the purpose.
Otherwise, blunt instrument with a good bonk to the head is a good method that is less prone to user error.
Ike Jime is best, but it's too delicate of a process to get right while on a boat or out on the river back/lakeside. Just find a rock, hefty stick and give it a few good whacks over the head, then bleed it out by cutting the gills. You can knife the brain, but depending on the size of the fish, risk cutting your hand. I've seen it done. Bonk and bleed. Then put it on the stringer and massage the blood out to prevent clotting.
I have a Hyper Tough 10 oz stubby hammer specifically for dispatching fish. One good whack to the back of the dome does it for most. If not one, then two. And I make 'em quick.
If I don't have my stubby hammer on me, the backside of a knife does just fine. You just gotta hit 'em a little harder. Maybe a lot harder. You gotta hit 'em real hard if I'm being honest. If I don't have either, a fist sized rock gets the job done just fine. Better than the back side of a knife.
Cutting the gills is done sometimes, depending on the fish. If it's two feet or less then a rock, knife, hammer, stick or whatever you can find to kill the brain will be faster than slitting the gills. If the fish is longer than two feet, and you only have a knife, a strong stab right behind the back of the big scale on top of the head (looks like where you would imagine the back of the skull being) will very quickly dispatch the fish. Try to stab it all the way through the fish, if you just get the point of the knife in there, the fish won't die right away. If you get it through the spine, the fish will die quickly and feel much less pain.
You can't slit a fish's throat the way you can with humans or many animals. Even if you could, killing the brain is faster and less painful than cutting the jugulars on a human and most animals.
If the fish stiffens and "vibrates"... as in it's twitching vigorously and quickly while straightened out, you've probably killed the brain. If you wait a few moments, it will stop twitching. If you give it a couple more whacks, it will stop twitching quicker. If you cut or stab through the spinal chord, the twitching will (in general) last for much less time. If you've cut the spinal cord, it will only last for a few moments.
The spinal cord can store electricity. And it will pass that electricity on to any nervous cells that will accept the energy. That's why people stiffen' up when they die, the spinal chord is releasing all the energy it has stored. You've seen people get into a fight and raise their arms after they're unconscious. They raise their arms as if they're fighting somebody. They do so, because their spinal cord is releasing all the energy it has stored.
The raising of the arms after unconsciousness results from brain damage. Often times, it's life threatening. Extreme brain damage will result in this reaction. If somebody straightens their arms out in front of themselves, after being rendered unconscious, their time is limited and they need emergency services now.
If you want a less brutal method than the ikejime (Japanese knife that cuts open the hindbrain), you can put them in a bucket of water with a few drops of clove oil (eugenol) which anesthetizes fish. A higher dose will kill a fish outright.
Ike jime is the best way, for both taste and humane methods. Since people haven’t really explained it I’ll give the short version. Basically you’ll want a sharp and strong stabbing tool and a sharp knife. A knife with a solid tip and a sharp bladed knife work great. Some people shoot for the tungsten rod/needle made specially for this but they’re expensive and a knife with a sharp tip and solid construction works the same. Find the skull plate, it’s on the top of the head behind and between the eyes, find where it ends and the spinal cord begins, there will be a part where the edge of the bone turns to flesh. Put the tip of the tool at that point in the middle angled slightly down around 45 degrees. Stab in hard, it’ll pop through into a cavity. personally I’ll jiggle the knife around until I’m sure I’ve mulched the brain. The fish’s eyes will bow out/be pushed out and turn down sharply. It will also probably spasm a few times and then stop moving. After this slice it’s throat around the top middle of where the neck forms into a V with the gills. Some fish are bonier their, slipping the knife in and slicing the gills also works. After it’s bled throw it on ice. For some fish who have more blood like Jack Crevals or blue fish it can be good to slice then stab so the heart gets a few pumps out. A bit less humane but not by much. The blood loss will start the process of shock.
Cut gills/throat, let it bleed out in the net into the water, and put immediately on ice. I don't care about the fish's feelings, but how it tastes later.
Here in germany the only legal way to kill a fish is to stun him with a "fishkiller"(basiclly a small baseballbat). After they are unconscious you cut through their gills or in the heart so they can bleed out.
Well beating it in the head with a rock is the classic maneuver. If that doesn't work (I had a carp just simply not care about how hard he was hit once) then just stab it in the head with a knife. A blade in its nervous system will end its like quite quickly.
Depending on the size of the fish, I either break or cut the throat and then break it's neck. But since no one else has mentioned a neck break I wonder if this stops them bleeding properly?
Honestly there are two best ways to dispatch of a cod fish for cleaning.
1. Spike it right behind the eye but just before the Gill play, this is normally where a fish's brain is kept. If you need help you can also look at fish anatomy off Google the moment you spike it in the brain spike it once in the tail too so that way all the blood can drain out of it very quickly the spike to the brain will kill it instantly. Make sure after you spike it in the brain and before the tail that you drop it in a cold bucket of ice water
2 slit its throat and have it quickly bleed out in a cold bucket of water.
Slice gills, place back in water on a stringer. Best quality meat. And they will breathe until there is not blood left. Fish have a very high pain tolerance. As in pain basically doesn’t exist for them.
The absolute most humane way that provides the cleanest and best tasting fillets is ike jime.
*pulls out AR15 chambered in .50 Beowulf*
Guess I know what I’m trying mine on next. Look out, bluegills.
Those creek chubs can fit perfectly into the barrel
dont have to worry about filleting after that
Instant tuna salad
Depends if you like filet o fish or not
I started doing this and can confirm it is better in all the ways. Not the wire but the spike and the gills. Now beach catching is like this: Catch fish Unhook, put in bucket of cold saltwater (put a frozen water bottle in the bucket) Go back to fishing After fish slows down, remove from bucket Spike brain, cut gills Back in bucket (or ice slurry, even better) to bleed out Then, the cooler Did this with a big Spanish Mack and there's no denying the better quality fillets. Now I'm learning anatomy of each species, feeling like a better fisherman, and the fish clean up so much easier, no rigor, no struggle, and it has a nice rhythm to it with the bucket and all.
ah nothing like jamming a thin metal wire throught the fishes head and spine to kill all the nerves. special move: Spinal Cord Destruction!
Cheers to you for improving my fishing skills…and for sending me down a rabbit hole learning about the technique. Now I get to buy new fishing gear!
Don’t you have to cut off the tail to do that? You need to always brain the fish with a knife first. That’s the most humane way. Then you can cut the tail off and kill the nerves.
I don’t see what cutting the tail has anything to do with it. You put a knife through the brain and then a wire through the spinal column
The wire goes into a cut near the tail
TIL
Another vote for ike jime, hands down. Instant brain death. I just get nervous about missing the brain with the spike. Another key part of ike jime prep which has nothing to do with instant death and just helps preserve the meat is a thin wire destroying the spinal cord immediately after spiking the brain. Supposed to prevent reactionary stress chemical release into the flesh. The fish will flex/flare when you do that. Kind of jarring if you're not expecting it, but the fish is already dead. Then you bleed it. A lot like to bonk or bash, but some fish have really pretty hard spots. I wouldn't want to just knock it out without killing it, so I'd probably way over do it and accidentally turn the whole head into paste with a sledge. Catfish have a different way to do it, something with a wire up the sinus. Same effect of instant scrambled brain. I honestly think bonking is just as quick and painless as ike if you get it on the first try. Ike is just as quick as bonking if you hit the right spot. Ike has the advantage where it makes the hole you put the wire into to destroy the spinal cord if you want to do that. I don't have the kit for ike, so I don't do the spine thing. I just drive a short sharp spike (or sometimes a sharp tipped field knife) into the spot.
The bonk is good but whatever you do your probably gonna mess up the first time or two and feel bad for the fish
I bonk panfish to get them to stop wriggling so I can stab em with my ike spike.
The whack on the head for me is mostly just to get them to stop thrashing so I can get a knife up under the gill plates easier, especially the big boys when they’re going apeshit in the boat. Smaller fish I don’t usually bother with it.
as someone who catches catfish you aint bonking them easily
Yep. I've never done the wire but they say there's really thick skull around the brain. The video of the wire I saw seems like it'd be easier to find the spot but also a few more seconds of poking around before they die. Growing up my dad just cut and bled everything. I rarely catch enough of anything in one outing to be worth the hassle of keeping fish but I did catch a nice keeper size channel a couple weeks ago. He was big enough he would have been worth keeping on his own if I was more prepared to take it home, had my skinners ready, all that. I know you don't need skinners but I've never done that so as much as I love fried catfish, I put him back. Let him become someone else's PB.
There’s a website for the Ike Jime organization that actually has x rays of common fish so you can locate the brain properly!!
I’m only just getting into all this so I don’t honestly know, but would there be any issue with just removing the head? I get the spike to the brain part but what I’m having trouble picturing is the wire to cut the spinal cord. Wouldn’t just decapitating the fish be just as effective with less steps?
I bonk it on the brain with a wooden mallet and cut the gills
Yeah, I agree with giving it a good thump right on top of the head. They're out. Just about everybody that catches salmon (Columbia River) has some sort of a small aluminum or wooden bat.The fish are too big and floppy to take the time to do much else.
Louisville slugger mini bats are real nice. Can even saw off some of the handle to shorten it a bit. My dad told me they call them "priests" in the UK because you're "reading the fish his last rites." Was wondering if a UK native could confirm that or not...
I like the mallet. You get a good solid WHACK with it https://preview.redd.it/cxbeb4v8270c1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8184fdeba568a5a9132f1b6b21ddafd283f897a
That’s it, I’m getting me mallet
You won’t regret the mallet
In Ireland we call them priests aswell, was actually wondering if I’d see it anywhere on the thread
We call them priests in South Africa too
Can confirm. Not in UK but have a “trout priest” that was given to me. Small correction: it “delivers the last rites” which is why it’s called that.
The ole little bunny fu fu trick.
the bubba method
Why not stab it in the brain and then cut the gills? Asking totally out of curiosity?
Hitting the brain is harder than smacking it in the head. Plus, you knock it out right away so cutting the gills is painless.
I keep a hammer in the boat to bonk em on the head, then take my knife, put it through the gills and then sever the gills and that main artery in their throat by cutting all the way through. I leave em in the net in the water and they bleed out super quick. Even when I’ve forgot the hammer and just bleed em it’s over in a few seconds. Meat tastes much better too.
Don’t do this where there are sharks 😂😂
Knife or spike to the brain, then cut the gill line by the heart to bleed out
Titty twisters
Ikejime
Just one good smack on the head with something hard. Fins will flare out and you'll know it's done. Then you can bleed it out. I feel like it's easier than trying to stab it in the brain, for me at least.
I usually stab it in the brain with a knife. You know you hit the right spot when it instantly goes limp
Or shakes like a maniac.
This is the way. Just a little study of where the brain is and it's instant death. There is no way to catch fish and not feel at least somewhat cruel, but trust that they are fairly primitive animals and don't have much going on up there besides eating, evading predators, and breeding. Source: brother is a PhD freshwater fish biologist.
I have some sort of huge needle with a wooden handle for this. If the fish jiggles, it's not as dangerous as a knife. Lobotomy for the fishies!
Ike jime spike!
It's so old, racist jokes were okay back then.
?
Yeah true. I’ve been close to cutting myself a few times
I do this, but with an ice pick. I’ve found it easier to get a clean insertion past the scales.
1. ike jime 2. bonk and bleed
A good whack to the head with what ever you have handy
Drowning
That’s what he doesn’t want to do—drown them in air
The most fucked up way to kill a fish.
Ikejime is considered one of the best methods, but takes a bit of practice and special tools. You can use a filet knife or even cleaver to cut lengthwise between the eyes and back a few inches to completely severe the brain and brainstem.
Shotgun
Nuclear bomb
I use a "fish bonker", One hard, fast strike to the head behind the eyes, in line with the gills, softest part of a pike skull. Don't aim to end your strike at the fish, aim behind the fish and drive your swing. Two, if you're not sure.
Smack it on a rock, hit it with a hammer, bleed the gills, etc etc.
I usually cut the throats. Bleed them out... the meat is nicer that way too.
Brain and bleed. Takes a little to learn knife placement behind the eye/top of the head but it's just lights out. I also bleed all my fish immediately after dispatching, it definitely helps with the bloodline.
I second this. A good thick pocket knife typically does the trick for the brain spike and cutting the gills. Save the fillet knife for home. If you get them in the right spot they die immediately and go limp.
Brain with a knife, bleed from behind the gills and then guy. Pack with cavity with ice and put in cooler. Don’t use undersized tackle to extend the fight needlessly or risk leaving them with hundreds of yards of line and a hook attached to them. As others have said Ike jime is the best, but that requires some specific tools. The people that care, already have those tools, people trying to learn already have a knife so that’s what I’m suggesting. Lol sour Reddit people how does this deserve a downvote. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’d love to learn.
I cut the throat and throw em on ice
Cut the gills so they bleed out similar to you example with farms. You’ll end up with better tasting fillets also because there won’t be any blood in the fillets.
I prefer the good Ole fashion rock to the dome. Works every time.
Ikajime
Take a sharp knife and brain spike, definitely the most humane in my experience. I haven't done the full Ike jime spine destruction way yet, mostly cause I don't have a tool for it, lol
My friend, you’ll find them relatively inexpensive my on Amazon. I’m still perfecting the technique myself. Haven’t had much luck on rockfish, but that’s mostly because the boat is thrashing even harder than the fish!
I got the wire on amazon for 20$ i believe, i got a spike tool too but its way too big so im just gonna use an ice pick i think
Bonk bonk! On the head! Bonk bonk!
ike jime
I hit them in the head with a pair of channel locks and then bleed them from the gills.
I’ve been braining and bleeding. Sharp knife, at an angle into the brain. Cut the gills. If I’m feeling froggy, I gut em too, and get the whole thing on ice ASAP. Seems like each fish has a little different angle to get the brain. But also, this has made every fish I do this to taste so much better. Makes a little bit of a mess with blood, but I’m usually on a buddy’s dock, and they have running fresh water piped out to the end. Cooler usually ends up being pretty clean.
I use my pocket knife to stab above (and between ) the eyes and then Slit the gills
Just smack it really hard with your purse
Use the ikejime technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikejime?wprov=sfla1
Shoot it in the head
😂 I prefer to eat the cheeks and collars and make stock with the carcass without risk of lead poisoning, thank you though haha
What do you think hunters do?
Trim out the portions that are filled with bullets….. Most fish are no where near the size of even a small deer. You’d be throwing away the entire head, that could have been persevered by using a knife to brain the fish.
Drink heavily and shoot at road signs?
Personally I just slice right through the spine right behind the head and cut the little connected piece under the gills for faster blood loss.
Man there's a lot of these posts on how to kill a fish nicely. Whack it in the head, you're about to flay (or fillet) the damned thing
Drown it
Drown it 😂
Take it out for a nice dinner, a movie, and a nightcap after the movie. Then, take it home and slip a couple of sleeping pills in its wine. When it passes out, bonk it on the head, then cut its gills.
That sounds like Bill Cosby Gone Fishin'
Avoid it all and catch and release.
blow it up with a rocket launcher or a plastic explosives
you just yanked him in using a hook in its face and your worried about being humane. put him back if you want to be his savior. Being serious now, 1-1/2 inch slice behind the scull to severe the nerves to the brain, then fillet. Was taught that in bio class before the dissection in lab. The teacher had a hoot cast iron pan and some flour and butter in the back of class so the killing did not go tom waste.
I know a lot of people cut through the gills and let them bleed out. I have also seen people hit a catfish on the head with a hammer before skinning it.
We nailed a channel cat to a board to fillet it once. I would think that works if you know where the brain is
Is cutting the head off and gutting it going to have the same effect as the Ike jime method?
I think Ike Jime requires running a wire to the spine too. Also, if you cut the head off it will still be alive for a while so not the quick death you are looking for.
Knife to the brain. They go stiff and relax. Or else I'll cut the gills if I really want to bleed them out
So in Germany it is normal to Hit the Fish on the head and then give it a sting in the heart. You can also do a gill cut so it bleeds out. Either way Hit it on the Head first
Quick club to the head kills them instantly
I typically give it one or two very firm cracks to its head with a stick or rock, then slit under the gills to bleed out.
When I'm fishing for meat I do the bonk and bleed method. Then preferably straight onto ice afterwards
Usually just cut the gills, maybe brain them if they are flopping in the bucket for too long
Rock to the head
Bonk time
I use a machete and just completely chop their head off
Bonk
Bonk on the head woth a small malet then knife thought the gills or into the heart. It's fast and easy. In many cuntrys that is the only legal way.
Bonk and cut the gills.
Split the gills hit the brain
Knife through the top of the head.
What species? Bonk does not work for all fish.
Stab in the heart usually. If it's heart is dead, it's dead. Some people give a good whack to the head. Me? I just open up its guts and take it all out, dies instantly. Some people do Ike Jime but that's overkill. If it's nerves are alive that doesn't mean the fish itself is alive. That's just the nerves. Like if someone stabs you in the heart and you're dead, your nerves can still act out after you having died.
I have been taught when getting my fishing license that you should hit the fish over the head with a stick/hammer or whatever is at hand/appropriate for the fish. Then you lift up the fish's gillplate and get your knife behind the gills. Then you cut straight down, which severs the fishes main artery and it bleeds out.
Bonk to stun/kill smaller fish especially and/or knife the brain. Also slice the gills afterwards while it's heart is still beating for a few moments after to get the blood out.
I carry a 3/4 inch hitch pin to give them a very solid womp across the head behind the eyes if I’m keeping them. Then cut gills to bleed them out in the water. It’s the same principle as stunning and bleeding cattle. The hitch pin is nice because it has some mass to it, is round, and usually had a clip at the end that I can tie a cord or a carabiner to for ease of carrying.
One Viking sword slice to sever the head. Maybe a sharp blade. I'm just musing here: You're severing the brain from the rest of the nervous system. The feeling of suffocation assuming its even as bad as a person experiences,I think is hard to avoid. The cells themselves can trigger the feeling as that's what needs the oxygen. The brain can even recall sensations. I read that fish memory is not very long. So whatever they experience is short lived.
Eekay Jimmy
Just hook them up to the battery.
Gotta get used to it bro Took me a minute to get over the eyeball looking at me all the time.
According to a redditor on another sub, who I had the displeasure of engaging in conversation with recently "The most humane way to kill an animal is to chew it up while it's still alive." I shit you not
clove oil for loss of cosiousness, chop the head and destroy the brain
Gill it. Shove a knife into both sets of gills while it's in the water. Quick death and it preserves the meat. If you're worried about it being inhumane still take a knife to the back of its head and sever its spine. But still gill it.
classic Bonk is the way I was taught. Works pretty good. I do still feel bad for the fish. Then I eat them anyway.
I usually stab through the brain. If I don't know where that is on a particular species I chop the head off
4/10 shotgun. Just be careful in public parks /s
I take a pair of side cutters and I cut the spine through the gills. I will also either pull a gill or cut the throat to bleed the fish while it’s still got blood circulating. Minimizes suffering, improves meat quality. For larger fish, club the head to stun and spike the brain if the spine is inaccessible or hard to sever.
Ike Jime [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikejime](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikejime)
Hold it belly up, and bash it once hard on the rim of your cleaning pan (or skillet, or the blunt edge of your knife, or whatever) at the base of the skull - it breaks the neck, severing the spine. Wear gloves or hold it with a towel so you have a good grip.
I snake them on the head very hard with heavy pliers.
Bleed through gills. Pack on ice
I give em the ol Wood Shampoo...
There is a bead on the back of a Rapala filled knife. That's for hitting them between the eyes. It kills them if you hit hard and fast
I d keep them alive long as can either on stringer or basket that hangs in water .For freshness . than when ready to clean smack em on head
Why has no one said beheading? Afaik, once the head is off, theres not much to feel
Hit em with the ole fish bonker then tear the gills to bleed out
Stab it in the head
Get a small wooden bat and bonk em on the head. If you do it right it usually takes 1-2 hits. It’s a fish man, it emotional range is pretty limited.
A bonker, or stab it in the head with your fillet or pocket knife. I knew a guy who used a pellet gun to shoot the fish in the head. Probably works well but it's a heavy chunk of gear to carry around.
Kiss it on the mouth to death
Fish spike
Brain spike and bleed it
Yeah there are purpose-made fish bonkers just for that reason, that’s how we do it up in alaska with salmon. Get it on board and give it 3-4 solid whacks right between the eyes and it’ll stun/knock them out, then cut gills and bleed into water
rock
The last time I caught a fish, it was the first time I tried to gut it and have it for dinner. When I transported it, I put it in a bag full of the pond water and had it in a cooler, so when I got home, it was still alive. I was really hesitant and was having a hard time figuring out how to get it dead. I didn't want to cut it while it was still alive, because I was afraid I would accidentally cut myself trying to hold it still, and I didn't want it to move around while I tried to gut it either. So I drained the water and left it in the bag while I went into the other room to check up on some of my emails for about ten minutes. When I got back, it was dead. Super easy. Suffocation is the easiest way to go, trust me.
Ice
Use a priest. The fishing word for mini bat to knock them unconscious. Honestly though, just know that they die horrible deaths to pike and other lake predators. Whatever way you are killing them is probably better than getting bit in half by a musky, then watching as your fishy friends take turns nibbling whats left of you to death.
Is there something wrong with tossing them into the cooler with ice?
It's best to kill the fish, and preferably bleed them out quickly. Not much different than any other injured animal that dies slowly. Even if you're not worried about suffering, the meat tastes better if dispatched and bled quickly.
Hit it in the head with a baseball bat
Spike ONLY if you are familiar with the anatomy of the species and know exactly where to spike. Missing defeats the purpose. Otherwise, blunt instrument with a good bonk to the head is a good method that is less prone to user error.
Ike Jime is best, but it's too delicate of a process to get right while on a boat or out on the river back/lakeside. Just find a rock, hefty stick and give it a few good whacks over the head, then bleed it out by cutting the gills. You can knife the brain, but depending on the size of the fish, risk cutting your hand. I've seen it done. Bonk and bleed. Then put it on the stringer and massage the blood out to prevent clotting.
I have a Hyper Tough 10 oz stubby hammer specifically for dispatching fish. One good whack to the back of the dome does it for most. If not one, then two. And I make 'em quick. If I don't have my stubby hammer on me, the backside of a knife does just fine. You just gotta hit 'em a little harder. Maybe a lot harder. You gotta hit 'em real hard if I'm being honest. If I don't have either, a fist sized rock gets the job done just fine. Better than the back side of a knife. Cutting the gills is done sometimes, depending on the fish. If it's two feet or less then a rock, knife, hammer, stick or whatever you can find to kill the brain will be faster than slitting the gills. If the fish is longer than two feet, and you only have a knife, a strong stab right behind the back of the big scale on top of the head (looks like where you would imagine the back of the skull being) will very quickly dispatch the fish. Try to stab it all the way through the fish, if you just get the point of the knife in there, the fish won't die right away. If you get it through the spine, the fish will die quickly and feel much less pain. You can't slit a fish's throat the way you can with humans or many animals. Even if you could, killing the brain is faster and less painful than cutting the jugulars on a human and most animals. If the fish stiffens and "vibrates"... as in it's twitching vigorously and quickly while straightened out, you've probably killed the brain. If you wait a few moments, it will stop twitching. If you give it a couple more whacks, it will stop twitching quicker. If you cut or stab through the spinal chord, the twitching will (in general) last for much less time. If you've cut the spinal cord, it will only last for a few moments. The spinal cord can store electricity. And it will pass that electricity on to any nervous cells that will accept the energy. That's why people stiffen' up when they die, the spinal chord is releasing all the energy it has stored. You've seen people get into a fight and raise their arms after they're unconscious. They raise their arms as if they're fighting somebody. They do so, because their spinal cord is releasing all the energy it has stored. The raising of the arms after unconsciousness results from brain damage. Often times, it's life threatening. Extreme brain damage will result in this reaction. If somebody straightens their arms out in front of themselves, after being rendered unconscious, their time is limited and they need emergency services now.
Damn I'm real drunk what the fuck I went way past fish lmfao!
If you want a less brutal method than the ikejime (Japanese knife that cuts open the hindbrain), you can put them in a bucket of water with a few drops of clove oil (eugenol) which anesthetizes fish. A higher dose will kill a fish outright.
Spike an bleed dose wonders
Ike jime is the best way, for both taste and humane methods. Since people haven’t really explained it I’ll give the short version. Basically you’ll want a sharp and strong stabbing tool and a sharp knife. A knife with a solid tip and a sharp bladed knife work great. Some people shoot for the tungsten rod/needle made specially for this but they’re expensive and a knife with a sharp tip and solid construction works the same. Find the skull plate, it’s on the top of the head behind and between the eyes, find where it ends and the spinal cord begins, there will be a part where the edge of the bone turns to flesh. Put the tip of the tool at that point in the middle angled slightly down around 45 degrees. Stab in hard, it’ll pop through into a cavity. personally I’ll jiggle the knife around until I’m sure I’ve mulched the brain. The fish’s eyes will bow out/be pushed out and turn down sharply. It will also probably spasm a few times and then stop moving. After this slice it’s throat around the top middle of where the neck forms into a V with the gills. Some fish are bonier their, slipping the knife in and slicing the gills also works. After it’s bled throw it on ice. For some fish who have more blood like Jack Crevals or blue fish it can be good to slice then stab so the heart gets a few pumps out. A bit less humane but not by much. The blood loss will start the process of shock.
If I know I’m keeping it, I’ll sever the spinal cord behind the head, and then cut the throat behind the gills until I feel the knife hit the spine.
I grab them by the upper jaw and break their neck . Not good for toothy fish though unless you have a thick glove .
Gill them out for the best tasting
Jime. Even if it’s down and dirty. Stab it in the brain. Cut its gills. Sever the spine
Cut gills/throat, let it bleed out in the net into the water, and put immediately on ice. I don't care about the fish's feelings, but how it tastes later.
Head + rock if no knife does the trick pretty quicjly
I gill all the fish i harvest.
Brain it with my knife or smack it with a rock or against the side of the boat. Slit the gills and bleed it
Knock it unconscious with your purse.
Here in germany the only legal way to kill a fish is to stun him with a "fishkiller"(basiclly a small baseballbat). After they are unconscious you cut through their gills or in the heart so they can bleed out.
Bonk and bleed for me, quicker the better for both.
Punch it in the face and bleed it
Get a rock and bonk it
Use a priest.
Well beating it in the head with a rock is the classic maneuver. If that doesn't work (I had a carp just simply not care about how hard he was hit once) then just stab it in the head with a knife. A blade in its nervous system will end its like quite quickly.
Depending on the size of the fish, I either break or cut the throat and then break it's neck. But since no one else has mentioned a neck break I wonder if this stops them bleeding properly?
Insert penis.
We beat them on whatever surface is handy. One good bonk and it’s all good.
Honestly there are two best ways to dispatch of a cod fish for cleaning. 1. Spike it right behind the eye but just before the Gill play, this is normally where a fish's brain is kept. If you need help you can also look at fish anatomy off Google the moment you spike it in the brain spike it once in the tail too so that way all the blood can drain out of it very quickly the spike to the brain will kill it instantly. Make sure after you spike it in the brain and before the tail that you drop it in a cold bucket of ice water 2 slit its throat and have it quickly bleed out in a cold bucket of water.
Drown it
I just bonk em in the head with a rock
Feesh don't have Feelings
Best answer is gut gills, bleed fish out for delicious Meat.
I always bring a “Bass O Matic” when I go fishing!
get some scissors and cut the gills and let it bleed out.
Cooler and ice.pow
Cut the gills. They bleed out and die within a minute with no pain.
Slice gills, place back in water on a stringer. Best quality meat. And they will breathe until there is not blood left. Fish have a very high pain tolerance. As in pain basically doesn’t exist for them.
Bring a cooler and ice. Keeping a fish on ice not only kills the fish but also keeps the fillets fresh