Best Way to Kill Fish

[Mish]

I usually just whack them over the head, but I've heard of lots of different ways... Like dragging them backwards through water, suffocating them by just keeping them out of the water, taking a knife and cutting their spine, sticking your fingers in their sweet spot and breaking their neck...and lots more.

I'm looking for the least painful way for the fish.

[goldscud]

The best, and most ethical way is the quick blow to the head

[Morph1]

I don't know about you mate.... but I usually carry with me a small wooden structure with rope and perform death by hanging then I check for pulse, if I feel anything I hang them again.... I was thinking about a small guillotine for the next season but for now that's just an idea for the future....

[Mish]

Originally Posted by Morph1

I don't know about you mate.... but I usually carry with me a small wooden structure with rope and perform death by hanging then I check for pulse, if I feel anything I hang them again.... I was thinking about a small guillotine for the next season but for now that's just an idea for the future....

Make sure it can chop a cantaloupe i half if you're going to be fishing for pike

[Lethalconnection]

Give it the chinese water torture

[Morph1]

Originally Posted by Mish

Make sure it can chop a cantaloupe i half if you're going to be fishing for pike

Hey Mish , death by hanging is my own patent, best I don't see you at the lake practicing my method or ya gonna face a lawsuit...

[Mish]

Originally Posted by Morph1

Hey Mish , death by hanging is my own patent, best I don't see you at the lake practicing my method or ya gonna face a lawsuit...

I'm 10 steps ahead of you. Death by drowning.

[Stubble Jumper]

.22

[A.H.]

460 weatherby

[brett01]

the good ol fashioned bonk on the head or gill em' either or

[Salvelinus]

drown them

[thumper]

Drain, plow under or pollute their habitat.

[-JR-]

I have seen a few pike get cleaned while they are still alive.
What goes around comes around !

[Wilbur]

Originally Posted by Mish

I usually just whack them over the head, but I've heard of lots of different ways... Like dragging them backwards through water, suffocating them by just keeping them out of the water, taking a knife and cutting their spine, sticking your fingers in their sweet spot and breaking their neck...and lots more.

I'm looking for the least painful way for the fish.

why don't you just throw them on the ice and let them die that way

[Mish]

Originally Posted by Wilbur

why don't you just throw them on the ice and let them die that way

Same reason I don't throw you in the water and let you die that way

[Walleyes]

First of all lets set the record straight fish feel no pain and can not reason... Thus cleaning them while their alive is very acceptable and actually the best way to enjoy fresh fish and the method of throwing them on the ice is fine as well what do you think they lay on the ice and cry because they are dying (oh god oh god I have to get back in the water or I will die) sorry,,, doesn't happen that way... Fish feel touch and feel sound but no pain.. Don't think so,, let me put a #00 treble hook in your lip and pull on it see how much you fight !!!!

As long as no flesh is wasted people don't get a lump in your throat worrying if your fish is suffering or not just keep them in a way that best keeps the flesh fresh and eatable..

Remember cartoons aren't real people...

[Tabers Best]

Cleaning a fish while it is still is alive is not acceptable. I would suggest whoever does it stops doing it.

[Walleyes]

Originally Posted by Tabers Best

Cleaning a fish while it is still is alive is not acceptable. I would suggest whoever does it stops doing it.

Remember cartoons aren't real people...

[Map Maker]

Walleyes is 100% correct in my opinion.

Fish are just responding to stimuli not pain.

[FiveO]

Originally Posted by Walleyes

First of all lets set the record straight fish feel no pain and can not reason... Thus cleaning them while their alive is very acceptable and actually the best way to enjoy fresh fish and the method of throwing them on the ice is fine as well what do you think they lay on the ice and cry because they are dying (oh god oh god I have to get back in the water or I will die) sorry,,, doesn't happen that way... Fish feel touch and feel sound but no pain.. Don't think so,, let me put a #00 treble hook in your lip and pull on it see how much you fight !!!!

As long as no flesh is wasted people don't get a lump in your throat worrying if your fish is suffering or not just keep them in a way that best keeps the flesh fresh and eatable..

Remember cartoons aren't real people...

That is funny Walleyes im in tears right now.

[Waxy]

Originally Posted by Map Maker

Walleyes is 100% correct in my opinion.

Fish are just responding to stimuli not pain.

Last I checked, pain was a response to a stimuli...

Waxy

[Waxy]

Originally Posted by Walleyes

First of all lets set the record straight fish feel no pain and can not reason... Thus cleaning them while their alive is very acceptable and actually the best way to enjoy fresh fish and the method of throwing them on the ice is fine as well what do you think they lay on the ice and cry because they are dying (oh god oh god I have to get back in the water or I will die) sorry,,, doesn't happen that way... Fish feel touch and feel sound but no pain.. Don't think so,, let me put a #00 treble hook in your lip and pull on it see how much you fight !!!!

As long as no flesh is wasted people don't get a lump in your throat worrying if your fish is suffering or not just keep them in a way that best keeps the flesh fresh and eatable..

Remember cartoons aren't real people...

I don't buy it walleyes. I know we have some fisheries/biology people here, anyone have actual knowledge or test data on the subject?

To each his own, but I would never fillet a fish that was alive. It's a very simple process to kill the fish first and ensure it's done in a humane way.

Simple respect for nature the way I see it.

Waxy

[chuck0039]

I just slit there throats and let them bleed out. In the summer when they are in the live well after I slit there thoats they still swim as if nothing happened then they just go belly up. If they do feel pain as some would think they sure don't show it in the live well after throats are slit. I'm no bioligist nor know the anwser if they really do feel pain and i'm not going to disput the way everybody kills fish ( to each there own) but I have seen people bonk fish on the head three or four times before the fish stop wiggling. If infact fish do feel pain that would be a far worse way to die I think.

[Wilbur]

Originally Posted by Mish

Same reason I don't throw you in the water and let you die that way

i think there is only one reason why you don't throw me on the ice and it's probably cause i'm a lot bigger and crazier than you

[albertadave]

Originally Posted by Tabers Best

Cleaning a fish while it is still is alive is not acceptable. I would suggest whoever does it stops doing it.

I agree, mainly because when that big jack fish you're filleting gives one last flop I think it would be a good way to cut your finger off! I don't know if fish feel pain or not, but I sure know I do.

[thefishguy]

Originally Posted by Walleyes

First of all lets set the record straight fish feel no pain and can not reason... Thus cleaning them while their alive is very acceptable and actually the best way to enjoy fresh fish and the method of throwing them on the ice is fine as well what do you think they lay on the ice and cry because they are dying (oh god oh god I have to get back in the water or I will die) sorry,,, doesn't happen that way... Fish feel touch and feel sound but no pain.. Don't think so,, let me put a #00 treble hook in your lip and pull on it see how much you fight !!!!

As long as no flesh is wasted people don't get a lump in your throat worrying if your fish is suffering or not just keep them in a way that best keeps the flesh fresh and eatable..

Remember cartoons aren't real people...

Wow, you sound like a real knee slapping hillbilly. And whats this cartoons aren't real that doesn't make any sense.
It's not about if fish feel pain it's about ethics. If you wouldn't want death to come to you like that why would you wish that on anything else, man or beast.

Remember we are the smarter species, maybe we should act like it!


Mish I usally cut their heads right off with my fillet knife, then fillet them right there. But make sure that fish and game is still abel to determine size. so keep the frame and head close by.

[Walleyes]

Remember we are the smarter species, maybe we should act like it!

Alrighty then.....

I have seen no credible research that suggests fish feel pain in the same way people would think of it. They do have senses and can be stressed by stimuli but its not the same as me or you being hooked in the face with a treble. (bad water quality could cause more stress than being hooked, so could warm temperatures, more of a physiological impact). I have observed fish subject to stress resume normal activity in minutes after being returned to OPTIMAL conditions (cold, clean, flowing water, in case of pike cool clear water) and by stress i mean something way more significant than a quick struggle and release. The fact pike and walleye eat perch without hesitation makes me feel a little hook in the mouth isn't the end of the world and pain isn't necessarily the stimuli they feel.

When ice fishing i do normally just throw the fish outside the shack, they don't normally last that long (normally freeze semi-solid within a few minutes, i try to gut them before they get too stiff to protect the meat quality). In the case of pike they're killed if I'm retaining them, due to the outrageous amounts of flopping they otherwise do (meat can be damaged or they can "flop" into gear and make a heck of a mess).
If you're worried about killing them immediately a sharp blow to the head will do it, otherwise gutting removes the heart and organs, they're dead. I don't normally keep many fish during other times of year, but if i do they are dispatched with a little stone to the top of the head then immediately gutted and put in the cooler or right onto the campfire to cook. The blow to the head is simply to make filleting easier.
I don't think less of people that kill fish immediately, i'd rather see that than a fish left flopping around in the grass till it dies (usually pike) then cleaned, the quality of the flesh suffers. I think of it in the same way as hunters that don't gut or cool their deer in timely fashion and complain about the flavor. Fish flesh gets soft, i think a lot of muddy taste reports in fish are due to this rather than the water body.

[CNP]

Whack a fish on the head......not in my canoe lol. It flops around (in the boat or on the ice or in my backpack) until it's dead. If it's still alive by the time I get to shore or where I'm going...head comes off and cleaned. Why are we bothering about this? They are fish (food) we are people (higher on the food chain)............take a look how we treat each other and forget about ethics between us and fish. Fish pain..........not a concern to me. Fish get eaten ALIVE all the time. Is it unethical to fish with live minnows? How about commercial fishing boats (gill nets). This is too much....Do whatever you want.....but don't waste them.

[muzzy]

I smother them......... IN BUTTER in a hot frying pan