How do you "kill" your bass (or any fish) before eating it?

[PakAttack86]

I normally catch and release all of my fish, but I think this will be the first season where I actually take home some of my catch and cook some healthy dinners.. maybe once a week. So I've been watching videos on how to properly filet a bass, and to my horror I am noticing that in many of these videos the fisherman is fileting the bass while it is still alive.

Now I know to some of you this isn't a big deal, but I particularly am mortified at the thought of carving any living creature alive, what a terrible way to die! The thought of letting it suffocate out of the water is not appealing to me either, so the only thing I can think of is giving it a good bash on the head for a quick death.

What are your thoughts on this? Any alternatives?

[bobbymalone]

butt of filet knife down on the brain case. lather, rinse, repeat as necessary.

[Getanet]

That's how I do it (although I personally don't eat bass). For a smaller fish like crappie I usually just turn my fillet knife upside down and bonk them between the eyes with the blunt side of the blade. With a walleye or norhern I keep a steel with me and bonk them with that.

I think it's not only more humane, but also safer, to make sure they're not flopping around with a sharp knife in your hand.

[goose89]

If I'm planning on keeping a few, I usually take a scissors and clip the blood supply on the underside of their gills and bleed them out in the livewell before I leave for shore. If I forget to do that, I take the back of the knife across the top of the head a couple times as I'm taking em out of the livewell.

[Esox_Magnum]

I have always fillet them live when i get home

[Deitz Dittrich]

for me its a bag of ice.. I fish a few small lakes that can be overrun with small fish, so keeping a limit of small fish 10-12" is actually healthy for the lake..

[TurnUpTheFishing]

We carry a club in my dad's boat for just that purpose, hit them over the head (not bass) and put 'em on ice or we at least club them before filleting so they dont flop around.

I know this isnt the direction this post was meant to go but I think fish lack the brain capacity to feel pain or comprehend the way many animals do.

[corncob]

I give the fish a shot of Jim Beam, and they are numb. I have a double shot, then it don't hurt a bit.

[goblueM]

for me its a bag of ice.. I fish a few small lakes that can be overrun with small fish, so keeping a limit of small fish 10-12" is actually healthy for the lake..

psh, every good bass angler with a sparkly boat knows that you must release every bass ever

[bobbymalone]

I know this isnt the direction this post was meant to go but I think fish lack the brain capacity to feel pain or comprehend the way many animals do.

I'll probably open up a can of worms but whatever.

Pain is pretty relative. There is no doubt that fish have brain capacity to know that physical injury is not good. Whether the fish is thinking ow ow ow this hurts or it's thinking I need to get out of here or it just enters some sort of stunned state it's receiving the same signals that we interpret as pain.

I hardly think a deer or a duck really feels pain like I do but I feel I've got a responsibility to ease it's suffering. Same goes for a fish. I don't feel the need to shoot every fish I keep in the brain with a pellet gun as soon as I unhook it, but I figure I at least owe the creature a quick death before sliding the knife in.

[mojoputter]

I guess you can call me inhumane, but it's just a fish, the only thing I'm thinking about when I'm slicing'em up is how good they taste. I do consider myself an outdoorsmen and a animal lover, but c'mon its a fish.

[Bassburch]

My fish are still alive even after I clean them. Can't get any fresher than that.

I've cleaned the cheek out of a walleye and had the cheek hopping around on the counter for a good 2 minutes after removing it. Kinda creepy but neat at the same time.

I would never eat bass -- I prefer panfish or walleye for the table. I'm sure bass under 14" out of cold water would be decent for the table though. Larger bass or fish out of warm water aren't as good eating.

[lotsofish]

I don't think fish suffocate the same way as mammals do. Holding your breath causes all the oxygen in your lungs to be used and replaced with CO2, and it's painful if you do it for too long. On the other hand, helium and carbon monoxide can both cause suffocation, however they are basically painless, causing you a headache and to pass out. When a fish is out of water, it's probably similar to that.

[pikestabber]

I wish I could remember the time frame and the exact publication, but there has been extensive research done on the pain receptacles of fish and if they can actually feel pain. It was widely held after these tests that fish don't feel pain. Their nerves react to outside stimuli (we cut them with a knife, they move), but no actual pain is felt, or so the article goes. That said, I fillet them alive. It's not meant as a cruel act, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's how I was taught, it's how I'll teach my kids. The fish is alive, ergo, the fish is fresh and the meat is firm. Good enough by me. If you can't get yourself past this, a quick club on the head and a trip into a cooler with ice will do just fine.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Yeah, probably the same studies Ive seen. Ive also read of tests with different chemicals. These chemicals, when used on an animal that have more advanced nervous system and sense pain as we know it, reacted. When the same chemicals placed on fish they felt no stimuli and showed no reaction.

That said I still think people should show the fish respect, especially considering there are a lot of people who think fisherman are torturous barbarians and we dont need to add to that group.

[rwwong]

I don't eat bass, but any fish I harvest I keep alive until I'm ready to clean it. I'll do one of two things, I'll either take a club to its noggin', or my preferred method of my fillet knife to its back bone. Start above the gill plate right where the plate ends. Softly pierce through the flesh until you feel the backbone with your knife, once you find it, give it a good jab to break its back. The fish will die within seconds.

[bobbymalone]

it's just a fish

that is true. to me it's just a fish that was doing it's fish thing for however long until I decided I'm going to end it's life and consume it. I have a certain respect that I'm taking the life of a living thing. I don't assign much of a lesser cosmic worth to fish than I do ducks or the mice living in the shed. When the circumstances come up that you have to kill something or you killing something to consume it, you do it as quickly as possible, even if it's as barbaric as bringing the butt of the knife down. I dunno, it's how my father attempted to raise me and what I've come to after more than a few years of being a young country lad and putting .177 holes through dang near anything that can feel pain or not. Frankly, I'm a bit ashamed about a lot of that now.

I realize the above is my opinion and mine alone so don't take it as some sort of lecture about differing ideas. I don't assign a greater cosmic worth to ideas either.

[reinhard1]

Pak, i think you are sensitive to this issue. nothing wrong with that. my opinion would be to take a blunt object and put the fish out and then fillet the fish. good luck.

[smeese]

I clean mine alive whenever possible, Once they die the blood starts to hard in the filets and then they require more rinsing. I have always been told they feel no pain, but I feel bad for a little while still.

[mabr]

Holy Cow, we have now become politicaly correct on how to clean a fish so that we dont cause it more suffering.

Come on guys, there is a Hierarchy involved here. Just saying! Or maybe im wrong?

[corncob]

If you feel so bad about killing a fish, then dont do it!....Catch and release only for you , barbless hooks , and God save the Queen.

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I dont feel bad about killing fish. H3ll the wife and I have an aquarium at home, kinda ironic I know. I keep them alive right up until I start cleaning them. Then out of respect I pierce the brain, or what I think is the brain because they stop moving pretty quick afterwards.

I dont care if fish can feel pain like we do or not. I kill them out of respect, I'm ending their life so I can sustain mine. Call me lame or every name under the sun, its just how I was raised.

[corncob]

Some might call you a tree hugger, but, not me, no, not me!

[pikestabber]

Holy Cow, we have now become politicaly correct on how to clean a fish so that we dont cause it more suffering.

Come on guys, there is a Hierarchy involved here. Just saying! Or maybe im wrong?

Agreed! What's next? Are we going to give a stalk of asparagus a blunt smack on the head before picking it? It's a living thing, too. Can it feel pain? Can fish? Argue back and forth if you want, but at some point the line has to be drawn in the sand. We are the top of the food chain. We eat fish and game. If it bothers you, eat vegetables (but be sure to put a round or two through their head first).

[bobbymalone]

I don't think anybody in here is against killing fish, but feel free to froth from the mouth if you feel the need.