How to kill a fish

[Swerve]

All,

Reasonably new to fishing as only started 4 months ago when I got my boat. Before then only fished as a kid 15-20 years ago and occasionally with mates and never caught anything.

My stupid question is

1- When I catch a fish, what is the best way to kill it and store on the boat ? Normally they sit in a bucket until they drown or should I kill it there and then and put on ice.

2- Which fish are you supposed to bleed ? and how do you bleed them ?

Thanks

Steve

[SeaHunt]

All that flapping around for ages is annoying, so I kill everything I intend to eat by cutting its throat. No fish tastes worse for having been bled. Most taste a whole lot better.
Stick the knife in the gills low down on one side and out the other and slice down. If you don't think enough blood comes out, cut their whole head off.

[Argle]

Yep, bleed all fish if you intend to eat them, you can also spike the brain with a long pointy thing called an ickysomething (japanese origin i think) but I just do what SeaHunt said and cut the throat.

Cheers and Beers

Scott

[finga64]

Just be carefull as a fish may have to be presented whole to a fisheries inspector. But for a quick kill I have a donger just for that purpose. Whack, straight to the back of the head between the eyes
No point in prolonging the pain any animal is having, so a quick death is definitely looked for.
And no, the donger is not for self defense
Cheers

[Cruiser]

Give any fish you catch to me..... I'll kill 'em

[simonm]

Dong it and bleed it for larger fish. For smaller fish you can cut the throat and quickly snap its spine instead of doing the dong.

[TIM-DONSELAAR]

Just be carefull as a fish may have to be presented whole to a fisheries inspector. But for a quick kill I have a donger just for that purpose. Whack, straight to the back of the head between the eyes
No point in prolonging the pain any animal is having, so a quick death is definitely looked for.
And no, the donger is not for self defense
Cheers

what kind of donger are we talking about here...i hope you mean one of the small wood one's that tackle shops sell

cheers tim

[88fishframe]

Spike to the brain stops them pumping blood through the body.

When I keep a northern blue for the table, I land with a landing net [no gaff, it upsets them too much and blood starts to pump], spike the brain and drop in the ice. Flesh comes out white when filleted.

Can bleed them as well, but I have found the spike stops the blood anyway. Put straight on ice especially if you're up North like me.

[Swerve]

Give any fish you catch to me..... I'll kill 'em

And no doubt eat them as well. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks

[charleville]

I read somewhere ( might have been on Ausfish) that putting the fish into an ice slurry puts them to sleep ( what a nice euphenism ) pretty quickly so I have been doing that and that seems to do the trick pretty well.

The only other thing to be concerned about is what to do about fish which need to be bled.

[revs57]

A mate of mine scratches the gills with a knife till it bleeds - his rationale is that if you cut the neck it can actually close up the artery..I've been doing following his advise and it works fine, then into the kill tank, then 20 mins later once bled out into the esky in a 50/50 ice slurry...chills the fish quickly and keeps the flesh firm

I bleed everything I keep

Toothy things get the "Royal Treatment" first as a matter of survival (for me)

cheers

rhys

[revs57]

PS Swerve...It aint a stupid question...we all learned how to better care for our catch somewhere...so good on ya for asking

Cheers

rhys

[SeaHunt]

I read somewhere ( might have been on Ausfish) that putting the fish into an ice slurry puts them to sleep ( what a nice euphenism ) pretty quickly so I have been doing that and that seems to do the trick pretty well.

The only other thing to be concerned about is what to do about fish which need to be bled.

Same thing, cut their throat and throw them in the ice slurry.
Pink ice .... hmmmm.... yum.....

[seabug]

"A mate of mine scratches the gills with a knife till it bleeds - his rationale is that if you cut the neck it can actually close up the artery"

Now isn't that a nice one for the anti-fishing lobby >
Regards
Seabug

[Feral]

But for a quick kill I have a donger just for that purpose. Whack, straight to the back of the head between the eyes
Cheers

aahh the "bless you my son" with the "priest", usually half an old baseball bat or back of a tomohawk.

Also bung em straight on ice after cutting their throats or "blessing" them