• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Teach me to fish

I second other opinions, fresh water u keep em on a stringer. Saltwater it’s a head bop and into the cooler they go.

Also watch your state Regs. Some will let you clean the fish at the doc/lake. Some won’t. In pa I have to take them home then clean them.
 
A basket is best for smaller fish at least. You'll destroy their mouth w/a stringer and if u put it through the gills, they die quick anyway. A basket is fun for the kids anyway.
 
Red Beard said:
Next up... how to get a dinner-size fish to the frying pan? Plenty of videos out there on how to gut and filet a fish, but not a lot of info on the in-between period from taking them off the hook to slapping them on the filet board at home. Read an article about immediately decapping vs a fish bat vs a brain spike. It seemed to point to decap as being the most "humane".

What process do yall follow?
Click to expand...
Fish are slippery and slimy. A glove helps; I keep a cut-resistant butcher's glove in my tackle box. Forceps or needle nose pliers help getting the hook out of the mouth. If you don't have a livewell, use a stringer, or, preferably, a basket, to keep the fish alive while fishing. The exception is trout, which don't survive these tools. So, gut&gill&bloodline keeper trout, then put them on ice. An insulated lunchbox with ice will hold a limit of trout. Panfish, walleye, etc., can be dispatched when loading up the truck. I usually use the spine of a fillet knife to bonk them, but ike jime or gill cutting are probably more humane. Not sure on the proper technique for either, though. Frankly, gutting a fish is pretty instantly fatal, so panfish I'll gut and ice. I'll bonk walleyes and pikes before I fillet them.
 
Iron_llama said:
Fish are slippery and slimy. A glove helps; I keep a cut-resistant butcher's glove in my tackle box. Forceps or needle nose pliers help getting the hook out of the mouth. If you don't have a livewell, use a stringer, or, preferably, a basket, to keep the fish alive while fishing. The exception is trout, which don't survive these tools. So, gut&gill&bloodline keeper trout, then put them on ice. An insulated lunchbox with ice will hold a limit of trout. Panfish, walleye, etc., can be dispatched when loading up the truck. I usually use the spine of a fillet knife to bonk them, but ike jime or gill cutting are probably more humane. Not sure on the proper technique for either, though. Frankly, gutting a fish is pretty instantly fatal, so panfish I'll gut and ice. I'll bonk walleyes and pikes before I fillet them.
Click to expand...
You menationed bloodline for trout. Is that the same as shinke jime?

Again, new at this so you're educating me. Thank you.
 
Red Beard said:
You menationed bloodline for trout. Is that the same as shinke jime?

Again, new at this so you're educating me. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Ike jime is the Japanese term for using a spike to quickly destroy a fish's brain, killing it humanely. The bloodline in a trout is a dark red vessel that runs along the spine. It can spoil quickly, painting the meat, so use a spoon (or your thumbnail) to scrape it out, then rinse the carcass. I'll see if I can find a video.
 
Red Beard said:
Roger. I'm imagining what it's like trying to process a deer after it's been on ice for 3 days. Not that stiff huh?
Click to expand...
Colder is better for filleting. When they get warm there is no structure to the meat, especially the second fillet to come off. Anything I keep comes home and goes straight into the fridge overnight.
 
casts_by_fly said:
Colder is better for filleting. When they get warm there is no structure to the meat, especially the second fillet to come off. Anything I keep comes home and goes straight into the fridge overnight.
Click to expand...
Good info here. Thank you for saving me frustration!
 
Caught my first fish thanks to you all and the local bait and tackle shop.

Bluegill, nothing special, learned a lot! Like that I need to bleed them after booking, that I am still squeamish with worms and flopping fish! Need 3x as many worms as I think I do. Scaling fish is an outside activity. Need a stringer so my fish don't get dirty! And Need to learn some recipes, hopefully this is the least tasty fish I catch and cook myself, only up from here :)
87fd150c58269ad9d4974811071c22c8.jpg
e8ca8614e0cbe4161f9260184da3912f.jpg


Sent from my SM-F946U1 using Tapatalk
 
euge said:
Caught my first fish thanks to you all and the local bait and tackle shop.

Bluegill, nothing special, learned a lot! Like that I need to bleed them after booking, that I am still squeamish with worms and flopping fish! Need 3x as many worms as I think I do. Scaling fish is an outside activity. Need a stringer so my fish don't get dirty! And Need to learn some recipes, hopefully this is the least tasty fish I catch and cook myself, only up from here :)
87fd150c58269ad9d4974811071c22c8.jpg
e8ca8614e0cbe4161f9260184da3912f.jpg


Sent from my SM-F946U1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
What method and tool did you use for dispatch?
 
Honestly i didn't plan very well for fishing success! Thought too much like a deer hunter, that i likely won't come home with anything lol

I had a nice big stick, big whack on head, really slowed the bluegill down but still intermittently jumped for another 5-10min, which is why i am always going to bleed gills going forward. on autopsy, the head strike definitely did some damage, but clearly not enough.

maybe i'll get a brain spike, bc i also (stupidly) did not realize that i could not easily use a knife to stab into the brain bc of the scales, tried that a few times during the 5-10min of dying. will see how quickly the bleeding works v need for further dispatch tools.

for stringers, i am a bit confused, do people leave the fish alive, and then put them on the stringer and into the water so they are alive longer and then you can dispatch all at once, then transport home on the same line?
 
euge said:
Honestly i didn't plan very well for fishing success! Thought too much like a deer hunter, that i likely won't come home with anything lol

I had a nice big stick, big whack on head, really slowed the bluegill down but still intermittently jumped for another 5-10min, which is why i am always going to bleed gills going forward. on autopsy, the head strike definitely did some damage, but clearly not enough.

maybe i'll get a brain spike, bc i also (stupidly) did not realize that i could not easily use a knife to stab into the brain bc of the scales, tried that a few times during the 5-10min of dying. will see how quickly the bleeding works v need for further dispatch tools.

for stringers, i am a bit confused, do people leave the fish alive, and then put them on the stringer and into the water so they are alive longer and then you can dispatch all at once, then transport home on the same line?
Click to expand...
I leave them alive on the stringer. Then I just throw them in the cooler when I’m done and bleed them out when I get home and gut them.
 
ketch22 said:
I leave them alive on the stringer. Then I just throw them in the cooler when I’m done and bleed them out when I get home and gut them.
Click to expand...
cooler have water in them or just ice, so do they end up dying in the cooler?
 
euge said:
maybe i'll get a brain spike, bc i also (stupidly) did not realize that i could not easily use a knife to stab into the brain bc of the scales, tried that a few times during the 5-10min of dying. will see how quickly the bleeding works v need for further dispatch tools.
Click to expand...
I found this site a couple days ago. Tells you where each species brain is located. If bonking them on the head don't work for me I'll go to ike jime

www.ikijime.com

Iki jime or ike jime (pronounced “iki jimi”) is a humane method of killing fish

Iki jime involves spiking the brain of fish, causing immediate brain death. Iki jime will minimise fish stress and maximise the quality and storage life of the flesh.
www.ikijime.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top