# Best way to humanly kill catfish? But keep them fresh?



## Novicaine

I usually just fish for panfish, where I bring a bucket of water and bring them home live and wack 'em on the head with a hammer before cleaning.
I tried bringing a cooler of ice so I could kill the fish in the boat, and put them on ice, but I caught a catfish and I couldn't figure out how to humanly kill it and get it in the ice. Would a hammer wack on the head work? They seem to have tough skulls compared to pan fish.

Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated. I tried googling, but got too many overly sensative people's (peta-like) advice. I'd like some real advice from people who actually fish on the standard accepted ways to deal with catches.

Thanks!!


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## DrNip

When I was a kid my grandpa used to take a hammer and nail. I know of some people that I believe cut the tail fin off or slit it and let them bleed out in the livewell.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

Fish bat.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

Catfish are easier to clean if you keep the live right up until you are about to clean them.


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## Novicaine

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=360928#p360928 said:


> RiverBottomOutdoors » 59 minutes ago[/url]"]Fish bat.



Hmm, interesting... I should get one of these.
So you just wack 'em? Does that work for catfish?


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## Novicaine

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=360929#p360929 said:


> RiverBottomOutdoors » 59 minutes ago[/url]"]Catfish are easier to clean if you keep the live right up until you are about to clean them.



I really need to fix my larger boat that has a live well... 
Thanks!


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=360933#p360933 said:


> Novicaine » 1 minute ago[/url]"]
> 
> 
> [url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=360928#p360928 said:
> 
> 
> 
> RiverBottomOutdoors » 59 minutes ago[/url]"]Fish bat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, interesting... I should get one of these.
> So you just wack 'em? Does that work for catfish?
Click to expand...


Yep. Whack 'em in the head. The bat goes ping...the fish goes limp. Search Amazon.com for "fish bat". It's just a really small aluminum baseball bat.


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## JoshKeller

ive been known to use my front mount navigation light. Has the right amount of heft, and has held up pretty good so far, and always in the boat.


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## onthewater102

A hammer will inflict far more trauma to the skull than a bat - stick with the hammer and save the $5 for a celebratory beer with a friend after getting a monster.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=360962#p360962 said:


> onthewater102 » 33 minutes ago[/url]"]A hammer will inflict far more trauma to the skull than a bat - stick with the hammer and save the $5 for a celebratory beer with a friend after getting a monster.



That's why whenever you see saltwater guys killing 200lb fish they always use a hammer..... He's killing fish...not people.


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## stevesecotec02

whenever I am going after eater size catfish I always clean and filet them on the boat. I use my large cooler as a cleaning table and use a kabar potbelly knife to chop off their heads then filet them. Once filleted i place filets in a zip lock bag then into the cooler. They stay in cooler untill the next day after coming home and getting some sleep then i take them into kitchen and clean up and skin the filets. A cheap walmart machete or meat clever would work just as well as the kabar but i keep the knife on the boat for other uses as well.


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## DrNip

Thinking back on it my grandpa might have just only used a hammer.


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## Irish87

Why kill them? I just keep them alive until I clean them....which kills them


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## Novicaine

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=361013#p361013 said:


> Irish87 » Yesterday, 20:49[/url]"]Why kill them? I just keep them alive until I clean them....which kills them



I'm just debating options... 

I generally keep them alive in a bucket of water until I get them home and clean them, but I think a cooler of frozen/dead fish would be easier to handle than a bucket of live ones during the trip home.


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## BassAddict

Instructions on how to humanly euthanize fish at 25s

https://m.liveleak.com/view?i=63d_1401517377&comments=1


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## Captain Ahab

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=361096#p361096 said:


> BassAddict » Sat Jul 26, 2014 8:18 pm[/url]"]Instructions on how to humanly euthanize fish at 25s
> 
> https://m.liveleak.com/view?i=63d_1401517377&comments=1




I a taking note!


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## bcbouy

when i dispatch salmon, i hold it up by the tail,grab hold of the gills and yank.they bleed out quick and stay fresh longer.


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## ccm

Fish generally 25 + lbs. I like to keep alive to cut the tail & bleed out ( the fish will taste better if you do this ). Any thing under I toss in a large cooler with ice. If you don't like them thrashing around in the cooler you can knock them in the head with a small club or hammer. For catfish unless you have gotten really proficient with a regular/electric fillet knife purchase a good pair of skinning pliers. Live fish are easier to clean just using a fillet knife but once they are put on ice 99% of the time you have to use a pair of skinning pliers. Large fish are easier to skin when hung up ( larger fish need to be skinned ) for smaller fish I use a board with a large nail driven though it to hold the fish while it is skinned. A cooler with ice will keep fish fresh just fine. Use plenty of ice & pack fish & ice in layers. They will stay fresh for 5 days or more if packed & kept iced properly but it is always best to clean the fish ASAP. If keeping a large fish to bleed out, but no livewell or the fish is to big, carry an old towel ( keep the fish alive on a stringer while fishing ) & when you go to go home wet the towel & wrap the fish in it, the fish will stay alive & not dry out ( this generally works good if your trip from the lake is less than 30 minutes ).


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## earl60446

On lake Erie we would bring along a 5 gal bucket, put maybe 5 inches water in it, a keeper walleye would get its gills cut and placed head first into the bucket to bleed out. Have a towel to cover the bucket. Then transfer to ice cooler. Made a huge difference as opposed to just throwing them on ice. No blood at the filet table at all, nice clean meat. Used a garden shears to cut the gills. Safer than having a knife loose on board.
Tim


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## Captain Ahab

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=361269#p361269 said:


> earl60446 » Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:23 am[/url]"]On lake Erie we would bring along a 5 gal bucket, put maybe 5 inches water in it, a keeper walleye would get its gills cut and placed head first into the bucket to bleed out. Have a towel to cover the bucket. Then transfer to ice cooler. Made a huge difference as opposed to just throwing them on ice. No blood at the filet table at all, nice clean meat. Used a garden shears to cut the gills. Safer than having a knife loose on board.
> Tim




X2


Cattys everyone just keeps alive until cleaning time


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## BassAddict

[youtube]84zZPUYimWU[/youtube]


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## flatboat

whats wrong with just putting them in the ice chest with ice ! they just go to sleep ! no beating on em


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## fool4fish1226

BassAddict said:


> Instructions on how to humanly euthanize fish at 25s
> 
> https://m.liveleak.com/view?i=63d_1401517377&comments=1



:roflmao: :roflmao:


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## thill

I've commercially fished, and slaughter animals every year, and have (unfortunately) dispatched more fish and other creatures than I'd like to remember. Far more than most people, I'm certain.

There are two basic ways to kill a fish humanely- slice them with a razor-sharp knife to bleed them out or crush their brain in a single blow.

The knife technique is probably the safest and least traumatic to the fish, if done right, and it is the method I use the most. A quick slice across the throat, and let the fish go into the livewell. It will not struggle or flail about, it will simply continue swimming until it passes out. An easy way to go. One large benefit is that once a fish is bled in this manner, the meat will be whiter and "cleaner" tasting, and it will not spoil as quickly. And the livewell pumps out all the blood, so there is no mess to clean up.

The second technique is to bludgeon the fish. The little baseball bats look nice, but are NOT very efficient, especially on smaller fish. They are too wide. Have seen guys beating and beating on fish with those stupid little baseball bats and the fish keep waking up because all they do is knock them out. A hammer can work, but they are too short, and only effective if the person makes a perfect shot. A terrible tool for this work.

The real fish dispatchers are 18-24" long, but only about 3/4" in diameter and are relatively heavy. Kind of like the "asp" the military uses for security work, they reach a high tip speed, and then all of that speed and weight and force is concentrated into a very narrow point of impact. THAT is what crushes the skull in a smooth, effortless motion. These are MUCH easier to use than a hammer or bat-type instrument.

Mine is a stainless steel commercial model, made specifically for the task, but you can make your own from an 18"-24" piece of 3/8" galvanized water pipe or 1/2" rebar. You can make it with or without caps or tape grips.

And before any of you question what I say, try it. Not only do I think you will be in agreement, it would not surprise me if you weren't somewhat frightened from the devastating damage it inflicts, especially if you swing it like you must with the lesser tools. Do not play around with these things. They are NOT toys, and minors should not be allowed to handle them.

One smooth swing is all that is needed, and the fish will be dead instantly. If you are after 100# cobia, you might want to up it to 1/2" pipe.

That being said, I personally use a stroke of the fillet knife, except for cobia. Super-clean table fare is my goal, as well as killing humanely.

-TH


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## restornator

Who cares how it's killed? Fish eat fish. I'd think it'd be much worse for the fish dissolving in stomach acid than the one being cut open with a fillet knife. Animals get eaten alive, torn to shreds all the time. Catching fish for sport, or killing fish just the throw it in a freezer for 6 months is much more inhumane than how its processed.


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## Johnny

I have a 2x12 board about 6' long that leans up against a tree.
Then, take a 3" deck screw and a cordless drill and screw his head to the board, skin it,
then to the filet table.
Less than a minute and it's all over.


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## chrisj0616

I always hang em up and cut the tail off and let em bleed out when I get to the boat dock

You'd be amazed how much it does for the flavor and also how much cleaner it is when you fillet it

Can't do it in the water the blood just colagulates


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## riverbud55

best way on a channel cat and maybe a blue (never got a blue) is a knife and a piano wire or ice pick to the head, its instant and easy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCirHDjeBUI,,,, wont work on a flat,,,I fillet them alive throw em back in the water and watch them swim away sometimes :shock:


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## Boatfloater1989

I'm a heavy catfisher that's mainly what I catch I learned a few tricks first I don't keep anything under 5 lbs when I do catch one I put it on the stringer and jeep it alive tied to my boat then once I head back to the dock I have a 2x6 in the back of my truck about 30" long I also have a nice big galvanized nail... About 1\4 inch thick 6" long I put the fish on the board wait till he stops wiggling put the nail right in the center of his head and nail him to the board kills it quick and now its easier to skin\ filet once done pull out the nail dispose of remains CORRECTLY and done


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## lugoismad

https://www.ikijime.com/


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## Captain Ahab

Good answers

Please add your location to your profile


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## jethro

In some states it's illegal to have live fish on board, period. I swear, I am the only person on this entire forum that fishes the great State of Maine.

Anyway, I use my Boga grip and beat 'em a few times real hard square on the head. When I keep them which is not very often.


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