Killing trout

[FISHN50]

With all this talk about keeping trout & how to cook them, recipies etc. I was wondering how most of you guys "dispatch" trout you intend to keep & eat.
Do you just hook them on a stringer & throw them half alive into a cooler or hit them with a priest or just break thier necks. The few I keep I will try to break thier neck to put them down without them suffering too much.

 

[stevensj2]

Although I don't have specific experience with trout, usually when I catch fish to eat, I like to "dispatch" them as soon and as close to the water as possible.

Cutting off the head works most of the time, and there are organisms and other life in the water that will feed on it.

Those lifeforms in return getting eaten by other fish, and is a good way to give back to the ecosystem and not simply take from it.

Interesting topic...I'm interested to see more replies.

 

[Flyfisher for men]

If I'm keeping fish, I keep them alive as long as possible so that they're most fresh. I prefer one of those mesh baskets if know I'm not going to be wading or hiking. Otherwise, it's one of those metal stringers with the big clips through the lower lip. They seem to stay alive on those.

 

[Fishplease]

When I catch a trout worth keeping, I throw it in the big pocket on the back of my vest.

 

[bonefish41]

With all this talk about keeping trout & how to cook them, recipies etc. I was wondering how most of you guys "dispatch" trout you intend to keep & eat.
Do you just hook them on a stringer & throw them half alive into a cooler or hit them with a priest or just break thier necks. The few I keep I will try to break thier neck to put them down without them suffering too much.

If and rarely when I take a wild trout to eat..I would priest...gut/gill...head on throat latch intact...
First IMHO the recips don't say but my guess it is farm raised which is as good as farm raised salmon...and that's not very good unless you are a cordon blu chef who can turn a one week old road kill possum into five star dining...for me the only freshwater fish I eat is large filet farm raised catfish which is IMO an exception to farm raised fish...and being consistent with "I don't fish chinese...I don't eat any far east shrimp...particularly where Bubba and Forest first landed...it is difficult but not impossible to find gulf shrimp in the midwest...

 

[ezamora]

oops.

 

[ezamora]

a coupla good whacks to the trout's head on a streamside rock, quickly after being caught, then on a nylon stringer, kept in the cold stream while i continue fishing. but it's so rare i keep fish.

eric
fresno, ca.

 

[Curtis]

Whacked seven trout the other day with a branch. Don't like to let them suffer. Them was good eatin'

 

[bonefish41]

Whacked seven trout the other day with a branch. Don't like to let them suffer. Them was good eatin'

Gave those new boys a good caning...headmaster

 

[Joni]

I keep them in a big mess laundry bag also, so they stay fresh like mentioned. They taste the best fresh. Then the old blow to the head and gut.

 

[HELLFIGHTER5308]

I have fished all of my life. My grandfather fished, my dad fished, all my cousins fish, my friends fish. We ain't never heard of killin' a fish before you gut or filet it. What's a priest?

 

[troutbum]

Seems there are a few different ideas about keeping a fish fresh.
I was always taught that with ANY animal you plan to eat,killing it ASAP was the way to go.
When any creature get's stressed they begin to build up latic acid.Latic acid soften's flesh.
When I decide to keep a few,I give them the preist right away and gut(head on) them. On the stringer they go and over the side of the boat.
Not sure if this is true or not,but I have always disspatched my fish this way.
Tight Lines
Aaron

 

[HELLFIGHTER5308]

That makes since. Here in Florida, when keeping fish, you are required to either keep them alive on a stringer, in a live well, or on ice for health reasons. (People's health, not fish obviously)

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

I don't eat much fish but when I do I throw my yellow perch in a cooler of ice. never caught a trout yet but if I do I will let the bigun go to get bigger some day. If i catch soemthing that big I am a fan of letting him go to become a world record someday! or get caught by the next guy to kill.:icon_twis

 

[aroostookbasser]

Simple yet effective "coupe de grace" for trout. Up here in Maine we break their necks by placing a thumb behind the head on the spine, while simultaneously lifting the lower mandible upward until the spine breaks at the base of the skull. A swift clean way to dispatch the catch. On bigger fish where that may prove impossible. We severe the spine at the base of the skull with a knife. Under Maine law any fish you keep you must kill immediately or you have to release them immediately. The idea is to keep people from toting around half dead fish to try to catch bigger ones. If you keep it here, you have to kill it on the spot.

Like most anglers ........(mcfly).....we try not to take any trout home. I flyfish specifically so I can release my fish. But from time to time an overzealous brookie swallows a nymph too deep, and bleeds. If it bleeds upon hook removal...most usually barbless/pinched down barbs. I will not waste the poor bugger and let him drift off to wash up on the bank for coons to eat.

As far as trophy fish....... lets say brookies over 22". They stay in that water until God calls them home. I will not kill a trout of any kind that has attained that size. I carry a camera for that reason.......and always fish these waters with witnesses!!!!!!

 

[ezamora]

"I will not waste the poor bugger and let him drift off to wash up on the bank for coons to eat."

well, that's interesting. i mean no sarcasm. it's just that dead fish in an ecosystem nourish life for others in some way. i think pegging it a waste may be too extreme, but i agree that tossing a mortally wounded fish back into tha water is against hoped-for scenarios. coons should have respect too!!! LOL

eric
fresno, ca.

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

ezamora, so your saying i should of ate that creek chub I accidently killed last week???? :tongue: jk lol.

 

[ezamora]

Mmmmmmmmm, CHUB! :icon_lol:

just call me eric....


eric
fresno, ca.