This may seem like a strange question, especially from who's been killing and eating fish his entire life. I've always hit fish over the head with a heavy stick or something and it's killed them immediately. Recently I've been eating bass and they seem much harder to kill. I give the 5-8 whacks and they are still alive. I don't know if it's the sharp angle of their head vs. the more horizontal slope of a walleye but they are much harder to kill.

 

 

 

So, what's the best, quickest, most humane way to dispatch fish?

For what I know bass haven´t developed recently some sort of helmet to protect their head against tcbass´ hard blows.

 

It ain´t the wand but the magician, maybe you have lost some of your good aiming.

Personally I slit the gills in half, hold them upside down and bleed them out. They are usually dead in under 60 seconds, then I gut them. Less blood left in the fish makes it taste better. If you do decide to try this make sure you slit the gills with the tail facing away from you because there is a lot of blood splatter. 

Yep slit em an bleed em.

Bite their head off, thats what real men do.

Personally I slit the gills in half, hold them upside down and bleed them out. They are usually dead in under 60 seconds, then I gut them. Less blood left in the fish makes it taste better. If you do decide to try this make sure you slit the gills with the tail facing away from you because there is a lot of blood splatter.

Any video how to do this? By upside down do you mean head down? Because you say with tail facing away from you.

.45acp 

 

The head faces you, tail faces away from you. Stick a knife under the gil plate and slice the gills cutting towards the tail. You don't have to do it this way, it's just sometimes the blood spurts out all over the place. 

Simple solution is put the fish on ice that you plan to eat about 15-30 minutes before cleaning them, humane and they are dead and fresh.

Tom

Hold the fish with the head away from you on a table. Put the point of your knife between the eyes and back about 1/2" with the blade facing the head (away from you!). Push the knife in and push forward splitting the head between the eyes. The fish will immediately expire without knowing what hit them. 

.45acp 

Many years ago before all the anti-gun bs, my grandfather would shoot pike and musky in the head with a .22 before bringing them in the boat. Kind of like Swamp People only in Canada and Minnesota.

^lol

Whack them on the head, slit the gills, and put them on ice. Although killing a catfish isn't possible, you might as well release them after you filet them haha

I clean my bass while they are still alive a lot....

I take a thin sharp knife place it between its eyes and slam on the knife sending to kill the brain while also cutting the spine. Instant death if done right, you get a final twitch if your off though.

I take a thin sharp knife place it between its eyes and slam on the knife sending to kill the brain while also cutting the spine. Instant death if done right, you get a final twitch if your off though.

Same here, or just behind and above you eye. You can easily feel the skull with the tip of your knife so a quick push and they're done. The backside of a hatchet blade works really well also, especially for heavy skulled fish like catfish. 

I've actually never kept any bass.  Only been bass fishing for a couple years and just now getting to the point where I can consistently catch em.  Catfish and crappie, I've always just tossed em in a cooler full of ice.

I also stab them in the brain and either fillet them or put them on ice to keep them fresh and then batter them up and mmmmmm

I usually fillet them alive and twitching. call it cruel, but they certainly die pretty quick without their meat!

Bite their head off, thats what real men do.

X2

I clean my bass while they are still alive a lot....

 

 

I usually fillet them alive and twitching. call it cruel, but they certainly die pretty quick without their meat!

 

 

 

 

You two maybe practicing serial killers.........just sayin'.

 

 

 

lol

You two maybe practicing serial killers.........just sayin'.

lol

Lol Idk its just the way my grandpa has always done it and he taught me how to clean bass

I agree...I have never not just fileted them.  Electric knife and it is all over in about 15 seconds anyhow. 

I had to kill my first bass last night. I was using a soft plastic worm with 2 hooks in it. It was a bass about 8-9 inches and he swallowed this little worm whole. There was no way I could get the hooks out with him being so small, and the hooks being in his stomach meat... I took my very sharp buck knife about half an inch behind his eye and severed the brain stem and cut the head off. He died immediately and I was able to save my bait. The hooks were definatly lodged in his gut pretty good, so I didn't feel so bad about ending his fish life. To be honest, I would rather have saved the fish than the bait, I just didn't want the poor guy to live the rest of his life with hooks in his meat and a stupid worm stuck in his throat, impeding him from eating. But, his body made a good meal for a lazy catfish or one of the many huge over 2 ft bass in this guys pond.

 

My uncle got mad at me during a tournament last year when I was trying to delicately remove a hook from a fish. "Don't feel sorry for it!, rip that hook out and throw it in the livewell!" he said, but I couldn't help but feel bad for the fish. I fish for the sport, not to cause great harm to the animals.

You should have just cut the line as short as possible and threw him back, then at least he has a chance at living. He has a 0% chance without a head! Haha