Hello, 

I have been doing a lot of research on how to properly kill a fish for eating because I hated watching them flop around on ice. So my question is, will a regular 1lb hammer work as a priest or is there something that I dont know about them?

Thanks,

Jamie

 

Edited August 14, 20187 yr by J Francho
Innapropriate content in link.

Anything that alters the length of the fish is illegal, if there is a length restriction.  For trout, I bleed them out by severing their gills.  I don't typically keep bass.

The priest hits the fish and kills it by destroying either the brain or spinal cord, so i was asking was would a normal carpenter's hammer be too heavy or too light or OK?

Probably over kill, but should work.

should work fine....I used to bop 'em and then spike 'em

I still might, if I'm in a fish cleaning house with one handy, but most of the time, running my filet knife into the brain and rocking it back and forth is more than sufficient

Your fishing pliers will do the job most likely. Works on 25# King Salmon.

 

You won't find me trying it on a bass. Id never eat one. 

I have always used a well placed knife. Push in a little back of the eye and roll up towards the top of the head. You'll usually get the telltale death flop if done right. It's a lot less messy and more efficient than clubbing smaller fish species. 

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have always used a well placed knife. Push in a little back of the eye and roll up towards the top of the head. You'll usually get the telltale death flop if done right. It's a lot less messy and more efficient than clubbing smaller fish species. 

This is what I do for fish I keep. Then I slit the gills and bleed them for a few minutes before cleaning and filleting.

I don't know know about a Priest but here's a Judge that should get the job done. 

I am familiar with the Judge.... court is adjourned!

When my dad and I used to catch schooly stripers they would come into the boat flopping around and wrecking the rods and tackle with trebles snagging everything in sight. The average one would be 5 lbs. We would want to get the fish off as quickly as possible so we could get more casts in and catch more. I had a pair of those Adidas shower shoe-type flip flops. I would whack the fish on the head with the heel end of that shoe and it usually did the trick. If not with the first whack, then with the second. You couldn't count on a school being within reach for very long so we would take that fish off and drop it in the floor, short term while we kept casting until they didn't bite for a few casts. If you're going to kill a fish, put it on ice, not in a livewell unless the water is very cold.

They sell clubs just for the purpose. If you know a union electrician, single strand copper about a foot long works too (but with the price of copper, might need to trade for bourbon). I always bleed fish kept to eat by slicing the gills, kills them almost instantly. For offshore larger salt water fish, those tiny T-ball bats work great.

I bop them in the head with my pliers. 9 times out if 10 it works the first time. Sounds gross but You know it works because the fish gets real tight and starts shaking. It's like a shot to the brain. 

I use to use the boat pedestal from my Skeeter .