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How do you kill a catfish?

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I caught one yesterday and I took it home to clean it and I had a heck of a time killing it. Anyone got any suggestions on how to kill one?

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Hit it on the head with something hard.

For killing a Catfish you must hit it on the head (9) times   ;) ::) ::)

Try drowning it.

Hit it on the head with something hard.

LOL, I once caught one, took it home hit it for 5 minutes over and over with a framing hammer square in the head, it still kept moving.

That's what will live after a nuclear apocalypse, catfish and cockroaches take over the earth.

  • Super User

any way you like.

when you're done make sure you eat its liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Throw 'em on ice immediately after catching. Makes cleaning a whole lot easier.

x2

Stick a knife in the top of the head and then run a piece of broom straw inside its back to basically paralyze it.

havent done it in a while but a nail through the head makes it alot easier. Or just cut the head off, used to freak me out as a kid to see a headless fish still moving. My grandpa would cut them off and throw the heads in a bucket at the river, and fish with them later in the night.

  • Super User

Put a nail through its head and into a tree.  Make a 1/16 incision around the head, below the gills.  Grab skin with pliers and pull down.  Once skinned, cut off head.  

find your stone and rip it from the gills.

kidding.

stab head. nail in head to something. skin it. cut head off.

clean, and fry.

With a knife.

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Try drowning it.

I thought about shooting it but that would have been a bit much. ;)

Seriously, I think I'll try nailing its head to a tree next time. I would just cut off its head, but that would leave me without a handhold for skinning it. That was only the second one I've cleaned and it was 20" long, not real big but big enough to have an impossibly thick skull and a tiny brain. Hopefully the next one I do will be a little easier.

Thanks

Ben

  • Super User
Try drowning it.

I just lol'd at that.Thats kinda funny right there. ;D

Try drowning it.

I just lol'd at that.Thats kinda funny right there. ;D

I actually woke up my girlfriend laughing at that.

1. Draw imaginary line between eyes

2. From center of this line follow head back until you are between gills

3. Use nail, pellet gun, or other object. Should get the brain and spinal cord

4. If still alive keep looking poking along that line, all the nerves are along it

1. Shoot it

2. Burn it

3. Fry it

4. Stomp on it

5. Throw it in air and allow to fall to ground

6. Grab tail with towel and slam on rock

7. Chop off head

8. Crush with sledge hammer

9. Bite the jugular

10. Run over it with truck

11. Throw into fan

12. Throw in front of moving vehicle

13. Leave it on bank all day and night

14. Place in bathtub along with hairdryer

15. Add seasonings and wrap in foil alive and hole, then cook on open flam.

  • Super User
1. Shoot it

2. Burn it

3. Fry it

4. Stomp on it

5. Throw it in air and allow to fall to ground

6. Grab tail with towel and slam on rock

7. Chop off head

8. Crush with sledge hammer

9. Bite the jugular

10. Run over it with truck

11. Throw into fan

12. Throw in front of moving vehicle

13. Leave it on bank all day and night

14. Place in bathtub along with hairdryer

15. Add seasonings and wrap in foil alive and hole, then cook on open flam.

Thats funny right there. ;D

I wonder what would happen if you zapped one with a tazer? :-?

I have several friends who do the whole nail it to a tree thing...I just bash the head in with a 2X4, it works well, but don't hesitate or try to not hit it too hard...bash it hard and the thing will die quick and easy (though not always cleanly)

I've got a buddy who kills them by sticking a knife into the brain through a "hole" he said is in all catfish. I've never been able to find this alleged hole, but he says it works and he's been fishing catfish for about 40 years.

Smother it with a pillow, no oxygen right so it has to die right?

j/k

Best think to do would be stab it in it's scull on top of it's head.  Seemed to work fine for me a few years ago.

  • Super User

I have hanging tree with baleing wire hanging about every foot an half.

I make hole in bottom lip with knife to pass the wire through, or can puncture a hole using wire.   Knife is easier.   I wire my fish hanging.

 I like the Kitty about chest level, makes easy to reach and work with.

Simply cut the tail off, the fish will bleed out in few minutes.

By hanging, you don't need two hands, one to holding the fish, and other to skin the kitty with pliers.

I make cuts around the head and dorsal fin.     I can use my body weight and two hands on the pliers and pull the skin off in less than a minute.

 

  Also, if you made the cut 360 degrees around the Kitty's head, when you pull the belly skin down, its gonna pull some of the guts out for ya.

   But once you sever the head , the rest of the guts will pull out and go with the head.

    You skinned and gutted the fish in one process without having to get your hands in there to rip guts out.

  Best thing of all,  fish that are bled taste better anyway in my opinion.    Afterall, don't we bleed most things.  

I need a video to show this process.    

Most will say filleting a cat with electric fillet knife alive is just as easy.

For me, most of the time, I only need a cat or two  for a meal, so hanging works fast for me.

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