Hi all.  I am a 49 year old female who loves to fish.  I have recently caught bass in Lake Oroville, Northern California.  I have heard from a co-worker that bass is her favorite fish to eat.  I would like to try it.  I can catch, clean/gut and cook fish - but I do have a problem with getting the hooks out/holding them, putting them on the stringer and I don't know how to kill them.  I hate the thought of inflicting pain,  hurting them when I hold them, them flopping around, that blank eye stare, trying to hold on and carefully remove the hook, and put them on the stringer . . . but so far I have let all the bass go because they live so darn long on the stringer and I don't really know the "best" way to kill them.  The Park Ranger said club them on the head (if so, how?), my husband asks me if I am going to gut them "alive", I wonder about just quickly cutting off their heads, or should I just put them on ice in the chest to die?  This is not a joke, I really want to know the best way to kill them if I plan to eat them.   :-/

Just put them on ice in a cooler. They'll die shortly and you can keep them this way all day with no worries about spoilage.

I personally just filet them wether they're still flopping or not.  Usually just takes a couple seconds before it quits flopping.  Just have to ignore the god-aweful scream the let out .  Just kidding, RW's suggestion of ice is the best way.

i typically dont like to eat bass. i fish them for sport...not food so i cant help you out.

i dont eat bass at all but i love eating crappie and wiper and i just filet them right out of the livewell. some of them are already dead by the time i get home but if they are still flopping around just hold them down and fillet them starting from behind the head and they will be dead in a second.

I would normally just fillet them without worrying about them being alive.  The ice suggestion is the best one I can think of.  That way they are "out of sight, out of mind" for a while.  They are not like the other popular west coast fish the salmon...they don't need to be clubbed and hung up and bled before keeping them and cleaning them.  

ice cooler.  no bout adoubt it.  (laugh or groan as you feel is neccessary)