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[#505000]I've been meaning to ask this for awhile. I'm a big softie (except when I'm at work) and it kills me when I bring the channel cats home. I love to catch 'em, I love to eat 'em, but I dread filleting them because they just won't DIE!!!! [/#505000]
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[#505000]Anyone have any tips, hints, or tricks to putting these tasty fish out of thier misery before they are filleted? I've tried everything I know and nothing seems to work. I finally just bite the bullet, turn on the fillet knife and go to work. I feel like the Jeffery Dahmer (except NOT into dudes) of catfish. [/#505000]
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[#505000]When I'm finished all in a cold sweat I hop in the shower for a few hours, curl up in a ball, and to try and wash away the guilt!!! [ ] Nothing like lava soap and steel wool to wash away the emotional pain of filleting catfish (not to mention the top two layers of skin) !!!! [][/#505000]
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[#505000]Why can't they be a hair more like trout that just go belly up if you look at them cross eyed when they swim by?[/#505000]
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Bwhahaha... sorry but I think this is funny picturing a cop trying to kill a cat.... ever think to use your standard issued Glock on 'em?
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Lay the fish belly side down on your filet board (just like you were going to let it swim away), hold it down and then take a pair of pliers or crescent wrench and whack it squarely on the noggin, a good sharp rap between the eyes on the top of the head. The fish will quiver a little bit and then will croak (well, not literally - I mean it will die). With channel cats it might take a couple of those sharp raps to kill the critter. Makes skinning or fileting much less traumatic for both of you.
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey wimp, whazzup widdat? I have a tough time believing that the self-avowed carp punisher gets the shakes when forced to carve up a still living catfish. Then again, many of us believe catfish to be a gift from Diety, whereas carp are clearly spawn of the devil. At least we kill carp religiously, or something like that.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Seriously, there are several good arguments for "taking out" a catfish before you apply the fillet knife. They are tough and they are strongl. If they start thrashing around while you have a knife in your hands, they can cause damage to you, as well as to themselves. If you are unable to get them to "volunteer" their fillets nicely, while laying flat on the board, you might not get good efficient fillets either.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I start the precautionary process as soon as I bring in a cat that I intend to keep. I use either pliers or sidecutters to remove both the pectoral fin spines and the dorsal spine before putting them in my basket. That insures that if I have to grab them later, I don't have to be concerned about those spines. True, they are not nearly as sharp or dangerous in larger cats, but they can do damage to my basket and they make the fish harder to handle. They also make it more difficult to lay the fish flat on the fillet board later.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Keeping the fish alive until the final filleting moment is best to insure freshness. However, if you want to do the "humane" thing, before filleting a live and conscious critter, give them a few whacks on the head. They take some serious whackin'. I have a small ball peen hammer that tames fishies real fast.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You can use anything wooden or metal (plastic, rubber, etc.) that has enough weight and substance to dispatch your catch. Just don't get a glazed look in your eyes and keep whackin' until you and the kitchen are covered with blood, from your pulverized prey. HELTER SKELTER.[/#0000ff]
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I agree with TubeDude. A good whack with a ball peen hammer will send them packing! Nothing like a kiss from an Estwing! Of course it would also be fun to put a cap in their head with your sidearm. Either method would be effective. Just make sure your neighbors don't call the local authorities to report gunshots!
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[#0000ff][size 1]"I start the precautionary process as soon as I bring in a cat that I intend to keep. I use either pliers or sidecutters to remove both the pectoral fin spines and the dorsal spine before putting them in my basket."[/size][/#0000ff]
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[#000000][size 1]Great idea, I am going to start doing that trick myself! Another good reason for removing them if one is in a "floatable" would be to decrease the odds of one of those spines poking a hole in one's craft.[/size][/#000000]
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[cool][#0000ff]Correctmundo, Junior. Sharp spines and inflatables are not compatible. However, most cats over about two pounds usually do not have very sharp spines. They get worn down by rubbing against rocks...both in foraging for food and in nesting.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The worst are the mud cats. Those pesky critters always have sharp spines, and they are diabolical in knowing just when and how to flip to introduce them to either human flesh or inflated craft.[/#0000ff]
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[#505000]I've tried the blunt force trauma to the head with a crescent wrench and I am going to have to add that to my bag o' things that doesn't do the trick. [][/#505000]
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[#505000]I suppose I may have to invest in a good ol' ball peen. [/#505000]
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[#505000]I've tried the blunt force trauma to the head with a crescent wrench and I am going to have to add that to my bag o' things that doesn't do the trick. [][/#505000]
[red][size 3]It's all in the wrist![/size][/red]
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I'm with you -- filleting a catfish while it is still wiggling just doesn't seem right. I will have to invest in a small ball peen hammer. I have read where it is considered a real delicacy (and really expensive) to dine on a fish that is only slightly cooked and still alive while one is cutting chunks off and eating it! I will definitely pass on that opportunity the next time I find myself in Japan!
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[size 1]"and then will croak (well, not literally - I mean it will die)"[/size]
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[black]I have had several channel cats that I have caught lately be quite vocal. Frankly, I don't like it -- I prefer my fish to not talk to me while I am unhooking them![/black]
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[#505000]Amen to that I have had several channels protest their being caught quite loudly. [] The should have named them dog fish, it almost sounds like a bark.[/#505000]
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OK EVERYONE NEEDS TO HEAR THE SONG CALLED THE FISHIN SONG BY THE DITCH BANK OKIES IT HAS A LINE IN THAT SAYS "AND HE WAS LOOKING ME IN EYES AND SAYING ... TROW ME BACK DITCH THROW ME BACK. BUT I WATCH THOSE JIMMY HOUSTON FISHIN SHOWS AND I KNOW THIS FISH IS A LYIN! SO I AM GOING TO STUFF THAT DAMN CATFISH AND HANG HIM RIGHT OVER THE OUT HOUSE" THIS POST JUST MADE ME THINK ABOUT THAT SONG
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I am a born-again kitty eater, I dreaded the killing and fileting of catfish up until a month or so ago and have found the best way to kill them is to give them a nice whack on the noggin with a solid club or crowbar.
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I will give my two cents. I found out merely by accident. On your way home put the cats in a cooler and dump a couple bags of ice on them and that pretty much takes care of em. They are defintely warm blooded and being packed in ice seems to do em in.
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+ if theyre not dead at least theyre cold enough not to thrash around.
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I agree with Drake here. I also found out about the ice and cooler method quite by accident when I was on my last kitty outing. I'll have to keep the clipping of spines in mind too.... I've been tagged a few too many times by a flipping fin flipper flippantly trying to inflict some damage to me.... [cool] One way I found to take out the channels in Utah lake anyway is to take an old sock, shirt, towel, whatever to get a grip on the fishies and use their weight to do them in while whacking them against the nearest log, rock, bumper....whatever. Beware, the bumper trick tends to spatter the vehicle with blood. [pirate] But it will make them shiver a bit and then lie quietly..... The ball peen thing..... I think I have one of those at home that I'll have to start packing.... along with a handy sidearm for the bigger brutes.... Just kidding.
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I had this same question a couple months back when I first started catching catfish on the Bear River. After a bit of searching I read somewhere that you could run a wire (I use a paperclip) up their nosehole and scramble their brain. I think it was called pithing (pything???) Anyway it works and is a lot less messy than beating the thing to death and you don't get blood soaking into the meat at the back of the head. Anyone else try this?
Another thought is that if you are using a needle to thread minnows or bait on your line abve the hook (fuzzyfisher style) that needle would probably work well too.
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Turn in your badge! [laugh] Catfish are hard to kill even after being out of the water for hours!
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Dude, I am the exact same way..... I have the worse time putting them under the knife with out any anisethsia.
I feel your pain and there's too...
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