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Killing fish


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I agree 100% with you there Muddy. Even if a fish is injured by being caught/unhooked it should be given the chance to survive, which it will not have if it gets hit over the head. Even if it's bleeding from the gills it could survive. They don't have the same blood clotting stuff that we have, but their blood still coagulates nicely.

 

Better to have some hope of survival, than none at all.

It rather depends on whether you want to eat it though doesn't it?

 

I always kill the fish I eat....and if I feel that a fish won't survive then I kill it and eat it, regardless.

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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I maintain my position and feel one aught to take responsibilityfor their (fishing ) actions and have the gumption to humanely finish off a mortally injured fish rather then push it off and walk away kidding yourself about survival rates. Take a walk along a river immediately after a match and see the dead and dying in the margains.

 

We are constantly told by the expert and the humane that pike are an especially fragile species and our handling of them should be perfect, newcomers are even advised to go to a 'teach ins' or go with some experienced person or other. So the 5lb snapper jack who has almost inhaled a lure and has lost most of one gill before even getting close to being landed should go back, just in case? Try it. but don't walk or float away from the area.

 

I have been thinking about this and wonder about those who are opposed to the priest, are you also opposed to those of us who deadbait, because it would follow that none of you do, for that would be beyond the pale of hypocracy, for those fish are..well..dead, and how did they end up that way? people killed 'em. I suspect that some especially the saltwater species don't even get the respect of the priest, but rather gasp their lives out in the fish box or expire while being blast frozen.

 

On some waters, at some times a dead freshwater fish is just the job, I much prefer to livebait, but increasingly this is forbidden, would you recommend I stop bait fishing for perch and pike and lure/spin only? (as presumably you do), that method does take up most of my time, but just sometimes a sit down over a swinger of looking at a float is a nice change.

"Some people hear their inner voices with such clarity that they live by what they hear, such people go crazy, but they become legends"
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It rather depends on whether you want to eat it though doesn't it?

 

I always kill the fish I eat....and if I feel that a fish won't survive then I kill it and eat it, regardless.

 

 

Oh yes, I always kill fish before eating them too! ;)

Edited by Emma two
"Some people hear their inner voices with such clarity that they live by what they hear, such people go crazy, but they become legends"
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It's funny, on other forums they talk about how to catch fish, rather than how best to kill them.

 

If you want to kill a fish, do whatever you like, it hardly matters, the end result is the same.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Androo,

 

Well said!! (execpt drowning, that's rather cruel irony).

 

I follow Muddy's advice. I don't take them home. They don't have a snowball's chance in 'ell of living. BUT - out of sight - out of mind. They do swim off if the proper technique is used when pushed.

 

Phone

 

We certainly must have, well we do have, a lot more (reported) contamination in fishing water than you guys are considering (especially our urban venues). Many of my badly injured fish I wouldn't consider suitable for pet food - much less human consumption. Since fish for the pot is quite common, even encouraged, every (public) lake has weekly or monthly reports from local, state or federal health departments. Do you receive "health advisories" for each venue? Do you still eat the fish???

Edited by Phone
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It's funny, on other forums they talk about how to catch fish, rather than how best to kill them.

 

If you want to kill a fish, do whatever you like, it hardly matters, the end result is the same.

 

 

Well there you are then, just shows how we in here engage in a more wholistic discourse on angling. For there is without doubt a wider range of things to our sport than just catching fish.

 

As for 'doing whatever you like' (the end result being the same) do you really mean that? that when killing another creature the method is irrelevent so long as it ends up dead? Like soaking a fox in a live catch trap with petrol and burning it alive, rather than shooting it with an appropriate firearm. Putting down an old dog down by throwing it out of a fast moving vehicle rather than using a quick kill intravenous injection? (the end result will be the same) yours was a quick (perhaps even knee jerk) reply, I don't think you meant that at all, so it's best forgotten.

Edited by Emma two
"Some people hear their inner voices with such clarity that they live by what they hear, such people go crazy, but they become legends"
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Emma two,

 

"our sport than just catching fish. Or being diagreeable for flash and effect. (I often wonder if you are trying to convince me - - or yourself.

 

Phone

 

I am blessed with the ability to view things objectively, and I have the time and will to write about them, it does sometimes upset people, however I'm not trying to convince either of us, I am confident in my logic and you are just another name on the internet who I havn't especially singled out above all the others to address.

"Some people hear their inner voices with such clarity that they live by what they hear, such people go crazy, but they become legends"
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It's funny, on other forums they talk about how to catch fish, rather than how best to kill them.

 

If you want to kill a fish, do whatever you like, it hardly matters, the end result is the same.

That's true, and the vast majority of the fishing related threads on this forum are just that. However the title of Spotsman's thread was "killing fish"...which is why we are responding. Ok, some people don't kill fish, some people do...and to eat them. That's why I carry a priest, I'm prepared to kill any fish that I might want to eat. It means that I can kill any fish for the table humanely.

 

When one is involved in a (blood?) sport such as angling I think that whether we intend to eat our quarry or not we should at least go equipped to administer the last rites as quickly as possible if things go t1ts up...as we all know they do on occasion. The crap anglers first aid kit of lip balm and savlon is nothing but a stupid joke yet, it soothes consciences, sod the stress put on the fish by hauling them out day after day.

 

Some would say that angling is cruel and pointless unless you kill them and keep them for the table. It's not what most of us feel, after all we're anglers and raise merry hell (quietly) if somebody or something dares to raise its head to question our motives.

 

Me? I look at the crap circus with disdain, at match anglers with sympathy and at noddies with contempt, but hell, what do I know? I fish for fun and for food...so I carry a priest...as I do when I go shooting. I'm not into angling to follow the herd or to get my name in the papers, I do it for personal enjoyment and for food.

 

Anglers (generally) are hypocrites, 'we' profess to love wildlife (particularly fish) but petition parliament to kill native predators whilst introducing alien species so 'we' can drag them out of muddy ponds all day long. 'We' alter rivers and static water-bodies so that our fishing is easier and moan if a canoeist dares to so much as wave a paddle on 'our' river. We castigate dog owners who let their pets swim in 'our' rivers....and we argue amongst ourselves on a subject of humane killing when the vast majority choose not to do it...whether through squeamishness or a misguided view that everything will return to nature eventually...ok, so it will, but at least have the bottle to realise that the fish floating belly up is only doing that because you put it in that situation!

 

Angling has derived from catching fish for food, no more, no less. Accept it and be prepared for the occasions that putting a fish out of its misery is the right thing to do. If you have to chuck it back in the river, or, leave it under a bush for otters but, better still, take it home and eat it. You never know you might like it...it'll be fresher than any of the wrinkled crap you get in the supermarket.

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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Oh yes, I always kill fish before eating them too! ;)

 

bugger so thats how you keep the lid on :wallbash:

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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