bleed them out in ice till dead.
See..you're already finding what works for you and what dont...stick with it and you'll have your own routine soon enuff..dont trip over it, we all still stand to learn a thing or 2
Take the machete and cut its tail off about an inch up in the meaty part. Then hang on a nail they will bleed out real nice. Then skin or fillet when dead. The meat is much better. Do this with all species of catfish.
It is what it is!hdhntr LIKED above post
Sometime's when I put another crappie I just caught in the cooler and see other's wiggling around, I get to feeling bad. So I put the fresh caught one in and go try to catch another! :-)
GoTennTitans LIKED above post
Now, I am thinking about giving up Catfishing. { NOT } We all have our feelings to deal with, me to! I do think about that, when I kill any animal or fish!
I have only saw this done by one person, ever, and that was my grandmother. When I was a kid I would fish farm ponds and there weren’t that many around back then. I would bring home a mess of small cats 10 inches or so and she would help me clean them. She would take a butcher knife or sometimes an ice pick and push it straight down in the head of the fish about where the head would stop and the body start. She would then ta a straw off a broom and push it into the hole and feed it back along the fishes back. They quivered and then never twitched again. Probably wouldn’t work too good on a larger fish. Seeing the post brought back memories of this. Again, she is the only one I have ever saw do this and I have not ever heard of any one else doing it. Not sure how it works, but it did. As far as your dilemma, I agree to put it on ice and wait till the next day to clean it.
Techno2000 LIKED above post
I have always wired catfish before dressing. There is a hole as you stated that when you drive a coat hanger into it causes almost instant paralysis
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Techno2000 LIKED above post
Well I really suck at catching cats but working on it. Think I'll try that through the brain deal. Got a small handmade tool for cleaning primer pocket's in the boat. In there I use it to puncture sardine and cat food can's to use to chum cats, hasn't worked yet! But it's a nail in a wood handle I made, sort of like a short ice pick. Bet that would work.
Someone mentioned they didn't filet good with the skin on so they skin them first then filet them? Have a hard time imagining you can't filet them with the skin on but no problem with the skin off. Come to think of it, I used to always skin them first. Though it was the law!
hdhntr LIKED above post