Killing a flatfish

Dabs and flounders seem to flap around for ages when I kill one to eat (I usually return them). Can anyone tell me the best way to kill?

decapitation usually works :shock:
or a good sharp whack to the head behind the eyes with something heavy.

tricky one to reply to for fear of retribution and the antis jumping on the wagon.

tricky one to reply to for fear of retribution and the antis jumping on the wagon.

you'll always find the anti's..

but i bet they eat fishfingers too..

in all honesty it was a simple question of that if someone wanted to take a fish for the pot, what would be the best way..

Apparently it's best not to whack them it causes a bruise and brown meat.
Best way is to bleed them out while the heart is still pumping to pump the blood out and maintain fresh white meat with a deep cut across the root of the white side of the tail.
This is according to commercial fishermen, who would then also advise dropping the fish in ice slurry to maintain peak condition until the table.

I stick a blade into the head and then gut the fish straight away. A fisheries scientist I know told me that if left ungutted the powerful stomach acids leak into the body cavity and the flesh will deteriorate quickly causing the fish to taste bitter. Having said that, I gave a gutted and stabbed fish to a lady for her dinner. She was very distressed when it jumped out from under her grill and flapped about on the floor. I am sure this can only have been post mortem muscular spasms. They are pretty hardy beasties.

Achually i caught 2 flounder last year nice size for eating so i brought them home and washed them down and left them on a plate a good 3 hours after catching them. When my mam was sitting down one of the flounder fliped right off the plate and on to the floor she nearly had a heart attack.

i just gut the fish and hi it a tap andleave it.... ive often brought one home, mayb 6 hours after catching it and it would still flap around on the grill plate lol

I stick a blade into the head and then gut the fish straight away. A fisheries scientist I know told me that if left ungutted the powerful stomach acids leak into the body cavity and the flesh will deteriorate quickly causing the fish to taste bitter. Having said that, I gave a gutted and stabbed fish to a lady for her dinner. She was very distressed when it jumped out from under her grill and flapped about on the floor. I am sure this can only have been post mortem muscular spasms. They are pretty hardy beasties.

All animals that are going to be eaten should be gutted as soon as possible, its right about the stomach acids spoiling the flesh.

Flatties can live a good while out of water....years ago after a night session I put 3 good size flatties in the sink planning to clean them the next morning.....I woke to hear a commotion coming from the kitchen and my wife going ballistic....she went to fill the kettle in the sink and when the water got on to the flatties they came to life and started flapping.....she nearly died, dropped the kettle, soaking the floor and demanding I kill the fish and clean the mesh up :lol: :lol: :lol: the kids thought it was hilarious :oops:

Tom.

That is hilarious Tom. The things our wives/girlfriends have to put up with!. Not only are flatties impossible to kill but I read that their DNA is used to genetically modify cereal crops to make them more resilient to cold. Flatties are hard! :D

ive often brought one home, mayb 6 hours after catching it and it would still flap around on the grill plate lol

hehehe Always remember when I was about 10, I caught a decent sized plaice at Bray's north pier. I decapitated it as it was still flapping about after a few taps off the ground. Brought it home, gave it a rinse and put it on a plate.... it was still flapping about hours later. My dad tried to convince me it was just the nerves making it flap...

..Sufice to say I just had chips that evening.

I stick a blade into the head and then gut the fish straight away. A fisheries scientist I know told me that if left ungutted the powerful stomach acids leak into the body cavity and the flesh will deteriorate quickly causing the fish to taste bitter. Having said that, I gave a gutted and stabbed fish to a lady for her dinner. She was very distressed when it jumped out from under her grill and flapped about on the floor. I am sure this can only have been post mortem muscular spasms. They are pretty hardy beasties.

Flatties can live a good while out of water....years ago after a night session I put 3 good size flatties in the sink planning to clean them the next morning.....I woke to hear a commotion coming from the kitchen and my wife going ballistic....she went to fill the kettle in the sink and when the water got on to the flatties they came to life and started flapping.....she nearly died, dropped the kettle, soaking the floor and demanding I kill the fish and clean the mesh up :lol: :lol: :lol: the kids thought it was hilarious :oops:

Tom.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

i caught a fresh water eel in newzealand when i was about 9 years old (on lambs heart ) it was about 6 lbs in weight with a few wallops of a brick it stopped going ballistic so we managed to get it in a shopping bag and pedalled home at top speed my dad told us it was a mud eel and not worth eating so we dug a hole and in it went , next day a neigbour inquired what we had buiried , when we told him he told us he loved mud eels and asked if we could dig it up so he could eat it :lol: we did so and when he put it in his sink to was off the muck it started to swim around and kept trying to get out of the sink ,the begger had been wolloped, out of water for at least 10 hours and underground for 8 of them the word indestructible is the only way to discribe him :!: and he was eaten after an encounter with machette :shock: